Best Windows Installation file Creator? [closed]

Question

I'm not the best programmer so I found it was much easier to write a program as several separate executables, which occasionally call each other. But now I need an easy way to actually run them without writing detailed instructions like Run file one, wait until its completed and no longer in process manager before running file two, file three can be executed 15 seconds after file two has been created. Then Add a key to your registry. Etc. I figure there must be a good software out there where I can just drop all my exes in, tell it when to run them, and output one file for my clients to run. Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you don't have any specific requirements apart from being able to install a few executables, then basically anyone will do. I'd recommend NSIS, not because it is particularly easy to work with (it has a cumbersome assembly-like language which isn't to practical to do more complex things in), but because it is free, has a large and active community, and it generates fast installers with very low overhead. As an extra bonus, you can run the compiler (i.e. the tool which generates the installer) on Linux.

Edit: ...and whatever you do, do NOT use InstallShield.

Answer 2

I heart wix, MSFT's open source, declarative (XML) based toolkit for building MSIs.

It's ace.

If you want to install binaries, add reg keys and even run "custom actions" (have your own code execure during install) you should have a look at it. Then you'll have a one-click (msi) solution. Good eh?

Answer 3

The ones I've worked with are:

• InstallShield
• NSIS
• INNO Setup
• Custom created installer

My preference is INNO Setup. It's free, it's easy.

Answer 4

Inno Setup is simple, light-weight and covers a lot of ground. I've used it for 5-6 apps over the last 5 years and it never let me down. Highly recommended!

Before that I used InstallShield, which is one of these systems that are so complicated that they "offer" you to "utilize" their "professional services" to create your installations. In other words it's kind of a hack that only managed to build a customer base in the childhood of Windows because there was no competition. It's a bit like a 747 that runs like a Trabant.

The worst, by far, installer product I've worked with is "WISE for Windows Installer". This had me literally smash my mouse in the office floor in frustration. It is (or at least was, 4 years ago) utter crap and should be avoided at all costs. This is exactly the kind of software that those pesky license agreements are there for, else the publisher would be sued into oblivion...

Answer 5

Definately Wix. :)

Wix allows you to do the most things with ease and the difficult things without hacks, it's free and open-source.

You can use Wix within Visual Studio (using Votive) or you can use it using the .Net SDK, MSBuild and your favorite XML editor. Wix supports creating MSI installers, MSP patches, MSM Merge modules, Wix libraries and much more.