There are a lot of installer-less programs out there, and it can be hard to find one that’s right for your needs. Here are some tips on how to build an installer for one of these programs:
- Start by looking at the program’s source code. This will give you a good idea of how the program works and what features it offers.
- Next, look at the installation instructions. These will tell you how to build and install the program.
- Finally, look at the user guide or help file that comes with the program. This will give you more detailed instructions on how to use the program.
Installing a Program from a Zip File
A popular Windows utility for system administrators is Process Explorer which is distributed via an installer-less zip file. Using ZipInstaller, you can easily install this utility from the downloaded zip file.
Once you have selected the zip file to install, ZipInstaller reads information from the executable file and populates it in the installer.
Before installing, you can customize the settings to your liking.
Once you have everything set, click Install and ZipInstaller takes care of the rest.
Once installed, you have all the benefits of a typical program installation. Start Menu entries are created for executable and help files.
Additionally, an entry is made available in the Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs).
Building Your Own Installer
ZipInstaller allows you to easily create your own install packages. All you need is a zip file containing the files you want included and ZipInstaller will create a standalone EXE setup file.
In this example, we are going to create an installer for the Sysinternals Process Explorer and ZoomIt utilities. First the utilities are downloaded and placed into a single folder. Then we create a special text file named “~zipinst~.zic” which contains configuration settings for the installer.
For this example our ~zipinst~.zic file looks like this:
Then the following command creates the install file:
Once the installer is created, it can be run on any machine.
Note, the naming is a bit off when you try to combine multiple tools in a single install, but overall it works just as you would expect.
Conclusion
In addition to installing portable applications, ZipInstaller is fantastic tool to create an installer for any utility program – including your own. The interface is simple to use and it only takes a few minutes to learn. Additionally, there are more configuration options you can read about on the download page.
Links
Download ZipInstaller from NirSoft
