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I have got some files in a directory and i would like to create an installer for the files in the directory so that according to the users selection it will copy the files in the directory to that folder. Sometime it will run another setup that is already there in the directory example : driver.exe .How can i do this ?Is there any freeware for creating an installer to do this ?

I would be very happy if i could add pictures to the installer windows to show while the process of installation takes place.

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There are many installer tools to achieve your goal. To do it for free, the first things came to me were NSIS and WiX. (There are some more, but these two are the most popular free ones.) But unfortunately, both of them require some knowledge about programming. Here are their characteristics.

NSIS http://nsis.sourceforge.net/

  • There is a wizard-style tool to quickly build your installer. http://hmne.sourceforge.net/
  • Mostly for making EXE style installers.
  • It has its own script language for configuration.

WiX http://wixtoolset.org/

  • There is also a wizard-style tool which is available for Visual Studio. (But you can use full functionalities to build an installer even without Visual Studio anyway.)
  • Mostly for making MSI (Windows Installer) style installers and merge modules.
  • XML syntax is used for configuration.

If you don't like to be involved in programming for now, there are a few more options you can take - "Self extracting archive". Most of common archiving tools such as 7zip, RAR, WinZip have this feature to achieve your goal. Read this question which covers it. Is it possible to execute a file after extraction from a 7-Zip self-extracting archive (SFX) archive?

But this approach has a couple of downsides as well; it's difficult to provide an "uninstaller" as SFX archives are not installers. And (AFAIK) you can't add a custom picture during installation.

I believe that InstallShield is the best for you as it has "wizards" to avoid programming, but it's not free. For free alternatives, see this as well: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/137657/free-install-wizard-software

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There are a variety of Windows Installer programs out there. Here is a free/open source one called NSIS.

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    if your installation is just some files then no.
    – Keltari
    Apr 30, 2015 at 2:04
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Depending on the complexity of your "installation" you could take use of Win-Zip Self-Extractor or something similar. You can do the same with RAR or 7ZIP, but a bit more complicated.

WinZip® Self-Extractor creates self-extracting Zip files. These self-extracting Zip files are ideal for electronic file distribution, because they contain multiple compressed files, minimizing download time and ensuring that important files do not become separated.

Additionally, WinZip Self-Extractor allows the recipient to use a familiar Windows interface to decompress files without a separate unzip utility.

Self-extracting Zip files can optionally run a "setup" or "installation" program, provided by the creator, after the files are decompressed.

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    Why would an RAR or 7-Zip SFX archive be "less compatible" than one made with WinZip? They are all EXEs and the OS' own ZIP support is irrelevant.
    – Karan
    Apr 30, 2015 at 5:54
  • @Karan You're absolutely right. Just changed that. Wouldn't make any sense if the exe files wouldn't bring their own unpack libraries.
    – farosch
    May 2, 2015 at 20:47

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