" Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.. "
- Mahatma Gandhi
" Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.. "
- Mahatma Gandhi
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CreateInstall Free is an installer software ( both Commercial and Freeware installers ), which can be used to package any application like any Desktop Application with any type of settings files that are needed to create or install that application. Also, we can have the full control over the installation of that application like where we want to run which process and upto what time of the installation that process will run. Basically the requirements of our installation package may change, but in all the cases CreateInstall Free is an available solution to fulfill the changing requirements. |
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We can download it for free from “http://www.createinstall.com/”.
Let us discuss the necessary steps to use CreateInstall Free for building an installer package ( assuming that CreateInstall Free has been downloaded from the above given URL and has been installed in the system.Tese steps are for CreateInstall Free version – 4.14 )::–
1. Firstly we have to just go to All Programs -> CreateInstall Free -> CreateInstall Free, it will open the CreateInstall Free window, where we can follow the required steps to build an installer package. 2. In that window there is the left panel consisting of some sections. The first is Output, where the important information to give are::–
i) Output Folder – This is the folder location where the created installer file will be saved (Required).
ii) Setup Executable – This is the name of the created .exe file (Required).
iii) Setup Icon – This is the icon which we can set for the created .exe file.
Here, we also have an option to create a self extracting package or not.
3. The next section is General section. The fields of this section are::–
i) Application Name – This field is not required but is really important as this name will be shown as the application name in the installation destination folder of the application and also in the uninstallation process name of the application.
ii) Setup Language – Language of the application to be set.
Here, we can also set up the theme, images to be shown at the installation and uninstallation processes of the application.
4. Next is Dialogs. Here we can set up the License agreement and terms and conditions need to be satisfied for the installation of the application. Also we can decide whether to show the dialogs in the time of installation in different phases with the specified Dialog Font and there is the ‘Custom Path’ field which specifies the location where the application will be installed.
We also have an option to determine whether the application will be installed only in the specified location mentioned in the ‘Custom Path’ field or we can change the installation location at the time of installation.
5. Then it comes to Files.
Here we can add any folders or files we like to put in the installation package.
6. Next is Registry, where we can set up the keys for the system registry.
7. The next section is Shortcuts.
Here, we can set up the shortcuts for the installed application.The fields are::–
Target Shortcut
i) Destination Folder – This specifies the location where the shortcut of the installed application will be created.
ii) Shortcut Name – This field contains the name of the created shortcut (Required).
Target File
i) Destination Folder – This specifies the location of the application file, whose shortcut is being created. The default option is the installation path (INSTALL PATH).
ii) Filename – This gives the name of the application file whose shortcut is to be created (Required).
Here, we can also set the icon of the shortcuts to be displayed in the ‘Icon File’ field.
8. Next is To Register section, where any ActiveX files, fonts or associate extensions can be added or registered in the application.
9. Then its the Run section.
Here, we can specify any executable files to run at the time of installation of the application at different phases as::–
i) After unpacking
ii) At the beginning
iii) At the end
There is also an option called “Wait Until Application Finishes”. This helps to restrict the application installation to proceed further depending on whether the previous running application finishes or not.
10. Next is Uninstall section.
This section is to include the uninstaller file in the installation package with the uninstaller icon and the optional dialogs shown at the time of the uninstallation.
11. The final one is the Advanced section, where we can set some advanced features in the installation package, like any macros or any keys to write in the .ini files of the application.
We can also use CreateInstall Free Help to understand the steps to create an installation package. That is really helpful.
After successfully completing all the above phases we have to just click the option named “Make the installation file” in the toolbar of the CreateInstall Free window at the top and this will ultimately create the .exe installer package in the location, which we have specified in the Output Folder field of the Output section of the CreateInstall Free window.
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