Inno Setup is a free installer for Windows programs. First introduced in 1997, Inno Setup today rivals and even surpasses many commercial installers in feature set and stability.
Inno Setup key features:
- Support for every Windows release since 2006, including: Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 10 on ARM, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista. (No service packs are required.)
- Extensive support for installation of 64-bit applications on the 64-bit editions of Windows. The x64, ARM64 and Itanium architectures are all supported.
- Extensive support for both administrative and non administrative installations.
- Supports creation of a single EXE to install your program for easy online distribution. Disk spanning is also supported.
- Standard Windows wizard interface.
- Customizable setup types, e.g. Full, Minimal, Custom.
- Complete uninstall capabilities.
- Installation of files:
- Includes integrated support for "deflate", bzip2, and 7-Zip LZMA/LZMA2 file compression. The installer has the ability to compare file version info, replace in-use files, use shared file counting, register DLL/OCX"s and type libraries, and install fonts.
- Creation of shortcuts anywhere, including in the Start Menu and on the desktop.
- Creation of registry and .INI entries.
- Running other programs before, during or after install.
- Support for multilingual installs, including right-to-left language support.
- Support for passworded and encrypted installs.
- Support for digitally signed installs and uninstalls, including dual signing (SHA1 & SHA256).
- Silent install and uninstall.
- Unicode installs.
- Integrated preprocessor option for advanced compile-time customization.
- Integrated Pascal scripting engine option for advanced run-time install and uninstall customization.
- Full source code is available from GitHub.
- All features are fully documented.
- Used by Microsoft Visual Studio Code and Embarcardero Delphi.
Inno Setup 6.7.0 key updates:
Custom Wizard Backgrounds
- Setup/Uninstall now support custom background colors and images, including separate light/dark versions and opacity blending.
- WizardStyle: new modifiers excludelightcontrols and hidebevels.
- New directives: WizardBackColor, WizardBackColorDynamicDark, WizardBackImageFile, WizardBackImageFileDynamicDark, WizardBackImageOpacity.
- Wizard images can be hidden or blended; auto-activation of windows11 style when background directives are used.
- Pascal script: new WizardSetBackImage for runtime updates.
Compiler IDE
- Faster autocomplete; directive value autocomplete added.
- Increased #include tab limit (50); option to keep new include files closed.
- New Go to File; improved file-open behavior; Ctrl+W closes tabs.
Security
- Setup/Uninstall automatically enable Windows RedirectionGuard (Win10 22H2 / Win11).
- New RedirectionGuard directive + /NOREDIRECTIONGUARD and /REDIRECTIONGUARD parameters.
Other Enhancements
- More robust compiler via retry logic for locked files.
- Fix for restart errors on Windows Server (now elevated).
- Color directives now accept plain color names.
- RTL fixes for file/directory controls.
Pascal Scripting
- Several directives now support boolean expressions.
- New path utilities: PathCombine, PathNormalizeSlashes, PathStartsWith, etc.
- Added TNewPathEdit with filesystem autocomplete.
- New RPos implementation.
ISPP & Loader
- New Is64BitPEImage; various fixes.
- UseSetupLdr=x64: optional 64-bit loader with HEASLR; improves compliance but drops x86 Windows support.
Installer Behavior
- Installer again prompts for All Users vs Current User selection when not already installed.
- Misc minor improvements. [full release notes]
Using Inno Setup commercially? Please purchase a license.
Download: Inno Setup 6.7.0 | 10.1 MB (Freeware)
View: Inno Setup Website | Screenshot
