For all Inno Setup newsgroup members, especially NEWBIES!
This report is a compilation of Inno Setup related information that is especially useful for newbies and should reduce the number of questions that could be easily answered by reading the Inno Setup help file and/or other useful information resources. Also, don't miss to read the list of recommended Third-Party Tools and the recommendation about feature suggestions.
Frequent readers should read the revision history at the end of this report.

Please send your suggestions for this report to Michael Reitz (innosetup at assimilate.de)

List of important Inno Setup information resources

• Inno Setup help file !!!
  >> ISetup.hlp in your Inno Setup folder
  The IS help file is a very good and compact description of all available settings and parameters for Inno Setup scripts (*.iss files).
  You should use a script editor (see below) if you want to create and edit scripts without reading much of the help file.

• Extensive Inno Setup Example Script (by Laurie Comerford)
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg21243.html
  This example script contains many comments for explanation of the most important Inno Setup script parameters and settings. Very useful for newbies!

• Inno Setup FAQ, HowTo and "What's New" Revision History
  >> http://www.jrsoftware.org/isfaq.php
  >> http://cvs.jrsoftware.org/is/is4dev-whatsnew.htm
  FAQ and HowTo give some solutions to common installation tasks/problems, and the "What's New" page gives an overview of the revision history and explains new features that may not be described in the IS help file.

• Inno Setup Newsgroup Archives
  >> http://www.jrsoftware.org/newsgroups.php#search
  You should try to search the newsgroup archives by using appropriate keywords, before posting your question to the newsgroups.

• Inno Setup Newsgroups Overview and Usage Guidelines
  >> http://www.jrsoftware.org/newsgroups.php
  >> http://www.jrsoftware.org/newsgroups.php#guidelines
  Read this before posting to the newsgroups.

• "Inno Setup Extensions Knowledge Base"
  >> http://www13.brinkster.com/vincenzog
  >> http://www13.brinkster.com/vincenzog/articles.asp
  An archive of useful Inno Setup scripts and "Pascal Scripting" examples. Whenever you want to customize your installation, you should look on this page for finding useful examples.

List of recommended Inno Setup Third-Party Tools

• My Inno Setup Extensions "ISX" (by Martijn Laan)
  >> http://www.wintax.nl/isx
  An alternative version of the IS compiler that allows advanced customization through "Pascal Scripting", which is an integrated part of Inno Setup since version 4.0.

• Script Editor "ISTool" (by Bjørnar Henden)
  >> http://www.istool.org
  This is a very big help for beginners and even for experts.

• Inno Setup PreProcessor "ISPP" (by Alex Yackimoff)
  >> http://yackimoff.net.tc/ispp
  A preprocessor for Inno Setup and ISX, that allows to conditionally compile parts of scripts, use compile time variables in script, use built-in functions for reading registry, INI files at compile time.
  ISPP is included in the ISX setup since My Inno Setup Extensions 3.0.3-beta.
  The most recent version is included in the ISX 3.0.6.2 setup.

• ISFormDesigner (by Marc Hoffmann)
  >> http://www.isfd.kaju74.de
  This helps you creating custom forms for Inno Setup including automatic source code generation.

• "SetACL" (by Helge Klein)
  >> http://www.helge.mynetcologne.de/setacl
  This is a free commandline utility for setting permissions on virtually anything.
  I recommend to use version 0.904 until version 2.0 is out of beta.
  >> http://www.jrsoftware.org/isfaq.php#perms
  IS FAQ note with some examples.

• "XNET" (by Ruud van Velsen)
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg18845.html
  XNET.EXE is freely available in the KiXtart distribution and is a general service control tool that works on local and remote systems.

• Inno Key Generator "IKG" (by Malcolm Smith)
  >> http://www.mjfreelancing.com/ikg.htm
  It enables you to protect the setup of your software with a user specific password feature.

• "Install Assistant" (by Mike Giesler)
  >> http://www.installassistant.com
  InstallAssistant acts as a 'wrapper' for your installation; it handles the updating of any system files your installation may require, and allows you to build a customized splash screen. It is primarily useful as AutoRun menu for CD-ROMs.
  >> Download mirror

• "IASScript" (by Ath)
  >> http://home.wanadoo.nl/tonhu/IASScript.htm
  A tool to create an autorun.inf and beef it up with auto-app start and/or autosetup your application if not installed.

• "InnoUninst" (by Aaron Chan)
  >> http://aerodynamica.idz.net
  It adds repair and reinstall support to your apps with minimal effort.

• "Uninstall For InnoSetup" (by Han-soft)
  >> http://www.han-soft.biz/down.php
  Based on InnoUninst, but much smaller.

• "INI Translator" (by Peter Thoernqvist)
  >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/initranslator
  Ini Translator is a small Windows tool to simplify the translation of ini style language files (like the Default.isl file of Inno Setup).

• "iwz2iss" (by Michal Kulczycki)
  >> http://strony.wp.pl/wp/mikequ/eng/iwz2iss.htm
  iwz2iss converts InstallShield's IWZ project files into Inno Setup's ISS files.
  It is integrated into ISTool since version 3.0.4.3.

• "TCPInst/EnvInst" (by Andrey Adamovich)
  >> http://www13.brinkster.com/vincenzog/isxart.asp?idart=38
  Command line tools for manipulating the SERVICES and HOSTS files on Win9x and NT, and for changing environment variables on the NT platform.

• "IsUtils" (by Dmitriy Evinshteyn)
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup.isx/msg00594.html
  Support for updating PATH and other environment variables.

• "add_path" (by Marco Barisione)
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup.isx/msg04719.html
  Command line tool for manipulating the PATH environment variable value.

• "MyTouchIt" (by Frank Heindoerfer)
  >> http://www.heindoerfer.com/mytouchit.htm
  A tool for changing the timestamps of files (Creation time, Last modified time, Last access time).

• "ReplaceIcon" (by Miha Remec)
  >> http://www.miharemec.com/tools.html
  A tool for replacing the main icon of an executable file. Works only on the NT platform.

Recommendation about feature suggestions

The Inno Setup feature tracker is available at http://other.jrsoftware.org/tracker/?s=3.
Although you should post your suggestion there, I RECOMMEND DISCUSSING SUGGESTIONS ON THE NEWSGROUP BEFORE POSTING TO THE FEATURE TRACKER if you are new to Inno Setup. You should at least read the existing feature suggestions before adding a suggestion a second time.

Interesting newsgroup topics of the (recent) past

• "Does this software support install of .NET applications?"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg15222.html
  Shows an example how to install .NET applications with Inno Setup.

• "Can Inno Setup install the .NET Framework on the target machine?"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg19192.html

• "Redistributing the .NET Framework"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg21334.html
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg21335.html

• "Installing Excel Addins using Automation"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg20615.html

• "Hide destination directory dialog if application is already installed"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg21441.html

• "Including empty folders when using the recursesubdirs flag"
  >> http://news.jrsoftware.org/news/innosetup/msg252039.html

Revision history

• 20.08.2003
  
  • Added download mirror for "Install Assistant".
  • Added "Uninstall For InnoSetup" to "Third-Party Tools" section.

• 12.08.2003
  
  • No changes.

• 04.08.2003
  
  • No changes.

• 28.07.2003
  
  • Added an "Interesting newsgroup topic".

• 07.07.2003
  
  • Added "ISFormDesigner" to the "Third-Party Tools" section.

• 29.06.2003
  
  • No changes.

• 09.06.2003
  
  • No changes.

• 02.06.2003
  
  • Added "Install Assistant" to the "Third-Party Tools" section.
  • Revised the order of entries in the "Third-Party Tools" section.

• 25.05.2003
  
  • Relaunch of the "Weekly Assimilation Report" in a new format.