How do I make a self extract and running installer

Question

So currently my users download a zipfile  unzip it and then run setup exe - I would like them to do this with one click  Using http   www wikihow com Use-7Zip-to-Create-Self-Extracting-excutables i can make a self-extracting exe  but it doesn t actually run the installer   From this question  Why does 7zip Ignore my InstallPath when making a SFX installer   it seems I also need an  sfx file so I copied from the other question and created one with the following contents     Install  UTF-8  InstallPath  C   test  GUIMode  2  RunProgram  setup exe     InstallEnd     and called setup sfx and add this to archive together with the other files  setup ini setup exe setup ico install jar JVM32  folder    but it made no difference  what else do I need to do   Supplementary question  I also have WinRar  does it effect the end user experience whether I use 7Zip or Winrar

User · Answer

It s simple with open source 7zip SFX-Packager - easy way to just  Drag  amp  drop  folders onto it  and it creates a portable self-extracting package

User · Answer

I have created step by step instructions on how to do this as I also was very confused about how to get this working   How to make a self extracting archive that runs your setup exe with 7zip -sfx switch  Here are the steps   Step 1 - Setup your installation folder  To make this easy create a folder c  Install  This is where we will copy all the required files   Step 2 - 7Zip your installers   Go to the folder that has your  msi and your setup exe Select both the  msi and the setup exe Right-Click and choose 7Zip --   Add to Archive  Name your archive  Installer 7z   or a name of your choice  Click Ok You should now have  Installer 7z   Copy this  7z file to your c  Install directory   Step 3 - Get the 7z-Extra sfx extension module  You need to download 7zSD sfx   Download one of the LZMA packages from here Extract the package and find 7zSD sfx in the bin folder  Copy the file  7zSD sfx  to c  Install   Step 4 - Setup your config txt  I would recommend using NotePad   to edit this text file as you will need to encode in UTF-8  the following instructions are using notepad      Using windows explorer go to c  Install right-click and choose  New Text File  and name it config txt right-click and choose  Edit with NotePad   Click the  Encoding Menu  and choose  Encode in UTF-8  Enter something like this      Install  UTF-8  Title  SOFTWARE v1 0 0 0  BeginPrompt  Do you want to install SOFTWARE v1 0 0 0   RunProgram  setup exe     InstallEnd      Edit this replacing  SOFTWARE v1 0 0 0  with your product name  Notes on the parameters and options for the setup file are here   CheckPoint  You should now have a folder  c  Install  with the following 3 files        Installer 7z     7zSD sfx     config txt   Step 5 - Create the archive  These instructions I found on the web but nowhere did it explain any of the 4 steps above    Open a cmd window  Window   R --  cmd --  press enter In the command window type the following  cd   cd Install copy  b 7zSD sfx   config txt   Installer 7z MyInstaller exe  Look in c  Install and you will now see you have a MyInstaller exe You are finished   Run the installer  Double click on MyInstaller exe and it will prompt with your message  Click OK and the setup exe will run   P S  Note on Automation  Now that you have this working in your c  Install directory I would create an  Install bat  file and put the copy script in it   copy  b 7zSD sfx   config txt   Installer 7z MyInstaller exe   Now you can just edit and run the Install bat every time you need to rebuild a new version of you deployment package

User · Answer

Okay I have got it working  hope this information is useful    First of all I now realize that not only do self-extracting zip start extracting with doubleclick  but they require no extraction application to be installed on the users computer because the extractor code is in the archive itself  This means that you will get a different user experience depending on what you application you use to create the sfx I went with WinRar as follows  this does not require you to create an sfx file  everything can be created via the gui    Select files  right click and select Add to Archive  Use Browse   to create the archive in the folder above Change Archive Format to Zip Enable Create SFX archive Select Advanced tab Select SFX Options Select Setup tab  Enter setup exe into the Run after Extraction field Select Modes tab Enable Unpack to temporary folder Select text and Icon tab Enter a more appropriate title for your task Select OK Select OK    The resultant exe unzips to a temporary folder and then starts the installer

[7zip] How do I make a self extract and running installer

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