Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

mkeeley reviewed v2.40 on Oct 13, 2008

I used to use and support NSIS all the time as it used to be a simple elegant yet powerful solution however as time has gone by it has become a clunky mess. Now use InnoSetup and can't see a time I'd go back unless NSIS was re-written from scratch.

jcollake reviewed v2.36 on Apr 24, 2008

Fyi on previous comment: BCJ & BCJ2 is included with LZMA, which I assume most people will be choosing with NSIS. The most critical thing is to enable BLOCK support so the whole bunch of files is essentially TAR'd together first. This improves compression substantially since the LZ 'dictionary'/window spans across all the files.

guti reviewed v2.36 on Mar 31, 2008

Althought it lacks a native Win64 port, and still has no BCJ filter for compressing EXE, it is the best installer tool.

PostDeals reviewed v2.26 on Apr 30, 2007

Awesome product, stable and FREE. Keep up the great work Open Source.

DaveGB reviewed v2.25 on Apr 2, 2007

We used to use Installshield Pro for many years, and it was horrendous. We had a list of install defects as long as our arms, developers always had issues creating installs, and if you wanted to do anything outside the norm, you were asking for trouble.

We switched to NSIS, 2.5 years ago, we now have no serious install defects, and everything runs smoothly, if we need to do anything out of the norm, it's a doddle using plugins.

Moving to NSIS was the best decision we ever made.

SWortham reviewed v2.24 on Feb 22, 2007

So you know where I'm coming from, I was using InstallShield for about 6 months. I wrote about 20 different installers with it and eventually got fed up with its awful support for what I considered simple custom tasks. When I eventually figured out how to do some of what I wanted, I still faced problems with InstallShield's flaky behavior.

So I tried a few other installers and eventually came to NSIS. I used the HM NIS Edit tool to build my first NSIS installer. The wizard took me through the basic steps of creating my first installer, and it wrote the code I needed to get started. The code was a little weird at first but I'm a programmer so I got the hang of it eventually. I was able to do EVERYTHING I wanted with NSIS. I'm using it on a fairly large scale and I've had absolutely no complaints with flaky behavior from thousands of users now. On top of that, the final executable NSIS produces is much smaller than an equivalent InstallShield exe. And an NSIS installer performs the installation MUCH faster than InstallShield as well.

So for me it was a no brainer. Once I got over the initial learning curve of NSIS I never looked back. I highly recommend it for any programmer who wants to build good Windows Installer packages for their software.

some guy reviewed v2.24 on Feb 20, 2007

I will agree with you Dudeboyz, it does need a wizard for the newbs, like my favorit INNO
http://fileforum.betanew...Inno_Setup/1018011974/1

Though I do think you have more advanced features on NSIS then the others but INNO and install wizard pro are very easy for novice.
I would give this a 5 if they did have a install wizard option for newbs aswell. I hope the programers of this software hear are cries....

rstat1 reviewed v2.24 on Feb 19, 2007

This is not a review but a reply to the previous reviewer: There are plenty of tools that do that very same thing. My favorite is Venis IX.

DudeBoyz reviewed v2.23 on Jan 16, 2007

Setup Stream, mentioned below, is much easier for simple install stuff. I agree that this product needs a much less complicated alternative way of packing an app for installation. Just a few screens with text entry boxes and some wizard-like things to make it as easy as a few simple steps.

If you need more complicated stuff and don't mind coding, that is fine, but it would be nice to have an alternative interface for n00bs. :)

kmleow reviewed v2.22 on Dec 5, 2006

Needs a user-friendly frontend

HelgeFossmo reviewed v2.22 on Nov 28, 2006

2.22 changes is here:
http://sourceforge.net/p...s.php?release_id=466975

billweh reviewed v2.21 on Oct 23, 2006

This is great install creator, very flexible. To "the artist" who was looking for something that was more of a point and click interface, may I suggest SetupStream 2. (http://www.virtualzone.de/setupstream/). This is another great freeware program and it does a great job with no coding whatsoever.

the artist reviewed v2.21 on Oct 21, 2006

hey, im asking here to all who know about this stuff...

wouldn't it be possible to have an installer engine like this to do it all without requiring any programming skills at all? Couldn't it work like an Assistant? I could tell NSIS which files i will want intalled and ad a picture here, some text there, schematize how the screens pop up and what they say, and i could choose what questions to make or decisions i want to let be done by the people who install my soft. Would it be that hard in this 2006, almost 07? Why the hell do i have to know programming?

i'll rate it 5 not to downgrade it's rating.

guti reviewed v2.21 on Oct 21, 2006

Best installer, with tiny SFX overhead, and huge compression due to LZMA.

Glad to see they are adding x64 support.

Now let's wait for a full x64 optimized version.

jcollake reviewed v2.17 on Jun 23, 2006

Some people prefer 'simpler' low-level-like instructions rather than more complex languages. You can usually build whatever from a simpler language, not always so true of more 'easy to use' complex scripting languages.

Sure, the scripting could be better. But this is an installer, not a general purpose scripting language.

The fans rate it high because they either 1.) like the scripting language 2.) don't mind the scripting language or 3.) like open-source (open source fanatics always vote 5 for open source ;p).

So.. I'm giving it a 5. Because I use it, because its scripting language does what I need it to, because it's not MSI, and because it's free.

nwestbury reviewed v2.17 on Jun 2, 2006

NSIS has many benefits over the competion, but I cannot see how anyone can give it a score of more than 2 given the awful scripting language. I have seen so many NSIS functions that contain streams of 'assembler' instructions that would be so much easier, more readable, and far fewer lines if written in a more traditional high level language language (Java, C++, C##, Basic etc). Unless NSIS was written so that college kids get an idea of what assembler might be like, I know of no imaginable reason for making the scripting language so obtruse and unmaintainable. I could give many examples comparing functions in NSIS to how there would look using a more traditional language, but I find it hard to believe that even the biggest NSIS fan cannot be aware of how awful the NSIS scripting language is.

- Nigel

oakey reviewed v2.14 on Jan 24, 2006

Although targeted mainly towards the developer audience, it does not take much to learn how to use this. One tool that is useful is NIS Edit, which even has a wizard for creating a simple installer.

Also I suspect that the whole spyware idea comes from those that are less informed about the idea of installers. I have seen many applications that are bundled with spyware, who do use NSIS for their installer. This does not mean that NSIS comes with spyware. This type of thing could just as easily be done with Inno Setup, or any other installer.

The MAZZTer reviewed v2.11 on Nov 14, 2005

My installer package of choice when making installers for my programs. Very easy to customize through scripting.

some guy reviewed v2.10 on Oct 5, 2005

very nice, this installer creator is more towards the advance programer,as install sheild.. Inno,install maker pro, are for the non experienced user.
and does not contain spy or addware.

hollywoodstar88 reviewed v2.10 on Oct 5, 2005

flashhh

A good developer does not mind scripting. We also know that NULL is not the same as zero.

netwiz562 reviewed v2.10 on Oct 4, 2005

flashhh, what BS. NSIS is excellent and its target audience is developers not dumb users; it's a scripting language which provides all the customization programmers want. Inno is good, but this is better. Anyways NSIS has evolved a ton since its left the hands of nullsoft, and there is absolutely no spyware. Winamp is now in the hands of AOL and most of the original developers have left..... it used to be on my need-to-install-first list, but no longer is so; now I use musikCube.

ModderXManiac reviewed v2.10 on Oct 4, 2005

Much easier to customize than InstallShield(r)

very good!

flashh, YOUR AN IDIOT!

HOW CAN THIS HAVE SPYWARE WHEN IT'S CLEARLY LABELED AS Open Source?!?!Something fishy there...

No, this is NOTHING like Winamp ;)

kichik reviewed v2.09 on Sep 6, 2005

flashhh, you may say it's hard to use and you may say you prefer Inno Setup. I won't even be insulted if you say it sucks, but please, stick to the facts. NSIS contains NO spyware whatsoever. It is an open-source project, so you may go ahead and check the source code for yourself, if you don't believe me. I am aware some anti-spyware applications have flasely detected some NSIS installers as spyware in the past. But those detections were a mistake and they were fixed. Inno Setup had its share of false detections as well. It's an open-source project as well and does not contain any spyware.

flashhh reviewed v2.09 on Sep 5, 2005

I don't understand why this trash has been awarded and why it's overrated. I can say just like the other junky nullsoft products , nsis is ridden with spyware. It also is really difficult to use - you have to learn scripts....
I prefer Inno Setup - it's easier to use.
Andthe BN award - it's because this program is created by nullsoft - the creators of the buggyness WinAmp. Nullsoft's software is a "NULL" (ZERO).

eventhorizon reviewed v2.06 on Mar 19, 2005

The best installer available, especially when you consider that it's open source. I've used it with multiple software projects, and it does the job almost too well.

taxis reviewed v2.06 on Mar 19, 2005

The language of the slogan is debatable,
but the software itself is great!

It is easy to write a simple install script that produces a clean installation, and no additional effort is necessary to update the installation.

The generated installer is VERY slim (with recent executable packers the installer/uninstaller overhead can be reduced to less than 20k!), fast and easy to use.

[deXter] reviewed v2.05 on Feb 8, 2005

Powerful, customizable, easy to use, produces quite small installers (small overhead), full help and support with a great community, good for novices too... What more can you want from an installer????

Btw, it IS possible for NSIS based setups to ask the user where to put the start menu links; so there ain't any limitation as such. AND there are also free Inno to Nsis converters available..

If size, speed, features, ease of use, help and customizability & cost matter to you- Then go for for NSIS!

ArKay74 reviewed v2.04 on Jan 9, 2005

Had too many bad installations done with this so I don't actually like it (ones that don't even bother to ask you where to put the start menu links). I prefer using Inno Setup myself.

DoctorO reviewed v2.03 on Dec 4, 2004

NSIS is the mutts nuts!! Get it :)

-daz

war593122 reviewed v2.03 on Dec 4, 2004

Link is dead but the program rocks.

kernelsn reviewed v2.02 on Oct 29, 2004

The BEST ! And Powerful.

Jeffsoft reviewed v2.0 on Feb 9, 2004

Powerful!

BeerLion reviewed v2.0 RC1 on Dec 29, 2003

Just the best!

sarcosos reviewed v2.0 RC1 on Dec 29, 2003

Compression could be better - compare with CuteZip's Self-Extracting CABs - other than that, it's almost perfect.

Mark Gillespie reviewed v2.0 RC1 on Dec 28, 2003

Excellent stuff.

Best installer out there, does everything I need it to, without any bloat. If it does not support what you want it to do, you can write your own plugins. Awesome...

will fisher reviewed v2.0 Beta 4 on Nov 20, 2003

kickik is god

sdbarker reviewed v2.0 Beta 2 on Feb 27, 2003

Justin used to own fdiv.org. It most likely expired and was snatched up by some cyber-squatter hoping to re-sell it for tons of money.

You can't decompile an NSIS installer, at present, because the decompiler would have to understand all of the different types of binary headers from all of the different versions of NSIS, as well as know how to identify any of them that have had their source modified (since its open source), so, nobody has yet to write this psychic program.

-Scott

bsf reviewed v2.0 Beta 2 on Feb 27, 2003

just wondering.

why is the author's name linked to a porn website?

WRFan reviewed v2.0 Beta 2 on Feb 26, 2003

can somebody tell me how to decompile a nullsoft installer?

ArKay74 reviewed v2.0 Beta 1 on Feb 11, 2003

Well, hopefully people will use the Start Menu entry selection of the modern gui. I for one don't like to have all programs in the main Start Menu tree, I like to organize my stuff (Multimedia, Internet, ...) and so far all NIS installations sucked big time because they never let you chose the menu location. And I've never liked the standard look-and-feel of the setups.

I'll stick to Inno Setup (in conjunction with the extensions and Inno Setup Tool) because it's easier to use. You can also extend it with Pascalscript and call external DLL's if you want to or need the extra functionality.

sdbarker reviewed v2.0 Beta 1 on Feb 11, 2003

NSIS is significantly smaller than Inno, as well as has a different scripting format. Where Inno scripts, iirc, look more like Windows .ini files, NSIS uses a more true-to-form (in that it's a top-down (usually)) script similar to Basic, with your standard branching (labels, and gotos, as well as functions (via call)), comparisons, and arithmetic operations. You really need to try it to realize how much better it is. It has a bit higher of a learning curve now than it used to, due to all the great new features it has, but don't get discouraged. If you need help, the community at http://forums.winamp.com is always more than happy to help. If you want more info, look me up on there, under the username sdbarker.

-Scott

ryker reviewed v2.0 Beta 0 on Dec 7, 2002

Can anyone tell me how this program compares to Innosetup3? I have been usin InnoSetup for over a year now and it is great. No problems, lots of features, extremely small, and free. But I was curious how NSIS compares if anyone has tried both. Thanks.

kichik reviewed v2.0 Alpha 0 on Aug 30, 2002

NSIS 2 alpha 7 is indeed out, but it is not official. It is my modification of NSIS 2.

Have a look at the SourceForge page:
http://sf.net/projects/nsis2k/

It includes much more than stated above:
1) Full multiple languages support
2) Full color icons and bitmaps
3) New plug-ins calling mechanism (by Ximon Eighteen)
4) A lot of UI enhancements
5) RTF files as license data
6) More...

Justin is currently working on merging this version with his alpha 0 for the final NSIS 2. Untill then, a7 is not an official version.

iamalsohere reviewed v2.0 Alpha 0 on Aug 30, 2002

been using NSIS since version 1.2 - as always, this latest version builds on it's success. Superb.

J.A.X reviewed v2.0 Alpha 0 on Jun 19, 2002

The Best just got better :)

2NoMis reviewed v1.95 on Jan 30, 2002

The best installsystem ever. Easy to use and good look!

Cure110 reviewed v1.9b on Dec 14, 2001

The best... Simply the best..

sdbarker reviewed vPsycho 1.9 Alpha on Dec 12, 2001

OMG! BZIP! It's about time! r0x0rz.

winamprocker reviewed vPsycho 1.9 Alpha on Dec 12, 2001

omfg..... justin frankel is a machine 1.9 alpha already

BoNeLeSS reviewed v1.8 Beta 3 on Dec 7, 2001

This wonderful piece software is getting better everyday. If you are a software developer remember: You will be able to do with NSIS 90% another install systems do. And save $$$$!!!
Hope to see someday and¡ IDE for this :)

bur[n]er reviewed v1.80 Beta on Dec 4, 2001

My favorite installer app for win32 environment. Nullsoft ownz. A quick lil script and I packaged up Litestep for use in a distro form. NSIS just keeps getting better and better. I've used it since around 1.6 and it's just amazing. A minimalist dream.

GimieGimieGimie reviewed v1.80 Beta on Dec 4, 2001

Just keeps getting better and better.

winamprocker reviewed v1.7 Beta 3 on Dec 3, 2001

nobody posted cos they were so amazed that steve posted here... Im amazed
NSIS kicks a** I use it all the time now

steve you rule!!

if u don't know who steve is visit the winamp forums

GimieGimieGimie reviewed v1.55 on Oct 11, 2001

Hey ryan!, anyways, this software is tops, i can't believe no one has posted any thing since 1.0h and its now 1.55! :)
So here it is!

ryan.heywood reviewed v1.0h on Aug 28, 2000

Besides from the excellent name this is one fine piece of software.

sgedikian reviewed v1.0g on Aug 1, 2000

PiMP was originally made for Plug-ins. This was created more as a general purpose Installer that anyone can use. If there's something wrong with it, why don't you change the source code, send a copy to justin and maybe the next version will include the functionality. LOVE!

-steve

mike1478 reviewed v1.0f on Aug 1, 2000

SuperPIMP (Super Plug-in Mini Packager), you have love that name! But I think this was really made for developers that make plug-ins for WinAmp. I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. ;)

dso47 reviewed v1.0f on Aug 1, 2000

Very good for simple installations. Has problems on some systems though, like creating Start Menu shortcuts. Can be quite difficuilt to use, especially compiling the source. Otherwise very good source code.

axuk reviewed v1.0f on Aug 1, 2000

yeah yeah.. but WHO came up with the name SuperPimp? *laugh*