Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) - A Really Good Windows Installation System

I wanted to write an installation for IFRI data entry application which is currently being used to enter forest data to their database. The existing installation had some inconsistencies like users had to install the other required software themselves, some permission issues etc. So I had to search for a pretty stable installation system with all those features I wanted.

While searching I found this Harshani's blog about NSIS and thought to give it a try and  decided to write IFRI installer using NSIS. First it was not pretty simple and straight forward. I had to learn NSIS scripting language , tested examples in NSIS site. NSIS documentation was pretty helpful too. So finally I was able to write an installer for IFRI with all the features they expected and NSIS helped me a lot on that. I think it wouldn't be this easy and stable if I used another installation system other than NSIS.

So I'll post some tips and tricks I found  in NSIS scripting later. However Harshani's blog post about NSIS (stated above) is a nice post and shows how to build a simple installer. It will be a good first step on NSIS.

How to Find which Process Runs on which Port in Windows

netstat -ab

shows which process runs on which port. If you need to find a process which runs on a particular port, the command can be used as follows

netstat -ab | find ":8080 "