How can I modify the description or version information for the Windows installers?

Author: BitRock Support       Date: July 07, 2008 14:49       Tags:

Branding Tips Windows Customization

Currently, editing the description and version .EXE information is not directly supported through InstallBuilder. However you can use a freeware useful tool that you can download here:

http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

It actually allows replacing all icons, cursors and other resources, plus extra editing of the exe like description, copyright, etc. Please note that for making any of these changes, you need to decompress the exe in advance, using UPX decompressor (free and multiplatform) available here:

http://upx.sourceforge.net

The procedure is simple. First, start using UPX with the following line inside a dos window (command prompt):

upx -d installer.exe

You will need to replace installer.exe according to the installer file you want to decompress. Then, you can load the decompressed exe file in the Reshack freeware tool and edit the description and company name. Finally, you will probably want to compress again the installer using UPX. Using a dos window, you will need to type:

upx installer.exe

Automating the process

The Resource Hacker tool can be executed from the command line, therefore allowing for the process to be automated. For instance, we will update the "Version Information" section (which contains the description, version, etc information).

As a prerequisite, you need to obtain an .rc file for the Version Information section. You can obtain it from Resource Hacker itself, loading one of our installers from the Graphical interface, selecting the "Version Info" section with the mouse, and then going to "Actions" -> "Save [Version Info] Resources...". The resulting .rc file would look like:

1 VERSIONINFO
FILEVERSION 1,0,0,0
PRODUCTVERSION 1,0,0,0
FILEOS 0x4
FILETYPE 0x2
{
BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
{
        BLOCK "040904b0"
        {
                VALUE "FileDescription", "Your company Description"
                VALUE "OriginalFilename", "nameOfInstaller.exe"
                VALUE "CompanyName", "Your Company Name"
                VALUE "FileVersion", "1,0,0,0"
                VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright © 200X-200Y Your Company"
                VALUE "ProductName", "Your Product Name"
                VALUE "ProductVersion", "1,0,0,0"
        }
}

BLOCK "VarFileInfo"
{
        VALUE "Translation", 0x0409 0x04B0
}
}

You can save this file for any future modifications to the version information. Now you only need to perform the following four steps:

• 1. Convert the .rc file to a .res file. You can do it using another freeware tool that you can download from:
  
  http://www.jorgon.freeserve.co.uk/Gorcjorg.zip
  
  In order to convert the .rc file (for instance, myversioninfo.rc) to a .res file you would need to use the command below:
  
  \path\to\GoRC.exe /r myversioninfo.rc
  
  There is another tool, windres.exe of MinGW, which can also produce .res from .rc files:
  
  $ windres -i myversioninfo.rc -o myversioninfo.res -O res
  
  Then a myversioninfo.res file will be automatically generated.


• 2. Uncompress the installer using UPX:
  
  \path\to\upx.exe -d original-installer.exe
  
  
• 3. Create a new installer with the updated information using the ResHacker.exe tool:
  
  \path\to\ResHacker.exe -addoverwrite original-installer.exe, new-installer.exe, myversioninfo.res, versioninfo,1,
  
  Please note that the arguments are a comma-separated list, and there is a comma after the last argument.


• 4. Optionally, compress again the installer using UPX:
  
  \path\to\upx.exe new-installer.exe
  
  

Finally, you should have a "new-installer.exe" file with all the updated version information.

Also note that you can directly set the Windows installer icon from InstallBuilder. Please see the following article for more info:

How to change the Windows executable icon?