You've finished your cool program and it's ready for distribution. Well, almost ready — you still need an installation program. It's a pain, but you know that without a state-of-the-art install program, all your hard work may never be noticed. In fact, without the proper install, your program may never even be used. The SetupBuilder 2025 Installation System lets you create a professional and sophisticated install program in a matter of hours, even if you have no programming experience at all.

If you demand the maximum flexibility to create professional, customized Windows installations, SetupBuilder has it all.

• Ready for Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025—SetupBuilder gets you ready for Windows 11 and Server 2025.
• Multiple-OS Version Support—Create one installation that fully supports Windows 11, Server 2016-2025, Windows 8.x, Server 2012 R2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 (R2), Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, 2000, NT4, Me, 98 and even 95.
• Windows x64 (64-bit) Support—SetupBuilder gets you ready for both Windows x86 and Windows x64. If you are writing applications for the 64-bit Windows operating system, you will need a way to install your 64-bit files. Interactions with 64-bit system folders, the 64-bit registry and 64-bit COM registration are supported. This functionality is supported for both Intel and AMD 64-bit platforms. Build installations for pure 64-bit applications and hybrid applications that mix 32-bit and 64-bit code. Distribute native 32-bit and native 64-bit applications with a single version of the installer (SetupBuilder "hybrid" technology). Use a single project base for your 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
• Microsoft .NET Support—SetupBuilder gets you ready to add .NET Assembly into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC), COM Interop Registration .NET Assemblies, and Create Native Image for .NET Assemblies.
• Microsoft .NET Core Runtime Detection and Installation—SetupBuilder provides support for .NET Core Runtimes (both x86 and x64) detection and core runtime installation.
• Remote Deploy Support—SetupBuilder lets you deploy software remotely. The SBRemote Deploy product allows you to distribute Windows software across a computer network quickly and easily. You can avoid managing software installations manually on every PC. Instead, you can perform fully automated unattended installs, uninstalls and updates.
• UAC Compliant—SetupBuilder gets you ready for the latest Windows operating systems. It provides support for important new Windows UAC security functionality and ensures that users are asked to authenticate themselves only once.
• Start Menu and Start Screen Pinning—SetupBuilder Developer Edition lets you add application tiles to the Windows 10 Start menu and pin applications to the Windows 8.1 Start screen. Windows 10 has returned the Start button to its original place: the lower-left part of the screen. Aside from the familiar feel of the Start menu, Microsoft has fused live tiles into the feature, giving it both a classic and fresh look.
• Powerful Scripting Facility—With over 500 predefined setup-related functions in Developer Edition, the point-and-click SetupScript language gives you flexibility in any part of the installation, including user dialog sequence, file transfer, error handling, reboot, and even uninstallation. The powerful SetupScript language allows for conditional compilations so you can create a single script for installing various versions of your software; it opens a world of possibilities for your installation.
• API Calling—API Calling gives you the ability to call Windows API or custom DLLs from your installation script without writing C code.
• Firewall with Advanced Security Support—On computers that are running Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, including Windows 10. On Vista and above, SetupBuilder can support the three network location types: domain, public, and private.
• Set Access Control—Restrict or grant permission to system resources with a single script command. Set access control lists on a variety of system objects. Add, edit and remove permissions of files, registry keys, and created folders.
• Zip and Unzip Support—Add zip and unzip functionality (2.04g archive format compliant) to your installer quickly and easily. When the situation calls for it, you'll be able to extract files from a .ZIP archive for further processing or create industry-compatible .ZIP archives.
• Force File Close—Close a network shared file. Users connected to a shared file or folder are disconnected when you close it.
• Enhanced Stub Loader Technology—Supports for an enhanced stub loader technology to ensure that the SetupBuilder produced .EXE applications have been built in compliance with Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) requirements and recommendations.
• Ultra Compact and Fast Installer Engine—SetupBuilder has always been the industry-leader in low-overhead, high-performance software installers and we are committed to staying leaps ahead of the competition. Compare our tiny 198 KB runtime overhead (including uninstall) to the competition and see for yourself.
• Easily add complex Installation Logic—Installer design can be complex. Your installers need to install new versions of software, as well as detect and update existing versions. Developer Edition's architecture allows you to add this logic to your installers quickly and easily. Detect existing files and folders, read from the Windows Registry, validate user input with regular expressions, read system environment variables, compare variables, and make decisions based upon which Windows OS the installer is running.
• Visual Dialog Editor—Support for quickly customizing the user interface. You can use the Dialog Editor to create new dialogs from scratch for your SetupBuilder application. You can visually design dialogs and add items such as static text, text edit fields, graphics, checkboxes, radio buttons, push buttons, combo boxes, list boxes, and more!
• Extremely Easy to Use—Create complete installations in just minutes using SetupBuilder. Simply point and click your way to a professional installation using SetupBuilder's intuitive graphical interface. Build sophisticated and flexible installations quickly and easily. SetupBuilder is the fastest installation development tool available. With SetupBuilder, you can create a professional installation in less than 30 minutes.
• Core PreRequisites—SetupBuilder provides point-and-click support for core pre-requisites. The Core PreRequisites feature makes it possible to streamline the installation process and to ensure the pre-requisite components are in place.
• Command Line Compiler—Automate your installation build process by building your project from the command line. Works with many leading build products right out of the box.
• International Language Support—SetupBuilder offers unsurpassed support for multilingual installations right out of the box. One installation can handle up to 30 "runtime" languages.
• Internet-based Installations—Create Web Installations to minimize bandwidth requirements by downloading only the files needed for the installation, reducing bandwidth requirements and saving time for the end user.
• Automated Web Updates—Add an automated check for update feature into your software applications. Web Update ensures that your clients are always working with the latest version of your software. It lets you specify settings for periodic updates over the Internet. This client application periodically checks the web for updates, then downloads and installs the newer files.
• Support for SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security)—Built-in support for SSL/TLS. This ensures that all data passed between the web server and the compiled SetupBuilder installer application remain private and integral. This feature is Server Name Indication (SNI) compliant. Our SSL/TLS libraries do not have any dependencies to the MS VC++ runtime.
• Authenticode™ Technology Support—Automatically sign application files, installation packages and the uninstall application with Microsoft Authenticode Digital IDs. Modern Windows operating systems make it vital to use digital signatures in your application files and installation packages. This does not only complying with the latest security requirements, but also giving your users confidence in your product.
• Support for SHA-2 and "dual" SHA-1/SHA-2 Code-Signing—Built-in support for Windows Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-2) to provide SHA-2 and dual SHA-1/SHA-2 type code-signing capability for maximum backward compatibility.
• EV Code Signing—Support for Standard and Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing Certificates.
• setupPROTECT—Generate Serial Numbers and Subscription Keys to protect your installations. This technology is well suited for software subscription services in which the end-users subscribe, for instance on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, etc. basis.
• Make a single installer for any number of products—Use SetupBuilder's Serial Number feature to control what components and products are available to an end-user at installation time.
• Release Management—Support for efficient project release management. Create multiple versions of an application from a single project.
• Delta Updates (Binary Patching)—Create industry-standard (multi-version) byte-level patch installations to distribute repairs and updates.
• Visual Script Debugger—Isolate and resolve problems that arise in your installation scripts. It allows you to track changes in the variables and settings within your installation as they occur.
• Works with Windows 95 and Up—While other installer tools are dropping support for older operating systems such as Windows 95 and 98, we believe that your choice of installation builder shouldn't limit your potential market. Setups created with SetupBuilder work just fine on every Windows operating system from Windows 95 to Windows 11 & Server 2025.
• Maintenance and Support Plan Included—The initial purchase of your new SetupBuilder license includes a Maintenance and Support Plan under which you are eligible for support, upgrades and updates. It also comes with a free Sectigo Premium Membership that allows you to purchase Sectigo certificates at a discounted price.
• Great Value—SetupBuilder includes a royalty-free license allowing for the distribution of an unlimited number of copies and use with an unlimited number of applications.
• Access to optional Consulting Services—We offer customization and consulting services for customers who have special requirements for their installations.
• Trusted by Professionals—Thousands of developers trust SetupBuilder to distribute their software to millions of customers and clients around the world.

Developers have already taken a stand against hard-to-use, unreliable installation tools to make SetupBuilder the standard for script-based Windows software installations.