Archive: Getting source code from NSIS exe
Getting source code from NSIS exe
I have come in halfway on a new project that is updating an installer created years ago. The original source code is not available to me, but I do have an NSIS exe file. I am curious as to what the field installer is doing in regards to the registry, and am wondering if somehow I can grab the original source code from this exe to find out. Thanks
I once came across an NSIS decompiler. I think it was Universal Extractor using 7z or something. But of course there's not much left of the original code after decompilation.
But if you're interested in the registry, just use regmon to see exactly what it's doing.
Currently NSIS installers cannot be fully decompiled. The installer itself doesn't provide any method to extract files or the script without installation. It is the developer's choice whether the source code and/or the files for the installer are available to the public or not.
There are, however, external tools that allow this. 7-zip supports decompressing NSIS installers compressed with lzma or bzip, but the source code is still partially compiled and requires extensive modification before the script can be recompiled. A decompression plug-in is also available for TotalCommander.
As a general note to software developers, you should use a plugin like DCryptDll if you need to protect certain files in your installer.
Source: Click here.
p.s. A simple google search would have gave you these information.