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Signing an Uninstaller externally - Revision history
2026-05-28T18:52:06Z
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ChrFranke: First
2026-01-06T13:16:51Z
<p>First</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>NSIS v3.08 added support for <span style="font-family: monospace, monospace;">!uninstfinalize</span>.<br />
This command requires that a code signing tool could be run by makensis.<br />
This is not always the case.<br />
<br />
If only an outer workflow for signing is available, first run makensis to create and export the uninstaller.<br />
After signing the uninstaller, re-run makensis to create the installer using the already existing uninstaller.<br />
<br />
For a real world use case, please see the<br />
[https://github.com/smartmontools/smartmontools/blob/970ef448f928ed38ff4b1622005b36ecdb699cac/src/os_win32/installer.nsi#L264 smartmontools installer]<br />
and the related<br />
[https://github.com/smartmontools/smartmontools/blob/4495f4d08238fb76452ae50295c0abf5c77e3f21/.github/workflows/signpath.yml#L40 signpath workflow].<br />
<br />
=== Example ===<br />
<br />
<highlight-nsis><br />
Name "Installer"<br />
OutFile "install.exe"<br />
RequestExecutionLevel user<br />
InstallDir "$DESKTOP\nsis-test"<br />
<br />
Section<br />
MessageBox MB_OK "Installing..."<br />
CreateDirectory "$INSTDIR"<br />
SetOutPath "$INSTDIR"<br />
!ifdef IMPORT_UNINST<br />
; Use file from 'makensis -DEXPORT_UNINST'<br />
File "uninstall.exe"<br />
!else<br />
WriteUninstaller "uninstall.exe"<br />
!endif<br />
SectionEnd<br />
<br />
!ifdef EXPORT_UNINST<br />
; Copy file for 'makensis -DIMPORT_UNINST'<br />
!uninstfinalize 'echo copy /Y "%1" uninstall.exe&copy /Y "%1" uninstall.exe >nul'<br />
!endif<br />
<br />
!ifndef IMPORT_UNINST ; Only if 'WriteUninstaller' is used<br />
Section "Uninstall"<br />
MessageBox MB_OK "Uninstalling..."<br />
call un.Uninstall<br />
SectionEnd<br />
<br />
Function un.Uninstall<br />
Delete "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"<br />
RMDir "$INSTDIR"<br />
FunctionEnd<br />
!endif<br />
</highlight-nsis><br />
<br />
Then run:<br />
<br />
makensis -DEXPORT_UNINST installer.nsi<br />
run_outer_signing_workflow_on uninstall.exe<br />
makensis -DIMPORT_UNINST installer.nsi<br />
<br />
The above uses Windows <span style="font-family: monospace, monospace;">cmd</span> syntax to copy the file.<br />
Enhance the export code as follows to enable builds also on a POSIX system:<br />
<br />
<highlight-nsis><br />
!ifdef EXPORT_UNINST<br />
; Export the uninstaller for 'makensis -DIMPORT_UNINST'<br />
!system 'exit 256' STATUS ; POSIX systems truncate STATUS to 8 bit<br />
!if ${STATUS} = 256 ; Assume native build<br />
!uninstfinalize 'echo copy /Y "%1" uninstall.exe&copy /Y "%1" uninstall.exe >nul'<br />
!else ; Assume cross build<br />
!uninstfinalize 'cp -fv "%1" uninstall.exe'<br />
!endif<br />
!endif ; EXPORT_UNINST<br />
</highlight-nsis><br />
<br />
[[Category:Code Examples]]</div>
ChrFranke