NSIS - rebuilding the installer exe file

Question

Suppose I have created an installation exe using NSIS. The exe is a compressed (7zip maybe) file that contains everything to install the application on a fresh machine, and that comprises big exe files (like .NET runtimes, mysql server installer, etc.). I have to send via the Internet the big exe file to another person.

To save time and bandwidth, I'd like to remove the contained big files; I can do that using 7zip to open and extract all the files in the original exe, delete the big ones, rezip using again 7zip. This works up now.

The other party will download the reduced zipped file, but then has to reintroduce the big files in some way, recreating the exe installer.

I don't know how to achieve that. I've tried with paquet builder with no success. Is that possible?

Answer 1

I don't think it's possible. But I think I have another solution for you. Why don't you simply execute separate executables (like .NET runtime etc) from NSIS bundle? This way you don't need to include them into resulting bundle. Just tell the user to download them and put the into proper place. It would be easier than instructing them to assemble bundle from pieces, no?