# Custom Node-RED installer for Windows

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906>\
**Category:** Share Your Projects\
**Tags:** windows, windows-installer\
**Created:** [25 January 2025 10:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906 "2025-01-25T10:24:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sean-McG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/sean-mcg/32/54677_2.png) [@Sean-McG](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Sean-McG)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2025 00:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/1 "2025-01-24T00:49:18Z")

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> [@Installation of Node Red on Windows](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installation-of-node-red-on-windows/94765/22):
>
> What ever happened to @ralphwetzel - [Node-red-windows-installer](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-windows-installer/77148) ?

Anyone, this seemed to be a promising start to the issue ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralphwetzel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ralphwetzel/32/53713_2.png) [@ralphwetzel](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ralphwetzel)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2025 19:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/2 "2025-01-24T19:24:27Z")

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Nothing "happend" ... unfortunately.  
It's still waiting to be reviewed by the Node-RED team. Very likely not on any priority list...

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2025 19:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/3 "2025-01-24T19:39:39Z")

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Shall we open a new thread to resurrect this?

As it happens, I've just reset a bunch of Windows 10 and 11 devices so I currently do have clean test machines available.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralphwetzel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ralphwetzel/32/53713_2.png) [@ralphwetzel](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ralphwetzel)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 10:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/4 "2025-01-25T10:24:06Z")

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> [@TotallyInformation](#):
>
> Shall we open a new thread to resurrect this?

Very welcome. I just checked the installer yesterday ... and it didn't show any issues handling the latest NR version.  
Looking forward to your feedback ... and those of others.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 14:22 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/5 "2025-01-25T14:22:36Z")

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So it seems we need some volunteers to do some testing?

@knolleary, @Steve-Mcl, is something needed to look at getting the installer adopted?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 15:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/6 "2025-01-25T15:07:55Z")

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Where can we find the installer?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 15:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/7 "2025-01-25T15:08:07Z")

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I might be in a position to try this out over the coming weeks.

To save me hunting it down, can you link to the issue/repo please?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 15:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/8 "2025-01-25T15:14:44Z")

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> **[GitHub - node-red/windows-installer](https://github.com/node-red/windows-installer)**
>
> Contribute to node-red/windows-installer development by creating an account on GitHub.

Already in the node-red github. 😄

Ralph is the original author of course.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2025 16:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/custom-node-red-installer-for-windows/94906/9 "2025-01-25T16:25:11Z")

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Very slick.

I only did a quick test as my dev pc is my bread and butter and I dont have another win installation to test against at this time.

I did a non global install, kept current nodejs version, chose NR 4.0.8 and it worked a charm, downloading the node\_modules to the specified directory. However, i chose not to add an icon to desktop. I looked in the chose directory hoping to see a "launch.cmd" (or similar) for me to run but there was none. I did re-run the setup this time i chose to create a desktop icon, but it did not make one.

I then did another run, this time adding a 2nd install (this was not super obvious). This time I chose to create a desktop icon & it worked (sorta). Upon launching the desktop icon it started a command window and fired up Node-RED but it was using the settings file from my HOME/.node-red installation (not the custom installation).

I could have sworn that if the `userDir` is specified it would be enough to tell node-red to use the settings file from that location\* but alas, it uses the one from `~/.node-red`. I tested this with NR 3.0.2 and the same thing occurred.

\* docs for CLI: [Running Node-RED locally : Node-RED](https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/local#command-line-usage)

> `-s`, `--settings FILE` Sets the settings file to use. Default: `settings.js` in `userDir`

_Perhaps this is a Node-RED bug?_

This is what happened...

```log
Welcome to Node-RED
===================

25 Jan 15:55:37 - [info] Node-RED version: v4.0.8
25 Jan 15:55:37 - [info] Node.js version: v18.20.2
25 Jan 15:55:37 - [info] Windows_NT 10.0.22631 x64 LE
25 Jan 15:55:38 - [info] Loading palette nodes
flowfuse-nr-utils added
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] Settings file : \Users\me\.node-red\settings.js <<< Unexpected
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] HTTP Static : c:\staticFiles > /static/ <<< from my ~/.node-red settings file!
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] Context store : 'default' [module=memory]
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] Context store : 'file' [module=localfilesystem]
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] User directory : C:\test\node-red
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [warn] Projects disabled : editorTheme.projects.enabled=false
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] Flows file : C:\test\node-red\flows.json
25 Jan 15:55:39 - [info] Creating new flow file

```

I would suggest the following tweaks:

1. the start up shortcut specifies `.node-red` as the `userDir`
  1. This keeps the node-red installation and the "project" in distinct directory

2. the installer generates the default settings file in `chosen-dir\.node-red\settings.js`
3. the start up shortcut adds `--settings .node-red/settings.js`
4. Create a launcher shortcut in the specified dir (always) (regardless of whether the user ticked "Generate desktop icon") - a nice touch would be if the installer could inform the user of this in the last step summary?
5. Decorate the launcher shortcut in some way? Perhaps use the port number or the parent dir name? (e.g. "Node-RED:1887")
  1. Helps to differentiate multiple installs.

Other points of note:

- NodeJS v22 was not an available option.  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/1/b/1b660709bc72046a5f4be19aee23beedad10b509.png)
- Installing as a service would be a nice touch (NSSM? PM2? Other?)
  - however that brings another world of hurt like which account to run the service as, system global locations, permissions etc.

All in all though, super promising.  
Great simplification. 👏 👏 👏

When I get the chance to try this out on a fresh win 11, I will feedback on that.