CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsmacoselectroninstallationelectron-builder
Kiran Maniya
Kiran Maniya

Reputation: 8979

Build standalone .exe from electron app using electron-builder

I'm using electron v6.0.9 with electron-builder v21.2.0. Here is the packaging configuration from my package.json for a production build.

"build": {
    "appId": "com.app.prototype",
    "productName": "Pluto",
    "copyright": "Copyright © 2018 Simon Inc.",
    "mac": {
      "target": [
        "zip"
      ]
    },
    "win": {
      "publisherName": "Simon Inc.",
      "target": [
        "nsis",
        "zip"
      ]
    },
    "linux": {
      "target": [
        "AppImage",
        "tar.gz"
      ]
    },
    "dmg": {
      "icon": "build/icon.icns"
    },
    "publish": {
      "provider": "generic",
      "url": "THE_RELEASE_URL_HERE",
      "channel": "latest",
      "publishAutoUpdate": true
    }
  },

I configured the build script as "pack": "electron-builder --dir -mwl", in script. The issue is, when i run the command npm run pack, it packages the application for all the platform, but for windows there is no single installer file either .exe or '.msi'. electron-builder builds bunch of files for windows.

I'm running on macOS High Sierra v10.13.6 (17G8030). I also tried building on windows 10 system but outcome is the same. is anything misconfigured here or there some more steps required to generate single installer file for windows?

Upvotes: 7

Views: 10906

Answers (1)

Kiran Maniya
Kiran Maniya

Reputation: 8979

I figured it out about how to build a standalone installer from electron source rather than having a bunch of files. Actually we have to use electron-builder with -p. Here is the build configuration in my package.json file.

"build": {
    "appId": "com.trinityinfosystem.accurate",
    "productName": "Accurate",
    "copyright": "Copyright © 2018 Trinity InfoSystem",
    "mac": {
      "target": [
        "zip"
      ],
      "publish": [
        "github"
      ]
    },
    "win": {
      "publisherName": "Trinity InfoSystem",
      "publish": [
        "github"
      ],
      "target": [
        "nsis"
      ]
    },
    "linux": {
      "target": [
        "AppImage",
        "tar.gz"
      ]
    },
    "dmg": {
      "icon": "build/icon.icns"
    },
    "publish": [
      {
        "provider": "github",
        "owner": "vkiranmaniya",
        "repo": "accurate",
        "vPrefixedTagName": true,
        "private": true,
        "releaseType": "draft"
      }
    ]
  }

then i just used electron-builder -p never --win and it packed up the .exe file in project_root/dist directory. You can use -p always if you are using auto-updator from electron-builder and want to publish a release draft in github repository.

If you want to override default install location and let the user choose it, make sure you have configured the nsis build as follow,

"nsis": {
      "oneClick": false,
      "perMachine": false,
      "allowToChangeInstallationDirectory": true
},

Upvotes: 6

Related Questions