ExifTool Windows installer and portable package

As an addition to the Windows ExifTool package offered at Phil Harvey's site, I offer here a convenient installer of Phil Harvey's ExifTool for Windows - probably the most comprehensive tool available for accessing metadata in image and other files.

Until mid 2024, when exiftool.org switched to my launcher, it was also an alternative to the par/PP packed "single EXE" offered there.

Purpose

In early 2019, I started to improve the Windows environment for ExifTool with the following features / improvements:

• Run Perl in a native, clean and fast way, avoiding the self-extracting Perl Packager with its resulting problems (technical background).
• Provide a convenient Windows installer based on Inno Setup with reasonable default directories.
• Use the well-supported Strawberry Perl with a permissive license.

Status

Since July 2024, exiftool.org also uses my launcher and Perl system for the Windows version of ExifTool. My version is 20% larger because it contains self test files and HTML docs. The installer is currently only available here.

There were no user complaints throughout the years, so I consider this package pretty mature.

It passes the built-in automated self tests and additional tests, and I'm using it successfully on my own system with Photools IMatch, a great Digital Asset Management (DAM) for Windows and on the command line. It also works with ExifToolGui.

Downloads:

What you get is "plain ExifTool" plus a stripped "portable Strawberry Perl" plus my own tiny launcher, provided as a Windows installer or just packed together in a ZIP file:

Latest build, based on Strawberry Perl 5.32.1.1:
ExifTool_install_12.98_32.exe Windows Installer, 32 bit version
ExifTool_install_12.98_64.exe Windows Installer, 64 bit version
exiftool-12.98_32.zip package without installer, 32 bit version
exiftool-12.98_64.zip package without installer, 64 bit version

For automated checks, find the version of the latest version in exiftool_latest_version.txt

Please note that very few virus scanners signal false positives for Inno Setup created installers. Please report these errors to your AV supplier. Use the ZIP archive if you don't trust InnoSetup.

Installer options

You may install "for me only" or "for all users".

If you select "for all", the installer requests administrative rights and suggests installing to the protected folder %ProgramFiles(x86)%\ExifTool for the 32 bit version or %ProgramFiles%\ExifTool for the 64 bit version. The advantage is that the ExifTool installation is then protected against unintentional or malicious modification.

If you select "for me only", the installation path defaults to %LocalAppData%\Programs\ExifTool. That's no protected folder, so you need no administrative rights (See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfolderid {5CD7AEE2-2219-4A67-B85D-6C9CE15660CB})

Update

Please note that the installer will not ask for the installation path if a previous installation was carried out with the "Make an entry in Add/Remove Programms List" option.

To update Exiftool, first uninstall the old version, then install the new version!

Using Perl alone

The "exiftool_files" directory contains a stripped version of Strawberry Perl (portable) with just the modules necessary to run ExifTool, including the original Perl.exe. You can use it like any Perl for Windows, but the installer will not add this directory to your path.

Sources

How to build the installer yourself - if you don't trust me or want to modify it:

Get the ExifTool files from https://github.com/exiftool/exiftool/

Copy or rename windows_exiftool to exiftool.pl in the exiftool_files folder together with the other ExifTool files and directories (keep the structure).

Build the "Perl launcher" exiftool.exe with the sources found in Portable-Perl-Applications (or extract it from the zip file offered above).

Add a set of files from the portable Strawberry Perl distribution needed to run ExifTool.

License, disclaimer and contact

The small proportion of my own content is licensed under the CC0 license

See https://exiftool.org/ and http://strawberryperl.com/ for the license of ExifTool and Strawberry Perl and https://jrsoftware.org/ for Inno Setup.

I make no warranties about the package, and disclaim liability for all uses of the package, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Please send:

• Questions about using ExifTool to the ExifTool forum
• Useful comments about this specific Windows version to the forum or to me directly ppl [ät] oliverbetz [punkt] de - especially if you found bugs or improved something.