IrfanView installation on Windows XP 64

This article is based on IrfanView 4.27.

IrfanView

Read about IrfanView in Irfanview.

Download

Download Irfanview from www.irfanview.com.

Security warning

Windows warns you before you install software that is not from Microsoft or expensive. Select Run.

Welcome with options

Most software welcome screens are boring but the IrfanView welcome screen includes two sets of options, saving you a step. There is a list of check boxes for creating shortcuts and leave them all on (the default). Change the radio switch from For current user only to For all users.

There is also an installation folder selection and keep the default.

Select next.

What's new in this version?

The what's new page is of no interest on the first installation. Select Next.

Associate extensions

You can associate IrfranView with file extensions during installation or later using the Options Set file associations screen. The only one I set during the installation is CRW/CR2 for viewing Canon raw files. Select next.

One thing to note at this stage. The options are stored in a .ini file and the .ini file requires admin access for changes. You can change the location of the .ini file in the Ready to install step.

Advertising

IrfanView is free and the developer added an advertisement for a software product, a toolbar, to get extra cash. Switch off the toolbar option then select Next. The toolbar is only for Internet Explorer and we use Firefox, which already has all those features without an added toolbar, so we are not losing anything.

Ready to install

Select one of the .ini file folder options then select next to complete the installation. The choice alters the way you set options and is an important consideration. If the .ini file is in the central program folder, you can only update the file when logged in as an administrator. If the file is in a user folder, users can set options but the administrator cannot set them centrally. Some options can have a central default. There is documentation at the IrfanView Web site on how to add local files after starting with a single central file.

Are you sure?

IrfanView asks you if you are really sure about changing file extensions. In most cases the first time user will change only a few associations then test IrfanView then go back and change more extensions.

Installation successful

Select Done. IrfanView will start and you can experiment with options in IrfanView.

IrfanView empty screen

When IrfanView is started, you can start it from a file association or by itself. The following image shows IrfanView with an empty screen because no file is selected.

Uninstall

There is an uninstall link among the IrfanView menu entries. If you set file associations then uninstall, IrfanView sets the associations back to the Windows defaults.

Conclusion

The installation is quick and simple. You have to decide about the location of the .ini file. The file extension associations can be made later.