Nefarius' nŏvīcĭus universal software updater agent for Windows.
vīcĭus is a self-contained C++ executable (built with MSVC's latest language standard) acting as a software update agent for Microsoft Windows. It can be deployed alongside your product and will take care of periodically checking for newer versions online and notifying the user of pending updates. Its goal is to require the least amount of configuration to get it up and running while providing enough flexibility to be customized for various environments, if desired. It doesn't require any prerequisites being present on the target system and should be able to run on any recent Windows version.
Dealing with software update mechanics has been a steady companion for almost 10 years by now, so it's about time to learn from all the mistakes, hardships and shortcomings the various products used have put me through all this time 😅 If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself 💪
- No backend application server required
All you need on the server-side to get going is a web host supporting delivering static JSON files and you're done. GitHub Pages would be a sufficient free hosting solution where you can upload to and deliver the updater configuration from. Take a look at the example server implementation if you wish to write your own backend service. - Self-contained
No need to worry if .NET or other runtimes are present on the target machines, everything it needs is delivered in a single Win32 executable. - (Almost) zero configuration
The bare minimum configuration can be provided by simply compiling in the server URL by adjusting theCustomizeMe.hheader file. This does not mean you need to maintain one build for every product you wanna support; you will get multi-tenancy out of the box by simply naming the resulting executable after the following scheme:manufacturer_product_Updater.exe, e.g.nefarius_HidHide_Updater.exewill build the server path ashttps://example.org/api/nefarius/HidHide/updates.json(or however it is defined inCustomizeMe.h) automatically!- All alternative, more sophisticated configuration options are described in the extended documentation.
- If you wish to completely avoid touching the cloned sources have a look at the optional includes.
- Sane defaults
We hate wasting time writing configuration files as much as the next person; most configuration options are either optional or have sane default fallback values you can depend on. - Self-updater
Sometimes just the updater process needs an update (e.g. security patches), not the entire product it is watching over. It can update itself if the server-provided instance version is higher than the locally running one. - Self-healing
If run in autostart when the user logs on, it can make sure that scheduled tasks and other supportive components are configured and working properly. - Low resource consumption
The updater process is only invoked on demand (at user logon and once per day via Task Scheduler) and doesn't keep running in the background. - Respects your time
Busy fragging in a game? We won't bother you with any popup windows until you're ready. - Powerful template engine included
Sometimes finding the local resource of interest to check the product version can be more challenging than just having a static, boring file path. You can use inja templates to build your own path resolving logic, all while never having to leave your JSON strings! - Expressive modern changelog support
Update summaries a.k.a. changelogs don't have to be boring slabs of text; Markdown is fully supported! The included fonts are also capable of rendering Fork Awesome icons and system-provided emojis! 🎉 🥳 🍕
- Windows 7 or later (x86, x86_64, ARM64)
- Note: currently anything below Windows 10 is untested and low priority
- An NTFS formatted volume
- An Internet connection
- Your software updates need to be packaged in one of the following ways:
- Some sort of setup engine like WiX/WixSharp, Inno Setup, Advanced Installer, NSIS or similar
- A self-extracting archive (7zip SFX, WinRAR SFX and alike)
- A ZIP archive containing portable software (see this guide for details)
Head over to the extended documentation for examples and detailed explanations.
Build artifacts for every push to master are available as workflow run artifacts. Consider these nightly snapshots.
Stable releases are published on the repository releases page. Keep in mind that those releases are built to use my own update infrastructure, so in 99% of the cases you probably don't want to use them, at least not without a configuration file!
All screenshots are taken from the included demo server (see Run the demo locally).
 Start page — update notification with "Display update details now", "Remind me tomorrow", and "Open help web page" actions. |
 Markdown changelog — rich update summary with headings, bold text, and hyperlinks rendered inline. |
 Scrollable changelog — long bullet lists trigger a vertical scrollbar; the "Download and install" button stays accessible. |
 Inline sections — changelog can contain multiple named blocks, including an image block ("Demo logo"). |
 Inline image — server-supplied images (e.g. a product logo) are rendered directly inside the changelog. |
 More details — additional release notes with clickable external hyperlinks. |
 Downloading — determinate progress bar showing bytes transferred and percentage. |
 Installing — indeterminate/marquee progress bar while the setup process runs. |
 Error handling — failed installation with human-readable exit-code description and retry guidance. |
The fastest way to see the updater in action after a fresh clone:
- Start the example server — open
examples.slnin Visual Studio, press F5 (ordotnet runinsideexamples/server/). It listens onhttp://localhost:5200. - Start the updater — open
vīcĭus.sln, select Debug | x64, press F5. The committedsrc/vīcĭus.vcxproj.userpasses--server-url,--log-level debug, and--log-to-fileautomatically, so no manual configuration is needed.
See the example server README for a full walkthrough of what the demo exercises.
Set up Visual Studio 2022 or newer with the C++ Desktop Development workload.
To get binary compression to work upx has to be installed. You can do so via e.g.:
winget install upxYou do not have to touch the checked out sources if you wish to customize your build.
Assuming a manufacturer name Valkirie and product name HandheldCompanion, create the following folder structure and file .\include\Valkirie\HandheldCompanion\ViciusPostCustomizeMe.h and override the server url in there like so:
#undef NV_API_URL_TEMPLATE
#define NV_API_URL_TEMPLATE "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Valkirie/HandheldCompanion/main/Valkirie_HandheldCompanion_Updates.json"Now you can build from the command line pointing the compiler to the directory of your header(s) like so:
msbuild .\src\vīcĭus.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:CustomIncludes="${PWD}\include\Valkirie\HandheldCompanion\" /p:UpdaterName=Valkirie_HandheldCompanion_UpdaterThis will produce the binary Valkirie_HandheldCompanion_Updater.exe with the server URL of your custom header file baked into it!
You're of course free to put the custom header files anywhere on your system (like your own private repository), they do not need to be put under the project root directory.
For more details check the issue tracker.
The abstractions/ directory contains Nefarius.Vicius.Abstractions — the managed (C#) mirror of
the C++ JSON payload models.
- External consumers (backend servers, tooling) reference it as a NuGet package.
- The example server in this repo references it directly as a
ProjectReferenceto the co-locatedabstractions/project, so a single PR can update both the C++ models and the C# types together.
Migrating from the old standalone package? The standalone Nefarius.Vicius.Abstractions repository has been archived. The package id and namespace are unchanged; simply update your package source/version.
This tool benefits from these awesome projects ❤ (appearance in no special order):
- Dear ImGui
- Argh! A minimalist argument handler
- Markdown renderer for Dear ImGui using MD4C parser
- IconFontCppHeaders
- Ruda Font
- Fork Awesome
- REST client for C++
- cURLpp
- {fmt} formatting library
- JSON for Modern C++
- Magic Enum C++
- Semantic Versioning library for modern C++
- WinReg
- Portable C++ Hashing Library
- A modern C++ scope guard that is easy to use but hard to misuse
- Fast C++ logging library
- A Template Engine for Modern C++
- Simple C++ ini parser
- MimeTypes
- A C++ header-only HTTP/HTTPS server and client library
- A C library for reading, creating, and modifying zip archives
- My opinionated collection of C++ utilities
- The DirectX Tool Kit (aka DirectXTK)
- Using Icon Fonts
- Image Loading and Displaying Examples
- DailyTaskScheduler
- INFO: Windows Rundll and Rundll32 Interface
- How can I run a child process that requires elevation and wait?
- Execute from Alternate Streams
- Vista Goodies in C++: Showing Friendly Messages with Task Dialogs
- How to retrieve files digital signature information?
- Windows Authenticode Portable Executable Signature Format
- How To Get Information from Authenticode Signed Executables
- VERSIONINFO resource
- Semantic Versioning 2.0.0
- Windows Platform Comparison Environment Variable Reference
- C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and MacOS
- Silently Install EXE and MSI setup applications (Unattended) - How To Guide
- Markdown Guide Basic Syntax
- WICTextureLoader