diff --git a/src-tauri/nsis/dotnet.nsh b/src-tauri/nsis/dotnet.nsh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..453570a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src-tauri/nsis/dotnet.nsh
@@ -0,0 +1,343 @@
+; A set of NSIS macros to check whether a dotnet core runtime is installed and, if not, offer to
+; download and install it. Supports dotnet versions 3.1 and newer - latest tested version is 7.0.
+;
+; Inspired by & initially based on NsisDotNetChecker, which does the same thing for .NET framework
+; https://github.com/alex-sitnikov/NsisDotNetChecker
+
+!include "WordFunc.nsh"
+!include "TextFunc.nsh"
+!include "X64.nsh"
+
+!ifndef DOTNETCORE_INCLUDED
+!define DOTNETCORE_INCLUDED
+
+; Check that a specific version of the dotnet core runtime is installed and, if not, attempts to
+; install it
+;
+; \param Version The desired dotnet core runtime version as a 2 digit version. e.g. 3.1, 6.0, 7.0
+!macro CheckDotNetCore Version
+
+	; Save registers
+	Push $R0
+	Push $R1
+	Push $R2
+
+	; Push and pop parameters so we don't have conflicts if parameters are $R#
+	Push ${Version}
+	Pop $R0 ; Version
+
+	!define ID ${__LINE__}
+
+	; Check current installed version
+	!insertmacro DotNetCoreGetInstalledVersion $R0 $R1
+
+	; If $R1 is blank then there is no version installed, otherwise it is installed
+	; todo in future we might want to support "must be at least 6.0.7", for now we only deal with "yes/no" for a major version (e.g. 6.0)
+	StrCmp $R1 "" notinstalled_${ID}
+	DetailPrint "dotnet version $R1 already installed"
+	Goto end_${ID}
+
+	notinstalled_${ID}:
+	DetailPrint "dotnet $R0 is not installed"
+
+	!insertmacro DotNetCoreGetLatestVersion $R0 $R1
+	DetailPrint "Latest Version of $R0 is $R1"
+
+
+	; Get number of input digits
+	; ${WordFind} $R1 "." "#" $R2
+	; DetailPrint "version parts count is $R2"
+
+	; ${WordFind} $R1 "." "+1" $R2
+	; DetailPrint "version part 1 is $R2"
+
+	; ${WordFind} $R1 "." "+2" $R2
+	; DetailPrint "version part 2 is $R2"
+
+	; ${WordFind} $R1 "." "+3" $R2
+	; DetailPrint "version part 3 is $R2"
+
+	!insertmacro DotNetCoreInstallVersion $R1
+
+	end_${ID}:
+	!undef ID
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Pop $R2
+	Pop $R1
+	Pop $R0
+
+!macroend
+
+
+
+; Gets the latest version of the runtime for a specified dotnet version. This uses the same endpoint
+; as the dotnet-install scripts to determine the latest full version of a dotnet version
+;
+; \param[in] Version The desired dotnet core runtime version as a 2 digit version. e.g. 3.1, 6.0, 7.0
+; \param[out] Result The full version number of the latest version - e.g. 6.0.7
+!macro DotNetCoreGetLatestVersion Version Result
+
+	; Save registers
+	Push $R0
+	Push $R1
+	Push $R2
+
+	; Push and pop parameters so we don't have conflicts if parameters are $R#
+	Push ${Version}
+	Pop $R0 ; Version
+
+	StrCpy $R1 https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/WindowsDesktop/$R0/latest.version
+	DetailPrint "Querying latest version of dotnet $R0 from $R1"
+
+	; Fetch latest version of the desired dotnet version
+	; todo error handling in the PS script? so we can check for errors here
+	StrCpy $R2 "Write-Host (Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -URI $\"$R1$\").Content;"
+	!insertmacro DotNetCorePSExec $R2 $R2
+	; $R2 contains latest version, e.g. 6.0.7
+
+	; todo error handling here
+
+	; Push the result onto the stack
+	${TrimNewLines} $R2 $R2
+	Push $R2
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Exch
+	Pop $R2
+	Exch
+	Pop $R1
+	Exch
+	Pop $R0
+
+	; Set result
+	Pop ${Result}
+
+!macroend
+
+!macro DotNetCoreGetInstalledVersion Version Result
+	!define DNC_INS_ID ${__LINE__}
+
+	; Save registers
+	Push $R0
+	Push $R1
+	Push $R2
+
+	; Push and pop parameters so we don't have conflicts if parameters are $R#
+	Push ${Version}
+	Pop $R0 ; Version
+
+	DetailPrint "Checking installed version of dotnet $R0"
+
+	StrCpy $R1 "dotnet --list-runtimes | % { if($$_ -match $\".*WindowsDesktop.*($R0.\d+).*$\") { $$matches[1] } } | Sort-Object {[int]($$_ -replace '\d.\d.(\d+)', '$$1')} -Descending | Select-Object -first 1"
+	!insertmacro DotNetCorePSExec $R1 $R1
+	; $R1 contains highest installed version, e.g. 6.0.7
+
+	${TrimNewLines} $R1 $R1
+
+	; If there is an installed version it should start with the same two "words" as the input version,
+	; otherwise assume we got an error response
+
+	; todo improve this simple test which checks there are at least 3 "words" separated by periods
+	${WordFind} $R1 "." "E#" $R2
+	IfErrors error_${DNC_INS_ID}
+	; $R2 contains number of version parts in R1 (dot separated words = version parts)
+
+	; If less than 3 parts, or more than 4 parts, error
+	IntCmp $R2 3 0 error_${DNC_INS_ID}
+	IntCmp $R2 4 0 0 error_${DNC_INS_ID}
+
+	; todo more error handling here / validation
+
+	; Seems to be OK, skip the "set to blank string" error handler
+	Goto end_${DNC_INS_ID}
+
+	error_${DNC_INS_ID}:
+	StrCpy $R1 "" ; Set result to blank string if any error occurs (means not installed)
+
+	end_${DNC_INS_ID}:
+	!undef DNC_INS_ID
+
+	; Push the result onto the stack
+	Push $R1
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Exch
+	Pop $R2
+	Exch
+	Pop $R1
+	Exch
+	Pop $R0
+
+	; Set result
+	Pop ${Result}
+
+!macroend
+
+!macro DotNetCoreInstallVersion Version
+
+	; Save registers
+	Push $R0
+	Push $R1
+	Push $R2
+	Push $R3
+
+	; Push and pop parameters so we don't have conflicts if parameters are $R#
+	Push ${Version}
+	Pop $R0 ; Version
+
+	${If} ${IsNativeAMD64}
+		StrCpy $R3 "x64"
+	${ElseIf} ${IsNativeARM64}
+		StrCpy $R3 "arm64"
+	${ElseIf} ${IsNativeIA32}
+		StrCpy $R3 "x86"
+	${Else}
+		StrCpy $R3 "unknown"
+	${EndIf}
+
+	; todo can download as a .zip, which is smaller, then we'd need to unzip it before running it...
+	StrCpy $R1 https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/WindowsDesktop/$R0/windowsdesktop-runtime-$R0-win-$R3.exe
+
+	; For dotnet versions less than 5 the WindowsDesktop runtime has a different path
+	${WordFind} $R0 "." "+1" $R2
+	IntCmp $R2 5 +2 0 +2
+	StrCpy $R1 https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Runtime/$R0/windowsdesktop-runtime-$R0-win-$R3.exe
+
+	DetailPrint "Downloading dotnet $R0 from $R1"
+
+	; Create destination file
+	GetTempFileName $R2
+	nsExec::Exec 'cmd.exe /c rename "$R2" "$R2.exe"'	; Not using Rename to avoid spam in details log
+	Pop $R3 ; Pop exit code
+	StrCpy $R2 "$R2.exe"
+	
+	; Fetch runtime installer
+	; todo error handling in the PS script? so we can check for errors here
+	StrCpy $R1 "Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -URI $\"$R1$\" -OutFile $\"$R2$\""
+	!insertmacro DotNetCorePSExec $R1 $R1
+	; $R1 contains powershell script result
+
+	${WordFind} $R1 "BlobNotFound" "E+1{" $R3
+	ifErrors +3 0
+	DetailPrint "Dotnet installer $R0 not found."
+	Goto +10
+
+	; todo error handling for PS result, verify download result
+
+	
+	IfFileExists $R2 +3, 0
+	DetailPrint "Dotnet installer did not download."
+	Goto +7
+
+	DetailPrint "Download complete"
+
+	DetailPrint "Installing dotnet $R0"
+	ExecWait "$\"$R2$\" /install /quiet /norestart" $R1
+	DetailPrint "Installer completed (Result: $R1)"
+
+	nsExec::Exec 'cmd.exe /c del "$R2"'	; Not using Delete to avoid spam in details log
+	Pop $R3 ; Pop exit code
+
+	; Error checking? Verify install result?
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Pop $R3
+	Pop $R2
+	Pop $R1
+	Pop $R0
+
+!macroend
+
+; below is adapted from https://nsis.sourceforge.io/PowerShell_support but avoids using the plugin
+; directory in favour of a temp file and providing a return variable rather than returning on the
+; stack. Methods renamed to avoid conflicting with use of the original macros
+
+; DotNetCorePSExec
+; Executes a powershell script
+;
+; \param[in] PSCommand The powershell command or script to execute
+; \param[out] Result The output from the powershell script
+!macro DotNetCorePSExec PSCommand Result
+
+	Push ${PSCommand}
+	Call DotNetCorePSExecFn
+	Pop ${Result}
+
+!macroend
+
+; DotNetCorePSExecFile
+; Executes a powershell file
+;
+; \param[in] FilePath The path to the powershell script file to execute
+; \param[out] Result The output from the powershell script
+!macro DotNetCorePSExecFile FilePath Result
+
+	Push ${FilePath}
+	Call DotNetCorePSExecFileFn
+	Pop ${Result}
+
+!macroend
+
+Function DotNetCorePSExecFn
+
+	; Read parameters and save registers
+	Exch $R0	; Script
+	Push $R1
+	Push $R2
+
+	; Write the command into a temp file
+	; Note: Using GetTempFileName to get a temp file name, but since we need to have a .ps1 extension
+	; on the end we rename it with an extra file extension
+	GetTempFileName $R1
+	nsExec::Exec 'cmd.exe /c rename "$R1" "$R1.ps1"'	; Not using Rename to avoid spam in details log
+	Pop $R2 ; Pop exit code
+	StrCpy $R1 "$R1.ps1"
+
+	FileOpen $R2 $R1 w
+	FileWrite $R2 $R0
+	FileClose $R2
+
+	; Execute the powershell script and delete the temp file
+	Push $R1
+	Call DotNetCorePSExecFileFn
+	nsExec::Exec 'cmd.exe /c del "$R1"'	; Not using Delete to avoid spam in details log
+	Pop $R0 ; Pop exit code
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Exch
+	Pop $R2
+	Exch
+	Pop $R1
+	Exch
+	Pop $R0
+
+	; Stack contains script output only, which we leave as the function result
+
+FunctionEnd
+
+Function DotNetCorePSExecFileFn
+
+	; Read parameters and save registers
+	Exch $R0	; FilePath
+	Push $R1
+
+	nsExec::ExecToStack 'powershell -inputformat none -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File "$R0"  '
+	; Stack contain exitCode, scriptOutput, registers
+
+	; Pop exit code & validate
+	Pop $R1
+	IntCmp $R1 0 +2
+	SetErrorLevel 2
+
+	; Restore registers
+	Exch
+	Pop $R1
+	Exch
+	Pop $R0
+
+	; Stack contains script output only, which we leave as the function result
+
+FunctionEnd
+
+!endif
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src-tauri/nsis-hooks.nsh b/src-tauri/nsis/nsis-hooks.nsh
similarity index 56%
rename from src-tauri/nsis-hooks.nsh
rename to src-tauri/nsis/nsis-hooks.nsh
index bd185fb..8083f2d 100644
--- a/src-tauri/nsis-hooks.nsh
+++ b/src-tauri/nsis/nsis-hooks.nsh
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+!incluide "dotnet.nsh"
+
+!macro NSIS_HOOK_PREINSTALL
+    !insertmacro CheckDotNetCore 8.0
+!macroend
+
 !macro NSIS_HOOK_POSTINSTALL
     ${If} $PassiveMode = 1
     ${OrIf} ${Silent}
diff --git a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
index c3d3170..fd9f553 100644
--- a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
+++ b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
       "nsis": {
         "installMode": "currentUser",
         "compression": "lzma",
-        "installerHooks": "./nsis-hooks.nsh"
+        "installerHooks": "./nsis/nsis-hooks.nsh"
       }
     },
     "icon": [