If you want to keep the distribution small, don't include the runtime engine, but
still create an installer.
Include instructions on how to download and install the runtime engine from the NI web site. A given machine can have multiple runtime version installed concurrently. All versions are available with
direct FTP links that you can communicate to your customers.
Some of the files created by the installer are not really needed and you can typically create a sub-megabyte distribution by keeping only the essential stuff. For example if the users install the correct runtime first, it is guaranteed that the correct MSI installer is present and you can leave out InstMsi.exe and InstMsiW.exe for an additional saving of about 3MB.
🙂Have a look at
this discussion from last year.