Standalone VB.Net app?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JackBlack
  • Start date Start date
J

JackBlack

Hi, all! Trying to build a stand-alone vb.net app (from VS.Net 2k5) that
will let me just take the EXE from the dev box over to a client box and run
it, as-is, without "installing" it. I was under the assumption that this
was still possible, but I seem to get security errors on client boxes when I
just run the EXE on the client machine. Even after tweaking the ClickOnce
settings to specfically allow the type that's giving me the error, I still
get it. The only way to prevent the errors is to do a typical install (run
the setup.exe), which defeats the whole purpose in the first place.

What's the trick? Workstations are all Xp/Pro, latest patches (including
Framework 2.0), running inside a Win2k3 domain (users do NOT have
administrative privilege locally). Help!! :)

Jack
 
Mr. JackBlack,

What is your application trying to do? What is reporting the security
errors or how are the errors being reported to you?

You may already know this, but... Some application behavior requires
administrative privileges to perform their activities. For example,
the logged in user may not have the correct permissions to modify the
registry; if your application is attempts to create a key it will fail
due to permissions. Are you running the application on the other boxes
using the same domain account?

Some application behavior requires administrative privledges
 
Thanks for responding!

No, the app is just about as basic as it gets! Display a RichTextBox with a
legal disclaimer, and a CommandButton to close the window. The app has to
run under the restricted privs of every domain account (it'll be called from
a domain login script and run from a network share that all users have Read
& Execute privs to). Took a whole 2 minutes to build, and now it's taking
hours to get the security ironed out! :-P

Any suggestions would be of help at this point, since the permissions
settings appear to be good.
Jack
 
You still didn't share which exceptions you're getting...

Without that it's a bit difficult to help anymore!

Thanks,

Seth Rowe
 
JackBlack said:
(it'll be called from a domain login script and run from a network share
that all users have Read
& Execute privs to).
Click to expand...

That is the problem right there. Because the app is on a network
share, the .Net framework on the local machine is not allowing the code
to execute because it is not trusted. You need to use caspol.exe to
grant trust on the local machine to that application.

Here is the command we use:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\caspol -m -ag All_Code
-url file://server/folder/* FullTrust -n AppName

This grants full trust on the client machine to the application on the
network share.
 
Thanks for responding! I meant to include the exception in my last post,
but here it is:

Request for the permission of type
'System.Security.Permissions.UIPermission,mscorlib,Version=2.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed.

This still occurs even after setting the permission to "Include" in the
project properties.

Thanks for any input!
Jack
 
Chris, thanks for replying!

Well, a couple things: First, running caspol as you suggested below
(substituting the appropriate machine names and file paths, of course) had
no effect whatsoever. I still get a UIPermissions exception when the
program is executed by the average domain user. Additionally, when a user
with local Admin privileges and elevated domain privs executes the app now,
it starts up fine, but upon clicking the CommandButton that terminates the
program, I now get a SecurityPermission exception.

Second, if this command needs to be run at each workstation, then it kinda
defeats the purpose of having a stand-alone app, doesn't it? If I have to
touch each machine, I might as well just do a normal installation to the
local machine (setup.exe route), right?

Additionally, the caspol.exe app can only be run by an administrator, so
even that can't be scripted (requiring that I touch each machine). So we're
still at square one, no?

Having read a bit more, it seems that the "xcopy distribution" method isn't
really true. What I need to be able to do is take an executable, drop it on
a network device that the average network user has read/execute privs on,
and have it run from a login script, without having to touch any of the
machines. Is this do-able?

Much thanks again,
Jack
 
The way I got around these security exceptions was to use the .net
configuration wizard to set the appropriate permissions and then create
a deployement package. Then our network admin created a logon script to
run the msi. Would that be a posibility?

Thanks,

Seth Rowe
 
JackBlack said:
Second, if this command needs to be run at each workstation, then it kinda
defeats the purpose of having a stand-alone app, doesn't it? If I have to
touch each machine, I might as well just do a normal installation to the
local machine (setup.exe route), right?
Click to expand...

Yes, it must be run at each workstation. Becuase the workstation must
"trust" the application being run since it is not installed locally.

Have you tried the ClickOnce deployment? You can deploy to the server.
The user simply clicks on a url to install the app locally to their
machine to run it. When you update the app, you update it only on the
server. Any time the user executes the app, it automatically downloads
any updates.

Perhaps that would work for you. At least you won't need to touch
every workstation that way.
 
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