Maybe this isn't possible due to Security implications...
I have a Deployment Package created in Visual Studio for a Win Form. The application references an app.config file locally and allows the user to change the settings in it, through the application.
When I deploy the application and attempt to save the changes I have made, Windows is saying "Permission denied". Is there a command I can run as part of the installation that will give the "Everyone" security permission to my app.config file....and thus allow my Application to edit it?
Thank you.
If you want to be able to write to the app.config file you need to move it to the Shared Application Data directory and modify your application to read the configuration information from there. On Win7 for example:
C:\ProgramData\YourCompany\YourApp\app.config
In C#, to get the common app data directory:
// using System.IO;
string appDataDir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData);
You might be able to use a custom action in your installer to run icacls in order give full access to Everyone:
icacls {Path to App.config} /grant Everyone:(F)
Related
I am trying to create an updater which will replace the files in the folder without needing an installer. As part of this process, I need to be able to delete old files and replace them by new files. I tried it and got an UnAuthorizedException. I am runing the updater as administrator. I tried the following
a. Setting the file and folder attribute to Normal
[Access to the path is denied when trying to delete a certain directory
b. Taking ownership of the folder and files contained in it
[Taking ownership of a file or folder
c. Changing the permissions and giving all users full control over the folder and files [Using a custom action in the installer]
[How to give Read/Write permissions to a Folder during installation using .NET
d. Running the updater from a windows service
There is no difference in the results. I keep getting the access denied error. What do I do so that the updater can delete the files?
It's not clear exactly what you mean by "running as administrator", but being logged in as administrator and running a program does not mean that the program is running with elevated privilege, which is what it really needs. But clearly the updater program is not running elevated.
So the issue might be that this updater program of yours needs an elevation manifest so that when you run it, it will ask for elevation with a UAC prompt.
Having said that, simply replacing files that were installed with a Windows installer MSI is not supported. The files must be replaced with a Windows Installer update such as a patch .msp file or an upgraded MSI file. Windows Installer keeps track of every file installed, and it's version and whether it's been updated or not, as well as a filehash. Replacing a file without using Windows Installer can result in unexpected demands for the original MSI file in order that Windows can restore the files to their original installed state. You might find that going to Programs&Features (or right-clicking the MSI file) and choosing repair will also restore them.
I am trying to create new file in visual studio 2012
fileStream = new FileStream("google_com.txt", FileMode.CreateNew);
But i keep getting this error
Access to the path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\google_com.txt' is denied.
Plz help to fix this poblem.
Solutions:
Put a specific location for google_com.txt file. like C:\google_com.txt. Actually it is not allowing to create the file in default location(inside program files) as it might not have the proper privilege.
If you want to create the file in default location(inside program files) run Visual Studio as Administrator.(R-Click-> Run as Administrator).
Run Visual Studio as Administrator
You can't write to the Program Files folders on Windows Vista or later unless you're running elevated/as an administrator.
You should be writing to the application's App_Data folder if you need to write anywhere. Look into using Server.MapPath().
If this is in a web app, the file will be created in the application's root, which in this case is your iis express directory. Run Visual Studio as Administrator, or change the location of the file by specifying an explicit path.
Official Microsoft response:
Issue occurs because of missing permissions on a local resource that
the ASP.NET application tries to access If you are unable to get a
clear description of the problem because of a custom error message,
run FileMon and reproduce the problem. Stop and save the capture as
FileMon.xls and open the file in Microsoft Excel. On the Data menu,
click Filter, and then click AutoFilter to use the filtering
capabilities of Excel. Now select the drop-down list in column F and
look for "ACCESS DENIED" errors.
A sample FileMon output is shown below. 10381 1:01:11 PM w3wp.exe:2320
OPEN C:\winnt\microsoft.net\framework\v1.1.4322\Temporary ASP.NET
Files\sessiontest\8832e585\275ec327\global.asax.xml ACCESS DENIED NT
AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE As you can see from the filtered results,
we have narrowed down the cause of the problem. FileMon shows that the
NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account is missing NTFS permissions on
the C:\Winnt\Microsoft.net\Framework\v1.1.4322\Temporary ASP.NET Files
folder. This should be straight forward to fix. For more information
about using FileMon to troubleshoot ASP.NET, click the following
article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
https://support.microsoft.com/es-ve/help/910449/troubleshooting-common-permissions-and-security-related-issues-in-asp
Try this:
Server.MapPath("~/ FolderName / google_com.txt ")
When I create .msi file for C# windows application, the file <myexename>.exe.config automatically comes in the installation path after installing the .msi setup file.
How to exclude .exe.config file?
I think it is to be done during the Set up creation process itself.
Please advice.
<myexename>.exe.config is a config file (App.config) of your application.
when you create installer for any windows application, it will autometically include it.
it is necessary, for example you stored your application database connection string in that or may be other settings also
so when you execute your application then your application myexename will look into <myexename>.exe.config for some settings as well for some necessary data required.
still, if you want to exclude it, perform the following steps:
1)Right click on installer project -> View -> File System
2)In Application Folder, Right Click on Primary Output of your application and select Properties Window
3)In Properties, Select Exclude Files
4)Click on Add Filter
5)Enter app.config in text and press ok
now rebuild your project and install the .msi
<myexename>.exe.config will be removed from your installation directory
I have a Visual Studio installer that installs a Windows Service hosting a Web Service.
What I am trying to resolve is to give users during installation a choice of where a particular script is located on the box and once they have set the location to then update the location to the app.config file which the application can then use.
At the moment during install I have added a custom folder and added to that the folder the file. This all gets installed. I want to keep this as a default, but to be able to overwrite it with the users new choice.
I have added a user interface and a text box to capture the user's choice, and a installer class, but this is failing when I try it. Where it is failing is when it is try to find my App.Config file. It says that it cannot find it. In my code, I have written:
string path = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
So, to me my app.config has not been installed into this location when the installation is running at that moment in time.
So, can someone please advise how I can override and save the new location.
Thanks
What you're doing won't work for a number of reasons.
Custom actions in VS setup projects run after all the files have been installed, so it's too late to choose a folder where files can be installed. UI is supposed to be at the front where the normal wizard UI forms run, but VS setups don't support custom dialogs.
Installer classes with UI tend to do strange things because they are called from the execute sequence in the MSI, and the apartment threading won't work.
You're not running in an interactive user environment. Your installer class is being called from an msiexec process running with the system context. If you need to load files, name the path explicitly.
If you're going to stick with Visual Studio setups, your best bet is to install the script to a normal default location and have your app offer a way to copy it somewhere. Then the user can copy it somewhere new whenever they want and you're running in a normal user environment.
You can not get the directory full path where the MSI is being installed using,
string path = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
above code will probably return a path C:\Windows\System32 which has the msiexec.exe location which handles the MSI installation. Use the following code within installer class to get the installation path.
string installationPath = Context.Parameters["assemblypath"];
Rest of your questions are not clear.
Folks
Managed to resolve this myself.
I added an afterinstall event to the Installer class. In this event I added this line of code
string assembley = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase;
UriBuilder uri = new UriBuilder(assembley);
string path = Uri.UnescapeDataString(uri.Path);
string directory = Path.GetDirectoryName(path);
To get the config file - I did this
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(ProjectInstaller)).Location);
This gives me what I want and it works
i want to give a file(already present on the client computer .exe) permissions to always execute with administrative permissions.
please note that the file i wants to give permissions is already on target machine. and i want to change permissions of that file through another program written in c# and it has administrative permissions to do everything.
kindly let me know how to do it
i am using this code
System.Security.AccessControl.FileSecurity fs = File.GetAccessControl(#"c:\inam.exe");
FileSystemAccessRule fsar = new FileSystemAccessRule("Everyone", FileSystemRights.FullControl, AccessControlType.Allow);
fs.AddAccessRule(fsar);
File.SetAccessControl(#"c:\inam.exe", fs);
this code will change the permissions correctly but still when i execute inam.exe after executing this code the UAC not appeared and also the inam.exe cant perform administrative operations.
actually i have already deployed an application on more than 10,000 clients so wants to release a patch to resolve the administrative rights issue.
Execute with administrative privileges is not a file permission.
This is usually configured by adding a manifest file (either to the Win32 resources in the EXE, or as an external manifest). This manifest file can state whether the application needs to run elevated or not.
I'm not entirely sure where Windows stashes the "Run this program as an administrator" compatibility setting.
Using a manifest file is the best approach, but an alternative one would be to programmatically set the "Run this program as an administrator" flag (the option you find in the Compatibility tab of an EXE's properties), by setting a simple registry key. You need to create a string value (REG_SZ) under the one of these keys (if you want the setting to be per user or per machine, respectively):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers
The name of the value needs to be the full path to your executable (if the path contains spaces, do not surround the path with quotes), and the data of the value must contain the string RUNASADMIN.
Build a manifest file (see http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AddingAManifestToAVistaApplication.aspx among other places) and name it Whatever.exe.manifest and put it in the same folder as the exe. The nanifest should set the requestedExecutionLevel to requireAdministrator. All set.
If you own the other exe, you can embed the manifest when you build it. This is almost trivial in Visual Studio 2008 and up. See the Application tab and drop down the Manifests drop down. There are instructions nearby. Also when you use VS 2008 to add a manifest to your project you don't have to type all the XML, you just copy the appropriate requested execution level from the comments that are generated for you.