I am attempting to create a program that places a copy of itself into the windows start-up folder. if the program is being run from anywhere that isn't the start-up folder, I would like the program to add the users username to a text file where the original .exe is. hence I need a way to tell where the program is being run from. is there any inbuilt functions in the default units or will I have to write my own function? if so how would I accomplish this?
ParamStr(0) will get you the full path and application name.
Disclaimer: This could be invalid for some OS implementations.
Related
I'm trying to get my head around a DLL load library problem. The Windows Dynamic-Link Library Search Order is supposed to be
Memory
Known DLL's
Application Directory
System Directory
...etc,
as discussed at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/dlls/dynamic-link-library-search-order and at many other places.
When I run a Windows Executable (Desktop Application) from a Batch file, does it inherit the 'application' folder from the Batch File? (Because I'm running out of other explanations)
Nope, you can't consider a batch file an application at all.
It's more like a script, as it needs to be run through an actual application/executable program (like the DOS runtime, or CMD on Windows)
You can setup environment variables much like in old DOS times (if you need to define a Paths variable) through sysdm.cpl, but I'm not sure that would help for DLL searching
I'm writing a simple antivirus that checks for very specific files and patterns, and something I want to implement is a way to make a named file unexecuteable. By this I mean that the computer will realize that the file exists, and has a file extension that would usually launch an application or it's own code, but will not be able to execute it until the user gives the ok.
So given the filename, how could I make a file unable to be executed by the windows operating system?
Is there a way to prevent direct startup of a .exe program, and only start up when a shortcut is run? I'd like this to work also when opening up a filetype that is assigned to a program.
The only thing that comes close to what you want is checking for certain command line parameters. This is actually a rather common way for concealed executions - for instance programs that want you to run a loader program first (online games would be an example).
So you would have to generate a shortcut that privdes the specific command line arguments needed for the start. This ensures that your exe cannot be executed directly, however there are no guaranties that a specific shortcut file is startet as it only provides a link to the exe file.
No, that is not possible, in my knowledge.
This is not possible, the shortcut is executing the program in its location. The .exe has to be executable for the shortcut to work. Assigned file extensions also execute the actual .exe the shortcut is just a symbolic link to the actual file.
If you can give more information as to what your trying to accomplish I could maybe offer another solution.
I'm not aware of any way built in to do this, as an executable is still launched as that user by the shortcut. You can disable shortcut locations, allow only certain executables, etc but not deny access to executable but also allow it via shortcut.
I have a folder which contains an executable file (Exec.exe) and a lot of files that Exec.exe needs to run. Currently, it's pretty ugly having all of those files there when I only need to run the one executable. Is there any way to bundle them all into another executable that runs Exec.exe and also contains all of the files Exec.exe needs to run? Thanks for any help!
Yes, but I would recommend you only do it if you need to.
You can achieve this by adding your files as resources in your exe project, so they are added into the exe's binary at compile time. You can then access the files directly from your exe at runtime by using LoadResource and related functions. I'd recommend reading up on the Portable Executable (PE) file format if you're considering this route.
This is the way to do it if you, and again I stress, need to have only a single binary where you can still access your files. There are obvious downsides to doing this, such as it's much more coding to access the data as it's embedded in your application binary, and you can't easily update the files (check out resource hacker tool) without re-compiling your binary to include the new data.
If the only reason you want to do this is because it's "pretty ugly" seeing the additional files in the same directory as your exe, consider moving them into another directory, for example,
from:
MyExeDir
--myExe.exe
--myFile1.txt
--myFile2.dll
--myFile3.dat
to:
MyExeDir
--myExe.exe
--dat
----myFile1.txt
----myFile2.png
----myFile3.dat
or:
MyExeDir
--bin
----myExe.exe
--dat
----myFile1.txt
----myFile2.png
----myFile3.dat
So all the "ugly" looking files are out of the way.
Why don't you create a shortcut of "Exec.exe" and keep it somewhere handy ? If whats that you want ?
Or if you want to distribute your app, you can use Winrar/Winzip (winrar is the best) to create a compressed .exe of your entire folder, making "Exec.exe" as your startup app. Use the SFX option in winrar.
Is their a way to zip a file without VB Script.I got a lot of examples on web to zip file or folder using vbs but i want to do it in a single BAT file.
Yes and no. There is no built in way to do this inside windows. You can use a external application like vbscript, a exe file like 7zip, rar, lots of resources can do this. Since windows is application poor when it comes to command lines is not really surprising. But no you do not need the VB Script for anything.
Just not so easy out of the box. Maybe makecab could do it for you? As a general rule you have a hard constraint in your question. A single BAT file which in general can not do almost anything without the support of hundreds of preinstalled or commonly installed other applications.
Could you specify a the constraints a bit better. Tel WHY you need this particular constraint? And what does it mean as even most of the bat command you use require more than one file.