I have an EXE file, and i whant to launch it every windows start for all users.
am adding a registry key on :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
My EXE works fine, but it can't access to any other file (.txt) even the required file is in the same location.
it seems like an access denied. why?
My Exe is a .NET application (C# console application) reading a text file content.
Solution from #HansPassant :
Always use full path names for files, c:\foo\bar\baz.txt. Just baz.txt will not work, the Environment.CurrentDirectory is not set where you hope it is. Use AppData, if necessary use Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location) to know where your EXE was installed.
Related
I created an MSI installer project in VS2015, set up everything, then added a file extension associtation with the "File Types Editor", assigned my extension to my application, as an Open command.
The COMMAND was the application from the "application folder", the EXTENSION was set, then the &OPEN was set as NAME=&Open, Arguments="%1" VERB=open. Nothing else.
I generated the .msi file, then started. At the end of the installation, I found out that in the registry Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\shell\open\command key there were two item, one is (Default) REG_SZ with value "myexe" "%1" as I expected
Unfortunately there was another item: "command", "REG_MULTI_SZ" and the Data was something weird, for example "LZ*a!t4(v=++Tt$)tOk_>[1jfrS!,nB`L6ciHLW!, "%1"" which I don't know what it is. When I delete the .msi file, and double click on a file with my registered extension, a popup dialog appears as "network resource cannot be found" and Windows wants my .msi installer back (browse dialog comes in)! I don't know how to prevent this unwanted situation. :( Any help would be highly appreciate!
Windows Installer uses so-called Darwin Descriptors to implement resiliency, wherein a corrupted installation can be repaired automatically. Your attempt to delete the .msi rather than to uninstall it acts like a corrupted installation, so the system attempts to fix it. However, since the .msi itself has been removed, it has to ask for help.
The short answer here is to suggest that you not worry about the exact values in the registry key. Since you're using an Extension table instead of a Registry table entry, the registry is an implementation detail; you should prefer to ignore such detail. Instead, if after a successful installation your program launches as expected upon double clicking the associated file, and it stops doing so after properly uninstalling your application, all is well.
I have an application that can "serialize" its state as a folder with images. This folder is called, e.g., C:\Temp\MyProject.ImageExplorer and the FileSystem consists of :
C:\Temp\MyProject.ImageExplorer\Pic1.jpeg
C:\Temp\MyProject.ImageExplorer\Pic2.jpeg
...
Can I Configure Windows Explorer in a way, that a Double Click on a folder with my .ImageExplorer "extension" does not open the folder but starts my ImageExplorer.exe with the folder name as command line argument?
Can I modify the C# .Net OpenFile Selector in a way to open these "Folders" including the Filter by extension ?
You can do it but might have issues since the file type is a folder. What I would do is basically make it a uncompressed .ZIP file, You can change the extension to what ever you want so you can associate it with your application like .IZP
You can make your application setup a registry key that associates .IZP with your application and pass the path to the file in as parameter to program.exe path/to/izp/that/user/opened
You might just have to adjust the program to handle reading a container rather than a folder.
Where is in the registry the path executed when I run the "notepad" command in windows "Start->run command" interface? I want to change it for notepad++ (it is required so, although could look not really good)
If you are like me you use windows run command all the time. I hate using the mouse to point and click a shortcut on the start menu. WIN-R are probably the two most over used keys on my keyboard. After thinking about if awhile I hunted down how the run command works. It turns out that it makes a call to ShellExecute, which I guess is not too surprising. The next thing I wanted to find out was exactly how the commands are resolved. The following is an ordered list of how they are resolved ([1]):
The current working directory
The Windows directory (no subdirectories are searched)
The Windows\System32 directory
Directories listed in the PATH environment variable
The App Paths registry key
Naturally the next thing I wanted to do was customize existing commands or add new commands so I do not have to type as much (standard lazy approach). After examining my options which were to put the executable in one of those paths (since it only locates executables and not shortcuts), modify the path environment variable or add a key to App Paths. The App Paths option seems to be the easiest and most flexible to me. Here is a layout of what you need to do to add an App Paths entry ([1]):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-->
SOFTWARE-->
Microsoft-->
Windows-->
CurrentVersion==>
App Paths-->
file.exe-->
(Default) = The fully-qualified path and file name
Path = A semicolon-separated list of directories
DropTarget = {CLSID}
Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. I cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.
The minimum needed to add a new entry is to add the key file.exe where file is the string you want to type into the run command and to add the Default entry which is the fully-qualified path to the file you want to execute. Note that even it the file you are going to reference isn't an exe file you still need to put the .exe on the key. Here is a sample registry file that I created to add a shorter keyword for Internet Explorer:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App
Paths\ie.exe] #="C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
After entering that entry into the registry I can simply type “ie” at
the run command to open internet explorer.
Here is a list of some common commands I use at the run command:
cmd – Command prompt winword – Microsoft Word excel – Microsoft Excel
outlook – Microsoft Outlook iexplore – Internet Explorer firefox –
Mozilla Firefox notepad – Notepad compmgmt.msc – Computer Management
Console control appwiz.cpl – Add/Remove programs dialog mstsc –
Microsoft Terminal Service Client regedit – Registry Editor
…
If there is some program that I find myself using all the time I figure out what the run command is for it and if there is not a short easy one I add one to my App Paths as described above. Does anyone else have some other common run commands they use?
In matlab, I used a windows standalone application. There is a line in this application that writes a file in C:\...\...\. When I run the output exe file produced from this windows standalone application, the exe doesn't write in C:\...\...\ neither tells me that there is a security issues in that partition. All the execution does is nothing. But, when I right-click and run the exe as administrator, it runs correctly.
I want to do it without right-click and run as administrator. Are there is a command in matlab that can do that?
If you create a shortcut to your application, you can go to the Properties of the shortcut, click on Advanced in the Shortcut tab, and select "Run as administrator". That way, whenever you start the application from the shortcut it will be run as an administrator.
(Disclaimer: applications really shouldn't "foul their own nest" by writing into Program Files. This is bad design.)
Starting from Vista, unprivileged processes are not allowed to write to protected folders such as Program Files, because Program Files is designed to store code and not data. However, since this limitation has not been enforced in XP, MS has provided a backward-compatibility hack in the form of Virtual Store. Now, when a program tries to write to protected folder, its output is being redirected into a dedicated folder. This way, the program still "thinks" it writes to its usual location, while in fact it writes to an unprotected location. However, when you later check the Program Files location, you might not see the file - because it's not really there.
You can find more details here: User Account Control Data Redirection.
If you are administrator, add full control permission for your username to the destination folder. You do that by right clicking on the folder, going to properties and then security tab. Then edit and add you username with Full Control rights. Then you don;t have to run the the program as an administrator.
There is no way you can elevate a process once it is started, so Matlab cannot possibly have a command for that. Just running Matlab elevated.
I am calling CreateFile() to create a file in the Program Data directory. I'm using SHGetSpecialFolderPath() to get the dir name.
I have a user with Vista for whom CreateFile() is returning error 5 (Access Denied). It would help if I knew where CreateFile() was actually attempting to create the file so we can check his folder permissions. The problem with Vista (UAC) is, it's not attempting to create the file in the directory I passed in. It could also be in a VirtualStore directory. An added source of confusion is this user is German and although SHGetSpecialFolderPath() is returning "C:\Program Data\blah blah" as the path, I don't think that's actually where the path is. I think German Vista uses the German word for "Program Data". I would like to be able to tell the user "This is the exact path where we are trying to create the file. Check your permissions on this folder."
I know you can get the a path from an open file handle, but in this case the CreateFile() is failing so I don't have an open handle. How can I get Vista to tell me the actual path where it's attempting to create the file?
Fire up Process Monitor and watch what it does:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
If with UAC the paths used are not the ones you want, then the redirection is in effect.
To make sure that redirection does not occur, add a manifest to your application which indicates to Vista that your application is properly coded and aware of access restrictions (i.e., you don't write to e.g., HKLM or the programs folder if your app doesn't need admin privileges to run).
But your application should be able to write to the APPDATA folder (if that's what you really use).
Make sure you're using CSIDL_APPDATA and not CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA (the latter one being accessible only with admin privileges).
To find the real path (the one you would expect) tell the user to type %APPDATA% into the explorer bar (or hit Windows+R, then type %APPDATA%, enter). This will open the explorer on that folder.
My understanding is that ProgramData is used by Vista to write files that were attempting to be written inside C:\Program Files, but failed, since unless you are running the app as Admin you can't write inside program files. Maybe you should try saving your files to the AppData folder under the current user.