Unknown Pubisher problem

[z941998]

Unknown Publisher prompt when double clicking RadAsm.exe
(I selected Run feature)

Then when selecting Menu Help option and selecting RadAsm option I also get the unknown publisher prompt
(I select Open feature)

Then the help file opens up but every help options fails with the message the page cannot be displayed.




I have also seen this with MASM32 and Quick Editer

Quick Editer Help
selecting MASM32 Help - works ok
then select Full Listing - works ok
then select Data - fails with the message the page cannot be displayed.

Note: This same error also aplies to many other listed commands.

How do you folks control this problem? and how should I approach my systems.

I also was just reviewing the previous post concerning digitial signatures and wonder also if this is realted.

Thanks
Steve

[Ficko]

OS ?

[hutch--]

Steve,

Its likely to be a privileges issue. Make sure you have administrative rights when using development software or the OS may interfere with its operation. It will probably depend on the OS version you are running and what user profile you are using.

[raymond]

I've had the same thing reported to me for a program I have been upgrading. One of the upgrades was to supply a .CHM type help file instead of the previous .HLP one.

The reviewer tested it on both XP and Vista and got those warnings and the problems viewing the .CHM file with both OS. Everything seemed to run fine with Win98. Although I also have XP (SP3) Home Edition, I have never seen any of those warnings and have no problem with .CHM files. I wonder if the XP Pro Edition may behave differently.

I would be very curious to know if Windows7 will also have the same problems.

[BlackVortex]

Is this the warning with non-signed files that come from another computer ? (ex. downloaded)

If you go at the relevant file's properties, in the genereal tab, is there an option to "Unblock" it ? For example, test this on the newly downloaded chm file.

[z941998]

Hi all,

To this point I have been using XP with SP2 with no real issues.
I do not run programs (live) when I am on-line, I download first and then run offline.
I am the administrator and running my system(s) accordingly, ie in the correct mode when installing or developing.
The programs and Apps that I develop run just fine and don't produce this type of errors, even when I go to other computers.

Question, how come I can run ML.exe and Link.exe without seeing what I described earlier, but when I try using the help features and/or executing a application such as RADASM it fails comes up.  I have other apps that run just fine with unknown publisher, so this confuses me.

[dsouza123]

IE adds an alternate data stream to downloads of executables.
It started with XP SP2 and 2003 SP1.
To fix already downloaded executables the alternate data stream has to be removed.
To prevent further downloads using IE from a particular site to be tagged with an ADS
add it to the trusted sites.

[BlackVortex]

Well, did you check the properties of the file (or am I invisible) ?

What's this about alternate data streams, sounds like sci-fi mumbo jumbo. Anyway, I get a warrning on files downloaded with Firefox, too.

[dsouza123]

ADS have been around for a while, in NTFS since Win NT, sysinternals has a command line utility that can detect also remove ADS.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx

You can create a simple one with a text file.

Use a command prompt:

echo Visible>vis.txt

echo Invisible>vis.txt:invis.txt

type vis.txt   shows Visible
type doesn't work for vis.txt:invis.txt

but notepad is better able
notepad vis.txt              shows Visible
notepad vis.txt:invis.txt  shows Invisible

streams vis.txt

relevant output:
C:\masm32\vis.txt:
                :invis.txt:$DATA 11

A dir of vis.txt shows it is 9 bytes.
The file vis.txt contains Visible{cr}{lf}.

[dsouza123]

I tried downloading the same exe file using Opera 10, FireFox 2, OffByOne 3.5, IE 6 the OS is XP sp3.
Only the IE copy has the ADS in this case 26 bytes.

The contents are:
[ZoneTransfer]{cr}{lf}
ZoneId=3{cr}{lf}

After searching for ADS detection APIs, it seems that the API calls FindFirstStreamW() and FindNextStreamW() are supported for 2003, Vista.

Other API calls are BackupRead() and BackupSeek() with support back to 2000 Server, 2000 Pro.

Either way it requires NTFS, not supported on FAT32.

[z941998]

BlockVortex - I checked the properties box and the general tab.  There was no feature for unblocking the file.

I can see what ADS purpose is used for.  But we need instruction on how to remove this.  I will check the web site provided.

In the mean time if I remove all masm stuff from my computer and then add masm to my trusted sites and then redownload will I have the same issues I have seen?

[z941998]

BlackVortek - I was checking on MASM and did not find the unblock feature.

However I just checked on RADASM and all files have the unblock feature.

Again to make things simplier should I remove RADASM, add to trusted, and then reinstall.

Do selfextracting files have to be managed differently.

[BlackVortex]

BlackVortek

BlockVortex

:cheekygreen:

However I just checked on RADASM and all files have the unblock feature.

Did you unblock them and did it work ?

I think this only happens with downloaded files.

[z941998]

I undeleted all RADASM related items.

I then unblocked the zip file (radasm3) and executed it.

Everything installed just fine and there are no errors I have seen so far.

Thanks for your help.

Now I have figure out why some features of the help files for MASM work and and while some do not, I figured this to be all or nothing situation.  I also originally thought unknown publisher was causing both apps to fail the way I described. This is not so.