Greetings good people of stackoverflow.
I have made an msi-installer with WIX and some custom actions built in C#. The main reason for this installer is that the original software package we want to silently install, doesn’t support this in a good way. To circumvent this issue, I extracted the files needed and put them in my own installer.
The software itself is an HMI/SCADA system containing two main types: Server and client runtimes. My focus is on the client side. This is needed to run projects made in the SCADA “IDE”. So, my package installs the client-side SCADA, the project and my custom action creates an ODBC-connection. The client runtime installs in the exact folders as it would have been with the original MSI i.e in C:\ProgamFiles. The SCADA client project installs in C:\ProgramData. The custom action creates an ODBC using C# and Registry.LocalMachine. The custom action also makes some changes to some textfiles in the SCADA client project in ProgramData. The installation works well when it’s running from command prompt with “msiexec /quiet /i “Installerproject.msi”.
With all this in mind, there is one customer with an IT department that uses this package to roll out on its user’s machines. They get stuck in SmartScreen and must manually push “Run anyway”. The message is:
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognised app from starting, Running this app might put your PC at risk. App: “My installer name” Publisher: Unknown.
I’ve tried use this installer on virtual machines and only with command prompt, and it doesn’t show this message. I’m not sure what to do. Is the only way to use EV certs? Even if the original software is issued as a trusted publisher? What’s your take on this? I really need some guidance.
Best regards
Thanks Scaler for the nudge to the right direction. I have signed the installer with a CodeSigning certificate.