How to protect your msi?
I thought that that there's already been such a post but was unable to find it...
Have you ever been in the situation that you want to give someone a fine msi package you created yourself but wanted to make sure that the other person could only use it as an "evaluation" like a time-bombed package to show your qualification and to make sure that the package doesn't get distributed without your knowledge?
What did you do?
Have you ever been in the situation that you want to give someone a fine msi package you created yourself but wanted to make sure that the other person could only use it as an "evaluation" like a time-bombed package to show your qualification and to make sure that the package doesn't get distributed without your knowledge?
What did you do?
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Posted by:
aogilmor
18 years ago
I haven't done anything like that, but you could. When you say time bomb that indicates that you don't want it to run after a certain time or date?
create a property to hold a time/date/numeric value, and implement a vbscript CA to run and get the date/time value, then convert/compare the values and terminate the installation if it doesn't meet your criteria. the tricky part of that would be the comarison of date/time values which i find kind of clumsy to work with if you're trying to do greater than or less than comparisons.
If you're looking to control your installlation further, you could only have it run with a certiain command line property value, or make it run in reduced UI so that you can make it run the way you want it. Look at the UILevel built-in property.
create a property to hold a time/date/numeric value, and implement a vbscript CA to run and get the date/time value, then convert/compare the values and terminate the installation if it doesn't meet your criteria. the tricky part of that would be the comarison of date/time values which i find kind of clumsy to work with if you're trying to do greater than or less than comparisons.
If you're looking to control your installlation further, you could only have it run with a certiain command line property value, or make it run in reduced UI so that you can make it run the way you want it. Look at the UILevel built-in property.
Posted by:
AngelD
18 years ago
There is no easy way and using a custom action for protection wouldn't so much as it would be easy to remove.
Just a thought, but how about signing your MSI package with a certificate only valid between your timeframe?
Just a thought, but how about signing your MSI package with a certificate only valid between your timeframe?
Posted by:
nmi
18 years ago
Adminstudio has an option called FLEXwrap which will do what you want.
I doubt there is an easier way to do it, since anyone can open the MSI with Orca (et al) and simply remove any restrictions you have set in place.
I doubt there is an easier way to do it, since anyone can open the MSI with Orca (et al) and simply remove any restrictions you have set in place.
Posted by:
rpfenninger
18 years ago
Hey Guys
Thank you all for your comments. Since I'm neither experienced in using certificates nor having access to an AdminStudio (to use FLEXwrap) I guess I must simply trust my customer or cash in advance ;-)
I agree that it's probably too easy to secure the package by simply adding a CustomAction.
Thank you all for your comments. Since I'm neither experienced in using certificates nor having access to an AdminStudio (to use FLEXwrap) I guess I must simply trust my customer or cash in advance ;-)
I agree that it's probably too easy to secure the package by simply adding a CustomAction.
Posted by:
nvdpraveen
18 years ago
Just a thought:
How about wrapping up your msi as a exe file. So that msi file is hidden inside the exe.
How about wrapping up your msi as a exe file. So that msi file is hidden inside the exe.
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