I’ve always had a few people struggle to start a Windows app due to the effects of over eager virus checkers, and I have a suite of ‘how to do exclusions’ information packs for most.
However, between last year and this, I upgraded my MBS plugins from 2018 versions to 2021 versions to solve some bugs, and also naturally changed my app to add new features and fix my own bugs.
Since January, 99% of customers can install without issue.
But on a handful, the app will not start, where last year’s version is fine.
So far the only commonality I can find is that they are on Windows 10, and use Defender as the virus checker.
Microsoft’s false positive checker tells me that Defender has no issues with the app.
Since it doesnt start, I cannot get it to give me messages or write logs to say what any issue might be .
Maybe its missing a DLL somewhere.
How can you check that kind of issue if the app wont start?
Im building 32 bit apps using Xojo 2015
*(64 bit / newer Xojo versions do not work due to graphics issues and will not be a solution to the problem)
If you can find a user that is willing/savvy enough, maybe you can run Process Monitor before launching your app and see if the exe is sniffed at by anything funny before not running.
Have you tried making a build for them which includes all DLL’s, which would rule out a Visual Studio Runtimes issue?
Not yet as I havent needed to do that for any 32bit build using Xojo 2015 before.
I suspect either one of the MBS plugins needs a DLL that it didnt need last year, or that the ‘overall signature’ looks virus-y to something.
Some good ideas here, now I need to find a user with the problem who isn’t scared to help investigate.
What version? Windows 10 has had a ton of updates, and some users may have (accidentally or intentionally) gotten stuck on an older version.
I would have them type ‘winver’ in the start menu and see if they are current. If not, have them go to Windows Update and run updates, reboot, run them again, reboot, until they are current.
I would have them type ‘winver’ in the start menu and see if they are current.
Bang up to date, and no changes from installing the Visual C runtimes either.
But I have now found that recompiling the same source code with MBS plugins from 2018, the app starts normally.
So one or more of the current MBS plugins needs something new that these people don’t have, or makes assumptions about something and dies quietly.
I think at the last peek there were 20 or so DLLs generated by the compile process, so tracking down the difference might take a while… especially since I dont have a machine where it fails on which to test.