Visual Studio 2010 setup project - How to avoid UAC message about unknown publisher during installation?

Question

I've made a simple Windows Forms application with Visual Studio 2010 that doesn't need elevated rights to work.

I've created a setup project to install the files in following location to not need administrative rights during the installation: [LocalAppDataFolder][Manufacturer][ProductName]. And no registry keys are installed either by the installer.

But it keeps asking "Do you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to your computer?" during the installation, and I'd like to avoid this.

I've seen that this message will keep being prompted until the installer file has not been signed with a certificate purchased from an official authority.

Is there a way to do this freely? Or to avoid this message when the application doesn't need elevated rights?

Thanks in advance for your help, Julien

Answer 1

The message is shown when unsigned applications attempt to write data to protected system folders or registry settings.

You specify that you are not changing registry keys however can you confirm this is the case during installation when using ProcessMonitor?

You can overcome this by ensuring the application is installed somewhere other than Program Files, the User folder being a good example.

Source.