Manual manifest files

0
votes

I have a 3rd party executable which I am trying to include in an InstallShield MSI package and I want it to have permissions set in all flavors of Windows, particularly 7 & Vista to be run as Administrator.

I'm not that clued up on the creation or the proper configuration syntax of Manifest files, but I have tried to make one manually as [appname].exe.manifest, and tried the <requestedExecutionLevel level=”asInvoker” uiAccess=”false” /> in the XML, and it didn't run as Administrator, and I want to confirm that is that because the program had not been compiled that way to see that the manifest file was in the same directory, or is it just going to be a case that the manifest file has not got the right syntax.

If there is any other simple ideas, I would love to hear it!

Cheers.

1
manifestinstallshield
possible duplicate of How do I add a manifest to an executable using mt.exe? – Christopher Painter
This is a problem with your EXE not InstallShield. Try the duplicate question solution and see if you can create and embed a manifest before sending it to InstallShield for packaging. – Christopher Painter

1 Answers

1
votes

Manifests can either be embedded into an executable (this is preferred) or external, placed next to the file named as you describe. If there is an embedded manifest, an external one is ignored. For launching EXEs, this is all performed by Windows, and is not affected by code in the exe file. For loading DLLs, while this can be somewhat influenced by code you write, it does not change UAC behavior as it is not a process boundary.

As for whether a program not launching as administrator when you place a manifest requesting asInvoker next to it means you created a valid manifest, that depends on what happens when the manifest is not there. Since you mention InstallShield, you can copy a template manifest file such as its <InstallShield>\Support\setupexe.invoker.manifest to ensure your syntax is correct.

Upon re-reading your question, I realize you wanted it to launch as administrator. For that you need to request administrative rights, so you should have requireAdministrator instead of asInvoker, or base it off setupexe.admin.manifest instead.