What should be done to publish a .net click once application

Question

I have created the .net application and when I use the the publish function in Visual Studio i get a click once application.

That's all good, i can even put the setup.exe for it online. But what should I take care of if I want to publish this as professional companies does? Here I am thinking about, my application will prompt the user with several warnings and its generally hard to actually install the click once application.

When I have tried professional click once applications, its generally alot easier. I assume its related to their applications being signed in some way? How do I do that for my company and what is the pricing of this? I been searching about on MSDN but I cant really figure out what I should do to my application to make it sellable and not just some random exe on the internet.

Code Access Security issues,code signing,etc...but to make trully "sellable" = really trusted u need to buy a digital certificate. — terrybozzio, Nov 18 '13 at 01:24
A digital certificate? I have one for SSL for my domain, is that sufficient ? — Poul K. Sørensen, Nov 18 '13 at 14:10

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

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you need to get Code Signing certificate (the one for your domain will not work) - and then just sign the app. See this SO answer for more details: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9610744/1246870

if you do this, don't forget that you need to sign BOTH setup.exe - and the ##your app name##.exe file. See this SO answer for more details: https://stackoverflow.com/a/18636102/1246870

edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

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answered Nov 18 '13 at 15:13

avs099

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Is this answer related to click once applications or just general .exe applications ? (with click once applications, is the application and the setup.exe not the same?) – Poul K. Sørensen Nov 18 '13 at 18:09
this is "general" answer - meaning you can sign apps which are not distributed by clickonce. Regarding app.exe and setup.exe - they are different for clickonce. You get "are you sure you want to download this file" message when you installing the app - that's why you need to sign setup.exe. And then, when you run the app - you will get another "are you sure you want to run this app" prompt - for that one you need to sign app.exe – avs099 Nov 18 '13 at 18:21
On microsofts page, the following text is listed: The Microsoft Authenticode certificate provided by VeriSign is the only accepted method of authentication, file signing, and code-signing. Microsoft will not be able to accept any other authentication method, including GeoTrust authentication required by the Windows Store. – Poul K. Sørensen Nov 18 '13 at 18:27
that's for windows store submissions or to sign the drivers. If you just want to distribute your app from your site, StartSSL (or any other cheaper providers) are more than enough. We have several ClickOnce apps already signed with StartSSL. – avs099 Nov 18 '13 at 18:28
Okay. Think I understand it now. And there are no way to save costs, I need to buy both a wildcard domain certificate (right now i have rapid SSL) and a code signing certificate? I can get a verisign certificate for signing for 99$ also and then my app can be shown as desktop app in the windows store. – Poul K. Sørensen Nov 18 '13 at 19:06

What should be done to publish a .net click once application

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