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I have made a Unity build and would like to share it with colleagues. But i dont want to share it as the standard "folder structure" -build.

So, I have made a single .exe file with an icon, using Winrar selfextracting file. It works great....BUT Windows and antivirus apps screams bloody murder when they try and open it, thinking it is a potential virus of course.

That makes the file unusable for web sharing (Sharing on a USB drive there are no problems).

How can I make a single file build, for web download, that does not make Windows and Antivirus apps go crazy?

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Jesper Green Jensen
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2 Answers2

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Basically...

  1. You need to pack(age) the build of the app.
    (Note the boxing app in the linked tutorial is just an example. There are many ways to pack the game into an executable, and you don't need that specific one.)
  2. Depending on platform, it's also either required or recommended that you sign (1)(2) the app and/or executable.
CosmicGiant
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  • Thank you for your answer. But your solution have the same problem. Windows and Antivirus apps dont like it. So, same problem as with Winrar, only this also cost money :) – Jesper Green Jensen Nov 26 '20 at 12:12
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    @JesperGreenJensen If it cost you money or if you think it would, you either didn't read or didn't pay attention. --- As for the problem persisting, you should learn at least the basics of how AV software works. As a developer, of any software, games included, you'll be the first and only person in the world with your specific software's files. If those are executable, it should be no surprise that AV will have no reputation score for it and will mark it as suspicious. If you then do something that the AV's heuristics consider a potential threat; you get a false(?) positive as virus. – CosmicGiant Nov 27 '20 at 06:56
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    @JesperGreenJensen [Continuation] Of course, that means that whatever you're doing within your software/game that is shady, or potentially considered shady by AV software, can only be known and solved by you. --- Signing and packaging with a trusted tool can help you get better heuristic scores, but if you're still getting your software flagged as virus or potentially virus, I don't think _anyone_ can help you further than what my answer already indicates. You'll have to investigate and fix yourself. – CosmicGiant Nov 27 '20 at 07:01
  • The part about heuristic scores makes sense. I will need to investigate further on that. The boxing app is only free as a demo otherwise you need to pay. Maybe it used to be freeware? Thank you for your input. – Jesper Green Jensen Nov 27 '20 at 08:18
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    @JesperGreenJensen Any executable packing/packaging method will do. The link was just an example of such. If you're on Windows, it itself already comes with packing commands and programs; several, actually. Try typing `iexpress` into your searchbar. And google about it if you have any doubts. =) – CosmicGiant Nov 27 '20 at 08:37
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That's not that trivial since antivirus hate selfextracting exe files ;)

Either go with the usual folder structure and ship it as a .zip.

Or you could go the correct but more complex way and create a proper Installer that correctly asks for admin permissions and then is allowed to extract content into the usual program paths.

Or you can try and use this but it might underly the same issue as the selfextracting exe.

derHugo
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