I would like to use launch4j as a launcher for my application, it looks really good. But I've run into the following issue that prevents me from deploying the launcher to my users.
When I start launch4j (or a launcher created with it for my own application), my firewall pops up a message "Application is launching other application" and asks for confirmation about this behaviour.
In itself this is no big deal, I get this with a lot of programs. I simply select "permit" and check "create a rule for this event and don't ask me again" and all is well. The problem with launch4j is, that somehow the "don't ask me again" part doesn't stick. So each time I start launch4j, I get the same question.
I get the same behaviour with any launcher that I create with launch4J. Needless to say, I am hesitant to ship this launcher to my users if they're going to be bothered each time they start my application.
I've run into this problem both with launch4j 2.1.5. and 3.0.0 pre 2. My firewall is "Sunbelt/Kerio Personal Firewall 4" and I'm on Win2K.
To get an idea how widespread this issue is : has anyone else experienced this problem with other firewall software?
Any idea what's going on? Note that launch4J and its launchers are the ONLY software I've had this problem with. I've been using the Win2K / Sunbelt firewall combination for some years now and have never encountered this issue.
Please let me know if you need more specifics (and what they are). Thanks in advance for any response.
Best regards,
Yanic Inghelbrecht
PS : Launch4j has created a temporary folder "launch4j-tmp" in my JRE installation folder. In it, there's an executable "launch4j.exe" that gets executed when I start launch4j. When they're deleted and I launch lauch4j, they simply get recreated. Why is that and what is their purpose?
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Launch4j stores temporary launchers (copies of java.exe or javaw.exe) in launch4j-tmp folder in order to create a custom named process instead of the usual javaw.exe. It's necessary because Launch4j doesn't instantiate the JVM itself. The 'don't ask again' feature of your firewall might not work because when you delete the directory launch4j has to recreate the temp launcher causing the firewall to see it as a new program.
Try creating a wrapper/launcher with the custom process name option disabled and check if that works.
Grzegorz
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Whether or not I delete the temp folder & file doesn't influence the firewall's objections.
[found the documentation for <customProcName>]
I checked my configuration file, customProcName is set to false for my launcher. Because of the generated temp stuff when launch4j is launched, I guess that launch4j itself does use a custom process name. If that is the case, I think the customProcName setting can be ruled out (as the problem occurs regardless of its value).
When I consult the application/rule table of my firewall, neither launch4j's temp executable nor my own launcher are listed despite my requests to remember their permissions.
Any ideas on how these launchers might differ from other executables, or other possible causes?
Yanic
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Launch4j does use the custom process name feature and so creates the temporary files.
I'm not sure why you can't add the launcher to the list of approved apps since you're not using the custom process, maybe you can find more info in the firewall's documentation or their site ?
Grzegorz
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Oops, I was looking in the wrong list. The correct list for these kind of permissions is buried in the firewall UI. For future reference : go to the "Intrusions" tab, "Main" tab, click "Advanced.." in the "Enable Application Behavior Blocking" section, then select the "Applications" tab in the dialog that appears and you'll see the relevant list.
In that list, launch4j and my own launcher were indeed listed.. Several times actually. To rule out the repetitions as a possible cause, I removed every entry from the list (except for a few Windows-specific entries that couldn't be removed) and tried running launch4j and my own launcher again. This time the firewall correctly remembered the permissions and on subsequent launches everything was working fine! Hooray :o)
So you were correct, it was not a problem with launch4j but a glitch in the firewall software.
Thanks again for the help.
Yanic
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi,
I would like to use launch4j as a launcher for my application, it looks really good. But I've run into the following issue that prevents me from deploying the launcher to my users.
When I start launch4j (or a launcher created with it for my own application), my firewall pops up a message "Application is launching other application" and asks for confirmation about this behaviour.
In itself this is no big deal, I get this with a lot of programs. I simply select "permit" and check "create a rule for this event and don't ask me again" and all is well. The problem with launch4j is, that somehow the "don't ask me again" part doesn't stick. So each time I start launch4j, I get the same question.
I get the same behaviour with any launcher that I create with launch4J. Needless to say, I am hesitant to ship this launcher to my users if they're going to be bothered each time they start my application.
I've run into this problem both with launch4j 2.1.5. and 3.0.0 pre 2. My firewall is "Sunbelt/Kerio Personal Firewall 4" and I'm on Win2K.
To get an idea how widespread this issue is : has anyone else experienced this problem with other firewall software?
Any idea what's going on? Note that launch4J and its launchers are the ONLY software I've had this problem with. I've been using the Win2K / Sunbelt firewall combination for some years now and have never encountered this issue.
Please let me know if you need more specifics (and what they are). Thanks in advance for any response.
Best regards,
Yanic Inghelbrecht
PS : Launch4j has created a temporary folder "launch4j-tmp" in my JRE installation folder. In it, there's an executable "launch4j.exe" that gets executed when I start launch4j. When they're deleted and I launch lauch4j, they simply get recreated. Why is that and what is their purpose?
Hi,
Launch4j stores temporary launchers (copies of java.exe or javaw.exe) in launch4j-tmp folder in order to create a custom named process instead of the usual javaw.exe. It's necessary because Launch4j doesn't instantiate the JVM itself. The 'don't ask again' feature of your firewall might not work because when you delete the directory launch4j has to recreate the temp launcher causing the firewall to see it as a new program.
Try creating a wrapper/launcher with the custom process name option disabled and check if that works.
Grzegorz
Thanks for the speedy reply, Grzegorz!
Whether or not I delete the temp folder & file doesn't influence the firewall's objections.
[found the documentation for <customProcName>]
I checked my configuration file, customProcName is set to false for my launcher. Because of the generated temp stuff when launch4j is launched, I guess that launch4j itself does use a custom process name. If that is the case, I think the customProcName setting can be ruled out (as the problem occurs regardless of its value).
When I consult the application/rule table of my firewall, neither launch4j's temp executable nor my own launcher are listed despite my requests to remember their permissions.
Any ideas on how these launchers might differ from other executables, or other possible causes?
Yanic
Launch4j does use the custom process name feature and so creates the temporary files.
I'm not sure why you can't add the launcher to the list of approved apps since you're not using the custom process, maybe you can find more info in the firewall's documentation or their site ?
Grzegorz
Oops, I was looking in the wrong list. The correct list for these kind of permissions is buried in the firewall UI. For future reference : go to the "Intrusions" tab, "Main" tab, click "Advanced.." in the "Enable Application Behavior Blocking" section, then select the "Applications" tab in the dialog that appears and you'll see the relevant list.
In that list, launch4j and my own launcher were indeed listed.. Several times actually. To rule out the repetitions as a possible cause, I removed every entry from the list (except for a few Windows-specific entries that couldn't be removed) and tried running launch4j and my own launcher again. This time the firewall correctly remembered the permissions and on subsequent launches everything was working fine! Hooray :o)
So you were correct, it was not a problem with launch4j but a glitch in the firewall software.
Thanks again for the help.
Yanic