Nativefier: Electron runtime downloads should be verified, to avoid corrupt nativefied apps

[danieldogeanu]

Description

Hi! I have a big, big problem with the latest nativefier: The generated apps don't work at all. I have no idea if it's an issue with nativefier or with electron. The thing is that I get no error message in the command line, but when I launch the app, nothing happens. It doesn't launch anything. And there's no electron in the Task Manager either.

I have older generated apps, that I had saved before reinstalling my Windows 10, and they all work just fine. The new generated apps however, don't work at all. I've also tried multiple versions of electron and that didn't work either.

Steps to Reproduce Issue

1. nativefier --name "FB Emoticons" "http://fb-emoticons.ddev.ro/"
2. launch FB Emoticons.exe

Specifications

• Version of Nativefier: v7.3.1
• Version of Node.js: v7.9.0
• OS: Windows 10 Pro Creators Update v1703 build15063.250
• Architecture x64
• No error messages, all I get is this:

D:\TEMPORARY\Test>nativefier --name "FB Emoticons" "http://fb-emoticons.ddev.ro/"
Packaging app for platform win32 x64 using electron v1.6.6
App built to D:\TEMPORARY\Test\FB Emoticons-win32-x64

D:\TEMPORARY\Test>

Please tell me what do I need to provide you with, to solve this problem.

[RigleyC]

Yep, I got the same problem, I though that was only me. . . The app create the package normaly but whe I will open, he doesn't work. . .

[ronjouch]

"Please tell me what do I need to provide you with, to solve this problem."

@danieldogeanu thanks for the feedback 😃. First try running the same nativefier command, but using the --verbose flag. If that doesn't yield anything, it would be awesome if you tried spelunking for some kind of error clue, using Microsoft Process Monitor. Using the built-in filters, try to isolate the process as much as possible, then look for errors in the application trace.

@RigleyC can you precise your OS, Node, Nativefier command?

"I have older generated apps, that I had saved before reinstalling my Windows 10, and they all work just fine. The new generated apps however, don't work at all. I've also tried multiple versions of electron and that didn't work either."

Thanks for already trying other Electron versions. @danieldogeanu @RigleyC are you sure this is specific to Windows 10, or could it be a regression in Nativefier? Could you try older versions of nativefier (especially: 7.0.1 and 6.14.0)? Using npm it's easy to do so using the @ version specifier, for example npm install -g [email protected]

[RigleyC]

So, I'm running Windows 10 Creators Update, but as @danieldogeanu said, the other apps work perfectly. . .
I tryed to install the version 7.0.1 but, keep the same, in the 6.14.0 shows up a message error (below). . .
Maybe delete all files and try reinstall could work? I don't know. . .

[danieldogeanu]

@ronjouch Apparently I get the same output. Nothing happens.

D:\TEMPORARY\Test>nativefier --name "FB Emoticons" --verbose "http://fb-emoticons.ddev.ro/"
Packaging app for platform win32 x64 using electron v1.6.6
App built to D:\TEMPORARY\Test\FB Emoticons-win32-x64

D:\TEMPORARY\Test>

I'll try to do the Process Monitor later, I'm a bit busy right now. What processes should I watch for exactly?

By the way, I have a strong suspicion that this might be a Windows Defender problem. The generated apps are not signed with a trusted certificate, so my Avast antivirus puts them into sandbox and scans them when they first open, but it usually says it's fine and allows me to open them. But in Creators Update version of Windows 10, they changed how Windows Defender works and I can't freaking disable it for the life of me! It says that it's disabled but when I go to the settings, Real-time protection and Cloud-based protection is on. No matter what I do, I can't turn them off. I even tried it from registry and Group Policy, nothing happens. If you have any tips on that, tell me.

Also, I should mention that when I run the nativefier command, the progress bar jumps from 30ish % to 60ish % instantly. The antivirus scan also stops abruptly, like there was something wrong with the files (maybe corrupted). And it's funny, because the old apps have 124MB, the new ones have 127MB.

Anyway, I'll come back later with the Process Monitor results.

[jiahaog]

@danieldogeanu could it be related to this? https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/windows-10-creators-update-can-block-win32-apps-if-theyre-not-from-the-store

[danieldogeanu]

@jiahaog No, I don't think so. Mine is set to Allow apps from anywhere. In Windows 10 S you're locked with Windows Store only apps, I have Windows 10 Pro. I think this is a Windows Defender problem, but we'll see.

[danieldogeanu]

@ronjouch OK, so I made a capture with Process Monitor and it appears that there are a lot of errors: NAME NOT FOUND, FILE LOCKED WITH ONLY READERS, PATH NOT FOUND and BUFFER OVERFLOW (among others). It seems that my Avast antivirus is freaking out over this. I think it's because of the BUFFER OVERFLOW thing. But I don't know if the antivirus closes the app, or not. At some point, the app just shuts down itself for no reason (or maybe for a lot of reasons, lol). I'll try to uninstall my Avast antivirus and I'll try again.

I've attached the raw capture (unfiltered), so you can see what happens before and after and what other processes might interfere with it. Here are some details, so you can find where it begins:

START TIME: 07:06:06.8301245 (about half way through the file)
APP NAME: FB Emoticons.exe
APP LOCATION: D:\TEMPORARY\Test

PS: This is what happens when I launch the generated app, not when I generate it with Nativefier. I'll also try that when the time allows.

I hope this is useful.

UPDATE: Yeah, maybe I also don't forget to attach the file. Here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ZHZNtFYG1GUDJlZm5PelU1aGc/view?usp=sharing

[danieldogeanu]

So I've figured out what was going on. The problem was with Electron not downloading completely when you run the command. Of course it wouldn't run, it had an incomplete Electron installation.

I have no idea why that happened, but I suspect it's a Windows problem of some sort. It was the first release of Creators Update and even the guys at Microsoft told people not to install it. It was buggy as hell.

Now I've reinstalled Windows with the latest version and it works like a charm. I've also installed the latest versions of Node and Nativefier. I would suggest you to do the same if you're having these issues.

I guess you can now close this issue.

---

• Version of Nativefier: v7.4.0
• Version of Node.js: v8.0.0
• OS: Windows 10 Pro Creators Update v1703 build15063.332
• Architecture: x64

[ronjouch]

"The problem was with Electron not downloading completely when you run the command. Of course it wouldn't run, it had an incomplete Electron installation."

@danieldogeanu thanks for getting back to us 🙂, will keep in mind. Ideally, hashes for Electron versions should be verified (by us or electron-packager).

[ronjouch]

Closing, as electron-packager → electron-download now verifies electron downloads.