Question

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Embedded a *.exe into a dll

I have a C# project – a class library – that produces a DLL file.

From within itself, this project runs an external .exe file. (Using the standard Process stuff, and it works fine.)

However, my question is: How can I bake the external .exe file into the project, such that the end-consumer will only receive the final DLL file, without ever seeing the .exe file itself?

This will make my client happier, as he will continue receiving one DLL file (as before, before I needed the .exe).

Answer 1

If your client needs the .exe at runtime, you’d darn well better make sure he has a copy of the .exe. IMHO…

PS:

You can “trick” the client by embedding your .dll as a resource (as a “Trojan horse”), and then extracting it at runtime. Which, IMHO, would be stupid. Expensive. And risky.

If you need the .exe, ship the .exe. And be explicit about it.

If the client expressly refuses to have an .exe – then your implemention violates the requirements, and you need to go back to the drawing board.

The “exe-as-resource” workaround … is a lie and a cheat. And it isn’t even a very efficient or safe cheat.

ALSO:

Embedded a *.exe into a dll

On a side note, remember that when you pull a file from your resources
to disk and then execute code on it, you may trigger Windows Data
Execution Prevention – basically, Windows tries to automatically
detect if something is supposed to be code or data, and if it looks
like data (which a resource would), then it will prevent that data
from being executed as code.

This becomes a particularly sticky issue if your .NET assembly is
going to be used over a network instead of from a local drive – there
are all sorts of .NET security configurations that might prevent this
from working correctly.