HELP: How to hack a executable file - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

hi buddies, does anyone one know how to hack an app? for example, change a predefined (hard coded) path like "\storage card" to any other locations. I tried to use hex editor but couldn't find any paths hard coded. I know there's a program called "Olly Debugger" for Win32 which can change binary code to machine code. However it doesn't support PPC applications. Can anyone help?
Many thanks!!

If the path does not appear in the executable then it is not hard coded in the program.
Hard coded strings, string tables, static data and the like, get bundled together by the linker into a separate data segment. They would all appear in the same area within the exe.
The program is probably using FindFirstFlashCard() and FindNextFlashCard() functions to emumerate storage devices. "Storage Card" would be returned by this/these function(s) at run time.
Another reason may be that the executable has been 'signed'. In this case the code is encrypted with the certificate so the hard coded stuff cannot be seen. Altering the code here will invalidate the checksum and the operating system will refuse to run it.

hi stephj, thanks for your info! finally i can figure out the location is hard coded in a dll file instead.
btw do you know how to convert a module (in the form of folders) into a binary dll?
thanks!!

Not quite certain what you mean. A DLL file is the same structure as a .EXE except that it does not have a WinMain() function that a .EXE file has that the loader calls once it is loaded.
Once a DLL is loaded the loader can resolve the real address(es) of its exported function(s).

sorry, i was talking about the modules in rom cooking. after dumping the rom, some DLLs appear in the form of modules (which are folders). what I want to know is the ways to convert these folders into binary files.

In that case it's over to the chefs. My expertise is in the area of application development.

Thanks stephj!!

To convert module to file, look for recmod
It will give you a plain .exe/.dll you want to modify.
After you do it, restore it using reversmod

Related

Hook winsock API calls in WM5

My goal is to get the TCP data from a TCP application on the pocket pc
like data from internet explorer or active sync. I want to write a proxy
that forwards all TCP data to the application server (Web server,...).
So I have tried to replace the ws2.dll with a wrapper dll that forwards all
winsock API calls to the original ws2.dll. But when I replace the ws2.dll file
with my own and make a softreset the device hangs in boot screen and
I must do a hardreset. Could not get this to work on WM5 but it works great
on WM2003 devices.
So I have tried another thing. Have heard about API hooking and want to
try this with winsock API functions (connect, WSAConnect, send, recv,...).
After several days of investigation in some forums I have found many
informations about API hooking and API sets win WM5. But when I look
deeper there is no server process for winsock API calls. So I cannot
change the method adresses.
Another idea was to hook LoadLibrary() API function and when ws2.dll is
loaded from an application I will load my own dll and forward all calls to
the original ws2.dll. But LoadLibrary() has also no server process.
Has anybody another idea how to do this?
Thanks for any information on this.
Houser
Hi Houser!
I think the reason your original method failed on WM5 is because all system DLLs must be signed or the system will not load them.
There are several threads on this forum (sorry, can't remember precise link right now) that explain how to create\use certificates, and sign files, so just search for that.
Good luck.
Thanks levenum for your reply.
I also have thought about signing the dll but I have disabled certificate
check on the WM5 device with the Cert_SPCS.CAB file and now
my system loads every dll without asking the user.
I have written some test applications that explicite load my ws2.dll with
a different name (ws2xx.dll) and then in my ws2xx.dll I load
the org ws2.dll from \windows dir and all worked fine. I can use
any winsock function and can make TCP connects and so on.
So I think signing is not the problem, only when I do not use
the Cert_SPCS.CAB file to disable it?
Or are system file always checked at boot phase?
That would then explain the problem maybe.
Regards
Houser
I am pretty sure system files are treated separately. I once used a device with no cert ROM, which ran all programs and loaded DLLs without asking for certificate, but refused to do so for system files (MUIs).
I think you should give certificates a chance before moving on to more complicated solutions.
So I should try to sign my wrapper dll with a certificate.
So I will try to sign with the Visual Studio 2005 developer
certificate. And then I must install this certificate on my device
so that the system trusted the dll file with this certificate?
Houser
Another thing: What do you mean with MUIs?
That's correct.
There are provisioning CABs in the 2005 SDK. You just run them on your device and they insert all the test certificates.
SDK also shows how to provision devices through RAPI, but most WM5 ROMs block that option.
Also you should use the 'privileged' execution certificate to make sure you have maximum access to the system.
MUIs are duplicate system DLLs that contain resources for other languages. For example: coredll.dll.0409.mui will contain English resources for coredll.dll (409 is hex for English code page). They are used to switch interface languages both on PC windows and mobile. (Metalanguage User Interface).
P.S.
If you want, there are XML templates for provisioning CABs in the SDK, and makecert.exe that let you create your own certificate and put it on the device.
Another thing: What do you mean with MUIs?
So I have tried this:
1) Installed the SdkCerts.cab certificates on the device (copied the file on
the ppc and tap in explorer on it) A success message was displayed from
the setup process.
2) In VS2005 I have set in the project settings the cert signing to "Sample
Privileged Root for windows mobile SDK" certificate and rebuild my dll.
In the dll file properties I can see the certificate.
3) Have copied my ws2.dll file to \windows and replaced the org ws2.dll file
there, my dll loads a copy of the org ws2.dll (ws2copy.dll) that is also
in the \windows dir
4) Then the big moment: Soft reset and..... hanging again in boot screen
The installed certificates did not appear in the pocket pc certificate manager.
Do you know if they should appear there or not?
Maybe the SDK certificates are not imported correctly?
Thanks for you help!
Houser
I'm sorry my solution didn't help.
The test certificates do not show in the list (don't know why).
The way I see it there are two possibilities:
1. I was wrong about the certificates. (Though I think you may still need them)
2. There might be a problem with the copy DLL you try to load (ws2copy.dll). Is it from a good dump? Have you tried loading it from a test app? Is it signed? I think it needs to be signed to.
Sorry I can't give you advice on an alternate way. Insufficient knowledge...
It is very frustrating, I do not knwo how many
hard resets I have made in the last few weeks. :?
I have written a test app that loads my winsock dll file and
then my dll loads the copy ws2.dll file. The copy ws2.dll file
is from a platform builder 5.0 build.
These tests with my test app all worked fine, I can make TCP connects
and do all the winsock stuff like I load the org ws2.dll file directly.
I have even disabled certificate check on the device and tested
with unsigned dll and it works too.
The copy dll from PB 5.0 is not signed. may be this could
be a problem when my dll is loaded in boot time.
Do you know a way to sign the copy PB dll with the SDK certificate?
Thanks man!
Houser
Signing files (DLL, EXE, CAB) is very easy. In the SDK, there is a file called signcode.exe. It will give you a step by step wizard to sign the file. The only additional thing you will need is the certificate files themselves which should also be in the SDK.
Got it to work with signing the copy dll file and
now after soft reset my device does NOT hang. :lol:
Many thanks for your support levenum!
That is very good but now I have figured out that
I cannot make a localhost connect on a local tcp port
on the device. That has something to do with WM5
because it was working under Wm2003. Strange..very
strange.
Houser

Problem changing string in tapres.dll.0409.mui

I'm having trouble modifying a string in tapres.dll.0409.mui. I've tried changing the string, even just one letter, in PE Browser and even hex editing.
I've tried signing the file with various different certs, but nothing helps. The file does not work when I boot up with it.
What am I missing here?
fluxist
Several things:
1) Were did you get the original file? The file may be corrupt to begin with.
2) You need to remove the signature (if any) before editing the file or it will be permanently ruined.
3) It is recommended to use Platform Builder to edit MUI files (you can download evaluation version from MS site for free).
Hope this helps.
levenum said:
Several things:
1) Were did you get the original file? The file may be corrupt to begin with.
2) You need to remove the signature (if any) before editing the file or it will be permanently ruined.
3) It is recommended to use Platform Builder to edit MUI files (you can download evaluation version from MS site for free).
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I extracted the file from an RUU. I've been editing it with Visual Studio 2005.
I've tried removing signatures, when present. I've been using UnSigner for that.
It seems that even without editing it, just copying it into /Windows and overwriting the original causes the same problems. I've tried signing it with different SDk certs, also importing the certs to the device, and that doesnt help.
I read in a thread that you need a dll file with an intact PE header, so I've tried removing the resources from another dll and adding my resources to it, but that didn't work either.
Has anyone done this before who can chime in?
fluxist
You are correct about the PE header.
Strange, moving the resources in to a clean DLL should have worked.
Two more things I can think of:
1) What OS is the original DLL for and what SDK did you compile the clean DLL with?
For example WM 6 DLLs will not load on WM 5, and in some cases WM 6 refuses to use WM 5 DLLs as system MUI.
2) If you can, make a simple app that will call LoadLibrary and see if you get an error loading the DLL.
if there is an error it means the DLL is still corrupt for some reason, if not it is most likely some kind of signature / permissions problem.
MUI files usually have only resources.
You can try re-dump it using my ROM Extractor.
When you can try to edit it again.
Some editors rather often corrupt files.
Try different resource editors.
levenum said:
Several things:
1) Were did you get the original file? The file may be corrupt to begin with.
2) You need to remove the signature (if any) before editing the file or it will be permanently ruined.
3) It is recommended to use Platform Builder to edit MUI files (you can download evaluation version from MS site for free).
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you guide me to Platform Builder download, i have tried to search for it, even on MS site, and i found sdk stuff, not a debug software that can edit MUI.
So, please, help me...

SDConfigGen - a tool for automatically creating SDAutorun configurations

First off, I'd like to thank Sleuth255 for SDAutoRun, and to mousio for his AutoRun tool which provided the inspiration for this project.
SDConfigGen is a command line tool for the PC which inspects a collection of files to be installed, then produces an SDConfig.txt and other associated scripts and provisioning files to allow SDAutoRun to automatically install them.
It differs from mousio's solution in that rather than having SDAutoRun call a MortScript to do all the work, this tool creates an SDConfig.txt to do the majority, only calling scripts for specific functionality when required. Scripts (and therefore MortScript) may not even be required, if nothing being installed needs automation.
Installation
Unzipping the contents of the archive will produce this folder structure:
\
Storage Card\SDConfig\Cabs\
Files\
Scripts\
Settings\
Sys\​First things first - to use any of the script-based functionality a copy of the MortScript installation cab file must be placed within the Sys folder. Download MortScript-4.11b7.zip (or newer version) from http://www.sto-helit.de, then extract \cab\MortScript-4.11b7-PPC.cab from it.
Usage
If the name of the Storage Card will be different on your target device, then rename that folder to whatever it will be. Otherwise, just leave it as it is.
Within the sub-folders of SDConfig, add the files you want to be installed.
Cabs:
Any .cab files in this folder will be installed. If the installation of a .cab file requires user interaction (to confirm a license window, for example), then create a .mscr script file of the same name containing instructions to be executed while the cab file is being installed.
For example, if you need to install a cab file: "eWallet-PocketPC-Install.cab",
create a file called "eWallet-PocketPC-Install.mscr" too. This file contains
MortScript to be run while the cab installer is being run, for example:
Code:
windowTitle = "Software License Agreement"
WaitFor(windowTitle, 60)
SendLeftSoft(windowTitle)
Note that you don't need to worry about actually installing the cab, or waiting for installation to finish - just write the automation code itself.
The SDAutoRun UI will be hidden while an interactive cab is being installed like this, and a MortScript status window shown instead. The device will be responsive to user input, so if any non-automatable interaction is required, that can be done manually.
Files:
After the cab files have been installed, all files in this folder will be copied directly to the root folder. To copy files to sub-folders, place them in sub-folders of this folder. For example, to copy files to the Windows folder, create a Windows folder here and place the files within it.
Standard (English) folder names will automatically be replaced by variables, so files in the "Files\Program Files" folder here will be copied to %CE1% folder by SDAutoRun.
The file copy operation is actually performed by generating a CopyFiles.xml provisioning file in the Sys folder, and it is this that goes in the SDConfig.txt file. This method was chosen as it avoids the path length limit of copying directly in SDConfig.txt, and allows for the %CEn% variable subsitution scheme.
Settings:
After the files have been copied, any settings in this folder will be applied. Settings may either be .xml provisioning files (which are added directly to SDConfig.txt), or registry data in .reg, .rgu or .cereg files. Registry data files will be automatically converted to xml provisioning files within the Sys folder, which are then added to SDConfig.txt.
Scripts:
After the settings have been applied, any .mscr scripts within this folder will be executed. SDConfigGen will generate instructions in SDConfig.txt to automatically handle copying them to the \Temp folder and renaming them to replace spaces by underscores before execution if required.
Note that the device will not be interactive at this point, so don't write scripts that require user interaction.
Sys:
Apart from placing a copy of MortScript-4.11b7-PPC.cab in here, you shouldn't touch the contents of this folder; they will be automatically cleaned out and generated by the SDConfigGen tool.
Notes
I've provided RegToXml as a standalone .exe file so that registry data files can be manually converted to .xml provisioning files, if required. This is not generally necessary, though, as it will occur automatically as part of the SDConfigGen process.
Due to limitations of SDAutoRun, during installation some files need to be copied to the \Temp folder on the device before execution. A TempCleanup.xml provisioning file is generated in the Sys folder by SDConfigGen which is the last thing executed by SDConfig.txt. It should remove any temporary files that were placed in the \Temp folder, but will not remove the folder itself, or any other files within it.
SDAutoRun also requires that SDConfig.txt be ASCII, which means that if any files contain characters outside that range (such as accented characters), they can not be directly referenced. SDConfigGen will automatically detect this, and generate provisioning XML files to transparently rename the files before processing them, then back again afterwards.
The last statement in the SDConfig.txt is the RST: Reset statment, to reset the device.
The only part of the file structure that can be changed is the name of the "Storage Card" folder - the other folders cannot be renamed or moved. By default, when the SDConfigGen tool is run, it works with the first sub folder under the folder the .exe file is placed. To override this behaviour, pass the folder path to SDConfigGen.exe as a command line argument.
Cabs, settings and scripts are executed in alphabetical order, grouped by subfolder. Subfolders will be executed first, so for example the contents of Cabs\Prerequisites\ would be installed before the files directly in Cabs\ (but after files in Cabs\A\). All interactive cabs are executed first, followed by non-interactive ones.
All generated files (except SDConfig.txt) are in Unicode UTF-16 encoding.
To have SDConfigGen create a log file of the generation process, use the SDConfigGenWithLog.bat file included in the archive. It will create a results.log file containing the messages that would normally be output to the console.
This is still an early version, so there will probably be bugs with it. I've used it successfully for setting up my own device several times now, but I can't make any guarantees. Please do post any bug reports or suggestions here though!
Alex
Updates
0.6:
All output files are now in UTF-16 encoding, with the exception of SDConfig.txt, which is in ASCII.
If files referenced by SDConfig.txt have names containing non-ASCII characters, provisioning files to automatically rename them before they are accessed, and to restore them afterwards will be generated.
Subfolders are now supported in the Cabs, Settings and Scripts folders. Files within subfolders will be processed first, in alphabetical order of subfolder name.
File folder variable substition made case insensitive
Added SDConfigGenWithLog.bat file for easy logging of output to a log file
0.5.1:
Removed .svn files from the file structure (oops!)
0.5:
Made warning message on skipping registry files less confusing
RegToXml: Now supports empty values for String, MultiString and Binary values
RegToXml: Made ,ore robust to invalid data - if a value contains invalid data, only that value is skipped.
RegToXml: The line number is now reported with any error or warning message.
RegToXml: Whitespace allowed to surround the = in value lines.
0.4:
RegToXml: Fixed nesting bug with registry key deletion conversion
RegToXml: Now supports comments (lines starting with ; )
0.3:
RegToXml now assumes that registry files without Unicode BOM's are encoded in the system default ANSI codepage, rather than UTF-8 (this means that if your registry file is UTF-8, it must contain a Byte Order Mark to be read correctly)
0.2:
Files are now installed in alphabetical order by file name (within their own group). For example, first interactive cabs A-Z, then non-interactive cabs A-Z. This allows control over installing cabs that require others to be installed before or after them.
.NET Framework (required)
Lookin Mighty Fine Siuer.
Not in the Testing Time yet.
But does the scripts folder eventually combine the scripts into one?
(lazy Bum At Work, Not Able to test it)
No, the scripts in the scripts folder are not combined into a single script, they are all executed separately. Would there be some benefit to trying to combine them into a single script before execution?
AlexVallat said:
No, the scripts in the scripts folder are not combined into a single script, they are all executed separately. Would there be some benefit to trying to combine them into a single script before execution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you are absolutely right there is now good reason for it.
It's better to have them seprated, makes finding **** Ups easier.
Don't know what i was thinking or why..
AlexVallat,
Thanks for your job, you soft is amazingly simple which is a great pro compared to SASHIMI for instance.
So yhis afternoon I started to put all my files in the appropriate folders and when I launch SDConfigGen with the folder path I don't get in the config.txt file \Storage Card\ before the files to execute but the path I gave as parameter. I think transforming the path given into \Storage Card\ could help.
One other point, as a poor French guy your RegToXml converter does not handle all the French extended character set such as é, à, ... Could you make it support this characters.
Anyway for now it is fully usable but requires SDConfig.txt file edition before launching the whole process. Tomorrow it will be hands-on time as I plan to upgrade my Polaris ROM so more news to come regarding SDCofingGen usage.
The_Steph
The_Steph said:
AlexVallat,
Thanks for your job, you soft is amazingly simple which is a great pro compared to SASHIMI for instance.
So yhis afternoon I started to put all my files in the appropriate folders and when I launch SDConfigGen with the folder path I don't get in the config.txt file \Storage Card\ before the files to execute but the path I gave as parameter. I think transforming the path given into \Storage Card\ could help.
One other point, as a poor French guy your RegToXml converter does not handle all the French extended character set such as é, à, ... Could you make it support this characters.
Anyway for now it is fully usable but requires SDConfig.txt file edition before launching the whole process. Tomorrow it will be hands-on time as I plan to upgrade my Polaris ROM so more news to come regarding SDCofingGen usage.
The_Steph
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm my pall had the same thing but changing to Unicode seemed to solve his XML issue. NOt sure if this is the same but worth the try.
Great work alex!
Question:
Anyway to verify the syntax of the provisioning XML files?
Any tools out there that can create these files or verify them? I think a tool like this would be great.
NEVERMIND! I just saw your reply in the reg2xml converter thread! THANKS!
The_Steph: Thanks for your comments!
The idea with the path is that the name of the folder is used to control the name of the Storage Card on the device. So if you name your folder Storage Card, that's what goes in the SDConfig.txt. If, on your device, it has a different name (due to language changes, or whatever), then you need to rename the folder appropriately.
Thanks for the bug report about accented characters in RegToXml. I will fix that and post an updated version soon.
gtxaspec: I could verify that the files were valid XML, but the more useful check that they contain valid provisioning instructions is beyond the scope of this project. Not least because the documentation describing what are valid instructions is confusing and can be inaccurate. With anything other than the file and registry providers, it usually ends up being a case of trial and error. With the file and registry providers, using the auto-generation capabilities of SDConfigGen will avoid most surprises.
Alex
Version 0.3 released
I've just updated the first post to release version 0.3. This should address the accented characters issue raised by The_Steph, however it does mean that if your registry file is UTF-8 encoded, it must include Byte Order Marks to indicate this. Otherwise, it will be assumed to be encoded in the system default code page.
I've also added a feature that files are now installed in alphabetical order (within each group). If you need to make sure that certain cabs are installed before others, this can now be done by renaming them, usually by including a numeric prefix.
Alex
reg2xml bugs
Hi Alex,
Converting everything to xml and using standard provisioning is an interesting approach!
Only obviously reg2xml has got some problems still with .reg files containing certain characters:
I've attached you a sample file which is not converted correctly at three points, each with a different error cause.
- Comments (Lines beginning with ";") in the .reg files are sometimes (not in every case, could not see what the trigger is) leading to an aborted conversion.
- Some characters like the arrow character (ASCII 27/1BHex) are also a problem.
Maybe the attached file helps in finding the bug.
BTW: Do you also have a tool that is converting just the other way around: From XML to reg indstead of from reg to XML?
Sometimes I need to have a .reg file instead of an .XML. And importing the XML and then trying to find all registry entries to export it back to a .reg can be a very tedious thing when the imports are not all together in one registry branch.
Thanks!
Thanks for the bug report, asango. Yes, I forgot about comments, I'll fix that and release an update soon. I'm looking into what the best way to handle control characters like 0x1B is (which is 'Escape', according to the ASCII chart I'm looking at). Obviously crashing is not an acceptable behaviour, so I'll have some sort of fix for it.
I don't have a XmlToReg tool, but it sounds like a good idea - I'll probably write one over the weekend.
Alex
Great, looking forward to that, thank you!
Version 0.4 released
The first post has been updated to version 0.4. RegToXml has been updated to add support for comments in .reg files.
Unfortunately there appears to be no way to include control characters in an XML file. If the character itself, or even the character entity (like &#x1B, then the file is regarded as malformed and not accepted. I have therefore not been able to do anything to fix this (sorry asango!).
If anyone knows of a way that a provisioning file could be used to set a registry string value containing these characters, please let me know.
On a more positive note, the requested XmlToReg tool is up - I've given it its own thread here: XmlToReg.
Alex
Yes, the comments are now handled corectly, perfect!
Some other thing is still an issue:
test.reg: Converting...
test.reg: Conversion failed. (Unexpected value format: dword) Skipping.
In this case the output file is not generated at all, seems that not only the value is skipped but this causes the whole file not being written.
This leads to another suggestion: Would it be possible to indicate the line number where a problem happened?
This would make it much easier to find the problem.
And regarding the non handled escape characters:
This also leads to aborting. Would it also be possible to just skip them and issue a warning but go on with the conversion and with writing the outout file for the rest of the entries?
Now that is odd. "dword" is a perfectly valid value format, it shouldn't have produced that error. Any chance you could send me the .reg file that produced it?
Line numbers should be do-able, I'll add that to the next version.
The "skipping" message there referred to the "test.reg" at the start of the message, not to the dword value. I agree it looks misleading as it is currently worded though, I'll improve that.
About recovering from errors and skipping only invalid values rather than the whole file - this will be quite tricky. By the time I am notified of invalid characters by the XmlWriter, it has already given up in a sulk and can't be persuaded to continue writing any further. I'll need to do some sort of pre-vetting before passing data on to it. If I come up with any good ideas on how to do this, I'll include it in the next version.
Alex
asango, here's a candidate RegToXml.0.5.0 - could you check if it is still reporting the "Unexpected value format: dword" error with your file? It now reports line numbers, which might help track down the problem. It should also be able to recover from an invalid value and skip just that value, although I'm not sure how well that is working yet.
Alex
Hi Alex,
Great, the line numbers are making things much easier and this way I even found the reason for this error very easily:
Here's the point where it is failing:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\RIL]
"NITZEnable"= dword:00000001
...with this error message:
test.reg: Converting...
[Line 194] Error: Invalid value (Unexpected value format: dword)
Skipping: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\RIL\NITZEnable
Done.
As soon as I'm deleting the blank between the "=" and "dword" everything is ok.
Maybe you can allow blanks after the "=" in general?
This would solve this issue definitely
And yes, by the way the xml file is now generated despite of this error, very good!
Asango
Hmm... I'm not sure whitespace is supposed to be allowed around the = sign. It doesn't make anything ambiguous though, so there's no good reason not to relax the matching. Try this 0.5.1 which allows whitespace around the = sign, hopefully that should now parse your file correctly.
Alex
Yes, now I can see no other issues with the RegToXml tool, good work!
Also the whole cold boot import is ok with one exception:
Only the CopyFiles.xml which is generated by the SDConfigGen.exe is not copying all the files from the "Files" diectory during its execution.
Tried to import that xml manually with the xml option of Taskmgr and also got an error, but since the error is *very* uninformative and not showing the line number and my CopyFiles.xml is rather big I could not find the problem.
Could it be that the reason for the error is that if a file is already existing or read only that this will stop the rest of the import?
asango said:
Yes, now I can see no other issues with the Only the CopyFiles.xml which is generated by the SDConfigGen.exe is not copying all the files from the "Files" diectory during its execution.
Tried to import that xml manually with the xml option of Taskmgr and also got an error, but since the error is *very* uninformative and not showing the line number and my CopyFiles.xml is rather big I could not find the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Second hands-on day with SDConfigGen and I have the same issue with v0.4. CopyFiles.xml is not executed at all. Probably a syntax error issue as stated by asango (I've done the same tests as him).
The_Steph

[HELP] How to register a dll?

I try to create a program which consists of
.asx files (to show online tv channels),
.lnk files (shorcuts to the .asx files) and
a .dll file which contains only some .ico files (icons of the tv channels).
I added all these files to a cab using WinCE Cab Manager and tried to install it on my ppc. So far so good. The problem occurred when the message “The program can not be installed. Choose another location” appeared during installation, just after the process bar was filled.
Although I have no idea about computer programming, I have created many cab’s with WinCE Cab Manager for skins I have created for several programs. Anyway, I realized that the problem occurred due to the .dll file, since this is the first time I add such a file in a .cab.
I created my .dll file using a .dll from another program which had only icons in it, as well. I deleted them using Restorator 2007 and I had an “empty” .dll sized 4KB. Then I added my icon files using XN Resource Editor.
I searched the Internet to see what might be the problem with the .dll and I found out that I have to “register” my .dll file. I really have no idea what this means but it needs to be done. I also found an option in WinCE Cab Manager for “self-registering” file, but it didn’t work either.
So, the question to you dev guys is how can I register my .dll file, or should I create it from the beginning with another way?
Please help! Thanks in advance!
sorry to repost but it seems that posts keep coming in this forum and this thread is already in the second page and I'm afraid that noone will see it and reply to it. By the way, is there any special sub-forum for such questions?
This may help. I use his instructions to edit existing DLL's
http://www.modaco.com/content/i9x0-...88904/lisbian-taskbars-for-i910/#entry1023568
It will unsign the dll which will probably fail on your custom dll but it should sign it when you are done editing.
NilsP
Many thanks for your suggestion but unfortunately it didn't work for me.
As you said, this is mainly for resigning already signed .dll files.
Any other help will be appreciated. I can attach it here if anypne is willing to help. Or just tell me the way. Thanks!
I deploy a few dll's with my app, without any problem. If the installer complains about the location, what did you specify where it should go?
There are 2 approaches to solve this problem:
1.) If you have a private key to match a certificate in the device's certificate store, sign the .dll and .cab with this private key and it will be installed with elevated privledges, and be successful. To facilitate this you can install the "SDK Certificates" - and sign with the matching private key (you should be able to find these on a search, term "SDKCerts" or similar)
2.) Look for an "Application Unlocker" or other security reduction tool, run it, and you should be able to install the cab. On this note, if you check here, it will give you a more technical overview of the security policies. You want to change 4101 / 0x1005 to "SECROLE_MANAGER" (8) - which tells the system to install it with elevated privledges. Also make sure 4102 / 0x1006 is set to 1 to allow unsigned applications.
6Fg8
I don't believe that is the location I specified that causes the problem because when I deleted the .dll file from the .cab, it was installed properly. How do you create your dll files? With programming or you just edit existing files? If I send you my .ico files, will you be able to create the .dll file for me?
Da_G
Thanks but both approaches seem very complicated for me!
So, will I need Visual Basic in order to do this or is there any easier way? Can anyone sign the dll for me?
angelos_cy said:
6Fg8
How do you create your dll files? With programming or you just edit existing files? If I send you my .ico files, will you be able to create the .dll file for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes with programming, C++ or .net. Never had any issue with signing. I can try to make a dll if you send me the icons (or post them here if they aren't too secret ).
6Fg8 said:
I can try to make a dll if you send me the icons (or post them here if they aren't too secret ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have sent them to you by pm. They are not secret at all but I will create a "program" (wannabe ) with that dll and I want that program to be a surprise for users of the forum where I'll post it. I may post it on xda too, but it's nothing important.
Many thanks!
angelos_cy said:
The problem occurred when the message “The program can not be installed. Choose another location” appeared during installation, just after the process bar was filled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens because you've changed resources in signed file, which changed file checksum and invalidated it's signature, and Windows installer refuses to install file with invalid signature. But it won't refuse to install this file WITHOUT signature at all - so use unsigner (search for it on XDA) to remove signature completely; if you encounter error, try to remove signature from original (unmodified) file, and then change resources in it...
6Fg8
the_ozyrys
Thanks to both of you!
6Fg8 has created and signed the dll for me and it finally worked, but I also tried the_ozyrys' method and it also worked.
So thanks to baniaczek too, since he created the unsigner.exe.
Everything worked fine with the dll. Now the cab is installed properly.
However, I have another problem. Just after the installation of the cab on my ppc, it seems that the device freezes for about a minute. This is propably because my cab contains a lot of shortcuts (.lnk files) that go under Programs folder.
So, I would like to ask for another favour, if it's possible. As I said I intend to give this cab to others too. Since this delay can make them believe that my program has freezed their device, I would like to make the cab restart the device just after installation and after uninstallation as well. I think this is made with the "Setup.dll" which I don't know how to create.
If anyone knows how to do this and has the time for it, could you please create this setup.dll for me. If the cab is needed to do this, just tell me to send it to you.
Thanks in advance!
Anyone? Plzzzzzzz!
If you want to sign .dll or .exe u can use the apps posted in the two posts below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=432041
or
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3530246&postcount=18
raykisi
Thanks for your answer but 6Fg8 and the_ozyrys already helped me on that.
My question now is how to create a setup.dll in order to make my .cab to prompt the user to restart the device after installation and uninstallation. If anyone can do it for me, I can send you the .cab which I alreday created and you can add the setup.dll with those functions.

[Q] OEM package with dll

hey there,
i created an oem package which contains an dll file, one that exists also in the sys-folder as folder (contains imageinfo.bin and s000), when cooking with my kitchen buildos gives an error, something about that the expected file already exists as folder...
what can i do?
It's not a good idea to over-write a module; in fact, it's a bad idea, because it crashes most kitchens (buildos will crash every time).
1. Why are you trying to over-write a module with a file?
2. If you really want to do it, you need to remove the module from the sys directory. I'm not sure it's a good idea myself; you should at least convert the file to a module. If you don't know the difference between a file and a module, then you should search and find the answer. It's easy enough to do.
It would help a great deal when you start a topic if you give more information. What build are you using? What device? Most importantly, what module are you trying to replace?
Thanks Ted,
sorry for the small amount if informations. I'm using EXEcutor von pako777, it's kitchen tool for the omnia 2... almost, it dissambles the dump-file, then i can delete/add files and then it assembles it again... some kitchens i saw over here a really great, but the executor get the work done...
i found the informations, thanks for the hint i will now try reversmode.exe
right now i want to convert a taskbar.cab to an oem package and so i need to replace shellres.192.dll and some other files
I think that kheb 1.1 (search, it's easy to find) is the best way to make a package for your cab. Just run a snapshot, install the cab, then run another snapshot (+difference). Select the 'make an oem' function. It doesn't make a working oem, but it will dump the reg keys that you need, and collect all the files (I assume they'll all go to windows). It sounds like you're building the rom straight from a dump, and not with full packages? Then you'll need to just swap the new files in for any old ones (as well as add new ones), and figure out how to add the registry keys, if there are any. I guess you can use ceregeditor or something similar to import the keys into the default.hv. Convert files to modules, if that's how the dll's appear in the dump.
You have to be a little careful with an app like kheb (or sk tracker): it may dump out some extraneous files or reg keys, as changes occur all the time to a device's registry and file system. Make sure you separate the wheat from the chaff. It's best not to soft reset after the cab install, if you're prompted to do so. That creates a butt-load of random new reg values that are irrelevant. If any certificates are installed by the cab, you can probably ignore them.
Thanks again, but i used the package creator from ervius to convert the cab, converted the rgu to an provxml and the dll-files with reversmode and everything worked fine
but i will take a look onto kheb, sound promising when converting a cab with setup.dll

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