certificate - ClickOnce failing to run - file name too long - Stack Overflow

admin管理员组

文章数量:1344949

How do I shorten the name of the shortcut created by the ClickOnce installation process?

Apparently the moderators don't like the way I ask questions, so I can't respond to the original post. However, after hours of debugging, I finally solved the problem and believe others might encounter the same thing, so I'll create a new post to share my findings. It's quite obscure, so few are likely to encounter it, but it might be a god-send to those that do.

What I discovered is that my issue was very specific: it was primarily due to the fact that I was signing my ClickOnce manifest. The ClickOnce installation process creates a shortcut in the "Start" menu. For an unsigned app, this is very straight-forward: the shortcut file name looks something like "C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\[Suite name]\[Product name].appref-ms". (Interestingly, at least in Windows 11, the "Suite name" doesn't actually show in the "Start" menu, but that's a tangent.)

However, for a signed ClickOnce app, certificate information is included in the path of that file name. So, for example, the shortcut ends up looking something like "C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\[Certificate's distinguished name information]\[Suite name]\[Product name].appref-ms". That makes quite a difference. For whatever reason, our "distinguished name" is quite long, so that's what was causing the problem.

I have been unable to find documentation about this, but if anyone knows how to shorten that name (apart from the obvious suite and product names), I'd love to hear it.

Oh, and don't get me started on the fact that we still have to deal with file name lengths in 2025!?! :-S

How do I shorten the name of the shortcut created by the ClickOnce installation process?

Apparently the moderators don't like the way I ask questions, so I can't respond to the original post. However, after hours of debugging, I finally solved the problem and believe others might encounter the same thing, so I'll create a new post to share my findings. It's quite obscure, so few are likely to encounter it, but it might be a god-send to those that do.

What I discovered is that my issue was very specific: it was primarily due to the fact that I was signing my ClickOnce manifest. The ClickOnce installation process creates a shortcut in the "Start" menu. For an unsigned app, this is very straight-forward: the shortcut file name looks something like "C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\[Suite name]\[Product name].appref-ms". (Interestingly, at least in Windows 11, the "Suite name" doesn't actually show in the "Start" menu, but that's a tangent.)

However, for a signed ClickOnce app, certificate information is included in the path of that file name. So, for example, the shortcut ends up looking something like "C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\[Certificate's distinguished name information]\[Suite name]\[Product name].appref-ms". That makes quite a difference. For whatever reason, our "distinguished name" is quite long, so that's what was causing the problem.

I have been unable to find documentation about this, but if anyone knows how to shorten that name (apart from the obvious suite and product names), I'd love to hear it.

Oh, and don't get me started on the fact that we still have to deal with file name lengths in 2025!?! :-S

• certificate
• clickonce
• x509certificate

Share Improve this question Follow asked 18 hours ago Bradley PlettBradley Plett 32544 silver badges1111 bronze badges 2

• Why can't you improve your original question? On Stack Overflow, we have questions in the question part, and the answers in the answer part below the questions. That's the format. We don't have the question and the answer in the question part. – President James K. Polk Commented 18 hours ago
• 1. I didn't simply improve the original question because a) it would have required a complete rewrite of the post, losing valuable information, and b) it was closed so I couldn't actually elaborate properly. 2. In the previous post, I didn't even know where to look - the shortcut wasn't getting created. In this post, on the other hand, I had a very specific question, so the nature of the post changed completely. I would much rather have continued the conversation there, but its being closed prevented that. – Bradley Plett Commented 18 hours ago

Add a comment  | 

1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 0

I no sooner post this than a colleague provides the answer!

It turns out this is not a ClickOnce issue, per se. It is caused by the tool we're using to sign the manifest. All I needed to do was add a '-pn "Company Name"' and the tool used that rather than the default "distinguished name".

The crack about file name length restrictions stands.

本文标签： certificateClickOnce failing to runfile name too longStack Overflow