Why ActiveX "Unknown Publisher" error when using signed certificate?

Question

Hi, I have been struggling for days trying to get a simple ActiveX DLL to work with no success despite studying several articles on the subject which I have found online. I suspect I have several things coded incorrectly as I am just not familiar with this and most of the articles on the subject are out of date. I am using Visual Studio 2008 and have been using the Windows SDK V7.1 for digital signing.

What I am trying to do is return the client machineName from the environment class back to the web page (and eventually back to the web server).

This is my C# class:

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace GetClientInfo101
{
    [Guid("121C3E0E-DC6E-45dc-952B-A6617F0FAA32")]
    [InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsDual)]
    [ComVisible(true)]
    public interface IGetClient
    {
        [DispId(1)]
        string GetClient();
    }
    [Guid("5085C918-0236-4828-BDFA-063FEE57C69B")]
    [ProgId("getClientInfoAx.CGetClient")]
    [ClassInterface(ClassInterfaceType.None)]
    [ComDefaultInterface(typeof(IGetClient))]
    [System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(true)]
    [ComVisible(true)]
    public class CGetClient : IGetClient
    {
        public string GetClient()
        {
           return Environment.MachineName;
        }
    }
}

Here is my assembly:

using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

// General Information about an assembly is controlled through the following 
// set of attributes. Change these attribute values to modify the information
// associated with an assembly.
[assembly: AssemblyTitle("GetClientInfo101")]
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("")]
[assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCompany("")]
[assembly: AssemblyProduct("GetClientInfo101")]
[assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © N/A 2010")]
[assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCulture("")]

// Setting ComVisible to false makes the types in this assembly not visible 
// to COM components.  If you need to access a type in this assembly from 
// COM, set the ComVisible attribute to true on that type.
[assembly: ComVisible(false)]

// The following GUID is for the ID of the typelib if this project is exposed to COM
[assembly: Guid("1bf2a0bc-f9cb-4f68-8990-5caaf3ab525d")]

// Version information for an assembly consists of the following four values:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.0")

Here is my object tag and script on my website Master Page. NOTE: I am getting error "Microsoft JScript runtime error: Automation server can't create object" on the "var" execution:

<object id="getClientInfo" name="GetClientInfo101" classid="clsid:5085C918-0236-4828-BDFA-063FEE57C69B" 
        codebase="GetClientInfo/GetClientInfoAX.cab#version=1,0,0,0">
</object>

<script type="text/javascript">
    function OpenActiveX()
    {
        var objGetClientInfo = new ActiveXObject("GetClientInfoAx.CGetClient");
        if(objGetClientInfo != null)
   {
       //For testing only
            alert(objGetClientInfo.GetClient());
        }
    }
</script> 

Then I have manually created a .inf file as follows:

[version]
    signature="$CHICAGO$"
    AdvancedINF=2.0
[Add.Code]
    GetClientInfo101.dll=GetClientInfo101.dll
    GetClientInfo101.inf=GetClientInfo101.inf
[GetClientInfo101.dll]
    file-win32-x86=thiscab
    clsid={5085C918-0236-4828-BDFA-063FEE57C69B}
    FileVersion=1,0,0,0
    RegisterServer=yes
[GetClientInfo101.inf]      
    file=thiscab

However, when I build my .cab file I am also getting a .OSD file output to the .cab as follows (I am concerned about there being both a .inf and a .OSD file in the same .cab file. Is that right and will it cause problems? I am not sure how to tell Visual Studio to NOT build the .OSD file.

<?XML version="1.0" ENCODING='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE SOFTPKG SYSTEM "http://www.microsoft.com/standards/osd/osd.dtd"&gt;
<?XML::namespace href="http://www.microsoft.com/standards/osd/msicd.dtd" as="MSICD"?>
<SOFTPKG NAME="GetClientInfoAX" VERSION="1,0,0,0">
    <TITLE> GetClientInfoAX </TITLE>
    <MSICD::NATIVECODE>
        <CODE NAME="GetClientInfo101">
            <IMPLEMENTATION>
                <CODEBASE FILENAME="GetClientInfo101.dll">
                </CODEBASE>
            </IMPLEMENTATION>
        </CODE>
    </MSICD::NATIVECODE>
</SOFTPKG>

Anyway, this has been a nightmare trying to peice together all the details of this. I would be very grateful for any help resolving this.

Thank you, Jim

Ok, the following article is what I used as a guide for the signing the .cab file. See the section titled "Signing a cab file".

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/atl/ScriptableActiveX.aspx?artkw=activex

Here are the commands I used. Note that I used Visual Studio to create the cab file instead of CABARC. Also note I am only using a test cert:

makecert -sv "getclientinfocert.pvk" -n "CN=My Company" getclientinfocert.cer

cert2spc getclientinfocert.cer getclientinfocert.spc

pvk2pfx -pvk getclientinfocert.pvk -pi AOTC20467cert -spc getclientinfocert.spc -pfx getclientinfocert.pfx -po AOTC81396pass –f

signtool sign /f getclientinfocert.pfx /p AOTC81396pass /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll /v GetClientInfo101.dll

signtool sign /f getclientinfocert.pfx /p AOTC81396pass /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll /v GetClientInfoAX.cab

Use certmgr to export and import “Root Agency” certificate to Trusted Root Certs

signtool verify /v /a GetClientInfoAX.cab

Note that I copied my dll to my Windows SDK folder, signed that, copied it back to my cab file which I then copied over to my SDK file, signed the cab file. Then finally, copied the cab file to my website project.

NOTE: See comments at end of first answer. I have purchased a signed certificate from Comodo and with that installed, I now get "Unknown Publisher" error even though the certificate status is "ok", Both the dll and cab file have been signed.

I believe my issue now is the control needs to be marked as safe for scripting, I found a recent article here which looks very helpful:

http://www.olavaukan.com/2010/08/creating-an-activex-control-in-net-using-c/

Answer 1

Your version independent progid in the ComVisible co class is set as

  [ProgId("getClientInfoAx.CGetClient")] 

Whereas in the JScript Code the instantiation code is as

  var objGetClientInfo = new ActiveXObject("GetClientInfoAx.CGetClient");

Please verify case sensitivity first and confirm behavior?

Answer 2

Hey guys, just wondering how you managed to get by the OSD problem. Pretty much followed the steps above, successfully signed the dlls and cab but when i install it in IE and I look at the setupapi.log, error says:

[2010/10/20 16:05:19 844.32]
#-198 Command line processed: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" SCODEF:3756 CREDAT:14337
#-024 Copying file "C:\DOCUME~1\RAYMAR~1.ROM\LOCALS~1\Temp\ICD1.tmp\OSD1694.OSD" to "C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files\OSD1694.OSD".
#E361 An unsigned or incorrectly signed file "C:\DOCUME~1\RAYMAR~1.ROM\LOCALS~1\Temp\ICD1.tmp\OSD1694.OSD" will be installed (Policy=Ignore). Error 0x800b0100: No signature was present in the subject.

I've been stuck on this problem for days, any help would be deeply appreciated!