Vanishing EXE

[t0nZ]

If you search in the forums for "compile exe" you can found some topic about .exe compiled scripts that vanish.

Certain scripts, in my experience, sometimes (not always...) when you compile( F7) and then run they disappear.

But they run fine in scite (F5)

Ok is strange and it's not so simple to reproduce.

The problem affect only particular scripts.

It seems that on the first launch the exe simply vanish with no error.

This happens on the local machine, but also in a lan.

Often I compile scripts on a machine, and I launch the exe from another machines in a lan (via double clik on the exe in a shared folder), and often .exe disappears.

After some compilations I obtain a .exe that "last".

Frustrating, but also very strange.

Yes i turned off every A/V in every machine.

I have read other posts, I think it's not a problem related with the antivirus.

Now, after months where I relegate this problem to the land of astrologers, I have a workaround:

If you TURN OFF the checkbox "use UPX" in the compile gui, the problemi NEVER happens.

So ? is this a bug ?

Thanks for the attention...

[JohnOne]

Not once have I evr had a vanishing exe.

Occasionally the source au3 will appear to be missing after compile, and just return after a folder refresh.

[t0nZ]

Not once have I evr had a vanishing exe.

Occasionally the source au3 will appear to be missing after compile, and just return after a folder refresh.

Yes I know this behaviour of the source file .

And I have read the sticky on the Antivirus problems with upx.

But I have tested with some Antivirus (stand alone and centralized corporate that I administer..) and no one reports of deleting/quarantine my exe files in logs.

[andrei0x309]

Yes I know this behaviour of the source file .

And I have read the sticky on the Antivirus problems with upx.

But I have tested with some Antivirus (stand alone and centralized corporate that I administer..) and no one reports of deleting/quarantine my exe files in logs.

If upx fails the exe will disappear is normal ( cause upx is loading the exe in memory , delete the old unpacked one and tries to write the packed one on hdd ) , this could be happening if wrong parameters are send to upx .

[SmOke_N]

I've seen this when my clients use the newest update Norton on Win 7 or Vista, and I do not compile using UPX.

If you view your AV logs, you'd be able to determine yes or no for sure, if it yes, then:

One option is to make sure the AV software allows the executable.

Another is to sign your application, and make sure it ( the certificate ) is in the trusted root authority.

Edit:

But to answer your "is this a bug" question.

No, it's very well documented that UPX will throw red flags to AV software ( used by many viruses, so as a whole it's flagged unless signed by a trusted root ).

I've never seen the "wrong parameter" thing that Azraelsub7 suggests, so I stand by the AV thing, even though you don't see it delete/quarantined, I'd still suggest to review the logs.

Edited April 12, 2011 by SmOke_N

[t0nZ]

But to answer your "is this a bug" question.

No, it's very well documented that UPX will throw red flags to AV software ( used by many viruses, so as a whole it's flagged unless signed by a trusted root ).

I've never seen the "wrong parameter" thing that Azraelsub7 suggests, so I stand by the AV thing, even though you don't see it delete/quarantined, I'd still suggest to review the logs.

The fact that I have switched off the upx compression make things right if the problem is the a/v , obvius.

And I (re) think that maybe the problem is the antivirus...., in my environment the folder of compilated exes is a shared folder and many machines with many different AV can work on that folder.. and this make

difficult to know what Av on what machine delete the .exe .....

so the only other possibility is the mysterious "wrong parameter" ...

thanx to all for now...

[andrei0x309]

Just a suggestion , i for example i use compile from Scinte with f7 , and i include this line manually when i consider the script is ready for compiling .

#AutoIt3Wrapper_Run_After=(here directroy of last upx )/upx.exe --ultra-best  "%out%"

And at least this gives me better compression .

Edited April 12, 2011 by Azraelsub7

[ripdad]

It seems there is a global effort to wipe out certain files without your knowledge.

The first time I noticed this was about a year ago when files like common.dll would

get deleted as I plugged in a flash drive with ERD on it.

No warning - No prompt - Nothing ... just went poof!

Perhaps they don't want to bother you with such insignificant things.

Finding a different version common.dll fixed that problem.

[Skitty]

Interesting subject, I've experienced this myself, but it seems to be quite a rare "easter egg", as I thought about it. I've never really thought about making a thread about it since if I compile my script several times (3-7) it just stops happening.

And I use a virtual OS all the time w/o any anti-virus software present.

does any one also notice that when you try to highlight some text. around 5 out of 100 times, Scite scroll's down really fast, some 800-1000 lines? And rarely, when you're working on a script and try to run it, AutoIt throws an error saying that there is a syntax error at the very last line of code, then when you look for it, its not there. but when you close Scite and re-load the script, it shows that a quarter of the last function has been replicated at the very bottom, (eg. Leaving you with two "Endfunc's") .

Or this may be due to the fact that I repetitively transfer the files in question from Linux partitions to NTFS partitions? I think I read an article some where that recommended creating a NTFS partition where you should keep all your windows files and iso files that virtual box uses "which I had done before my Linux experimenting went too far, and ultimately ended up making 30% of my hdd inaccessible & irreparable (I think)" in order to prevent these minor glitches that some times aren't so minor.

[Tripredacus]

This happens to me quite often. I do not compile with Scite, but with the AU3toEXE program. It will fail about 30% of the time during the UPX compression phase. It doesn't seem to have any sort of pattern. Usually when the error comes up I just click OK and redo it. It always works the second time.

[SmOke_N]

This happens to me quite often. I do not compile with Scite, but with the AU3toEXE program. It will fail about 30% of the time during the UPX compression phase. It doesn't seem to have any sort of pattern. Usually when the error comes up I just click OK and redo it. It always works the second time.

Windows 7 ... with explorer open to the script?