john kumpf's community posts

On Windows 10, running portable viewer v7.1.2.0 not elevated, free license, running remote install.

Remote Utilities security

Upd ate host

Browse to the host7.1.2.0.msi file on the local computer.

(instructions don't explicitly say the path there is a local path; could be a remote path? I tried both--same result.)

In the Action log window I get:

***** Start of log *****
Date: 2/5/2022 12:36:01 AM
Action: install/upgrade.
Checking files of the Host.
Host files not found!

I have checked the path to the local host7.1.2.0.msi file, and checked its hash against the one on the website download page. Everything checks out. I can execute that .msi file on the local computer. I even copied it and tried to specify the copied file. Same result.

The remote machine is Windows Server 2019 running installed host v6.10.10.0.

I have BitDefender antivirus that is complaining about these files. But I have se t these files as Exclusions and I have BitDefender's real-time protection turned off during this entire operation.

What should I try next?

Can you change the name of this post?

It was because I had double quotes in the title. I had:

using remote install I get "Host files not found!"

It worked without the quotes.

I'm getting the error "Cannot find the first message." while trying to post on this board.

This works for the .msi and the .exe? Eg, host7.1.2.0.msi and host7.1.2.0.exe?

Can the viewer (me, the remote technician) click through the banner? It's visually invisible. Is it also invisible to clicks?

Yeah, something. But it's not in right click file -> Properties -> Security tab -> Advanced.

There it looks owned by my username, and my username and Administrators have full rights. But if I try to change any of that, it's grayed out.

I've tried command line takeown.exe and icacls.exe and nothing works. Always access denied.

And tried all of these on the parent dir, with and without inheritance and down propagation. Nothing.

I suspect they have like locked the codepage inside the file or something like that.

FAKE NEWS!

PUA stands for potentially unwanted application.
So there's no signature, nor application process that you can appeal.
It's a unilateral decision, judgement call, by BitDefender.

"Potentially" is a misnomer. Even the Windows 10 installer is, technically, "potentially" unwanted. I know plenty of people who would say, "I don't want that crap anywhere near my system."

The REAL definition is "almost certainly unwanted" as in, <1% of people ever use it, and 99% of people have it installed unintentionally, and 99% of people when they discover it and have the opportunity, uninstall it.

Also of note: when I restored the file from quarantine, somehow it now has security permissions that I can not access it. I've spend 2 hours on the web, but it's clearly something deeply behind the scenes that none of these posts even address. It looks like it's owned by me and and I have full permissions, but when I try to run it, I get still access denied. It looks like I can change permissions, but when I try, everything's grayed out.

I submitted a false positive for the agent to their website: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/29358/

Everybody should do that.

If I have to choose between BitDefender and Remote Utilities, it's Remote Utilities hands down!

Now I feel like I'm on a crusade for Truth and Justice.

Also need the ability to click through it to something underneath.

Or ability to move it, meaning an inch or so up or left (altho that's pretty annoying--but better than just not being able to click something under there--like a notification).

bitdefender antivirus free edition is hitting this hard. It prevents the download. Then when I exclude the website, it prevents the temp file it's downloading into (which has a random string--so it's impossible to categorically exclude from bitdefender).

Then it prevents execution of, say, agent.exe.

Then if I exclude that, it prevents execution of the rutserve.exe in %localappdata% (which also has a random component making impossible to categorically exclude).

I'm close to uninstalling BitDefender.