Self-Extracting Firefox / Chrome Builder - v1

Just another program I've created. Basically, this takes a ZIP archive of Firefox or Chrome, and creates a single EXE which loads the browser. This was created mainly to allow me to load Firefox at school, as it bypasses the blocking software. It needs to be packed into a single EXE and then put into a ZIP file to bypass Windows Group Policy program whitelisting. You can also have the program download the latest nightly build of the browser, making it a good way to snag a portable copy of the latest thing. So if it's useful to anyone, here it is. :lol:

I'm calling this one a beta, although everything is working for the most part.

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Self-Extracting Firefox/Google Chrome Builder - v1 - WB3000

This program takes a zip file containing firefox or google chrome, and creates a single EXE which boots the browser from temp. There's a number of reasons for doing this:

- By putting all the excessive directories and files that go along with web browsers into a single EXE, it's convenient enough to put on the root of your flash drive.
- Many website blocking programs are not compatible with Firefox, and you can bypass their filters with this.
- When the programs on your computer are being whitelisted, a common trick is to boot EXE files from inside ZIP files. The problem with running firefox from a ZIP is that the 'firefox.exe' is extracted and copied over alone, not the rest of the necessary files. When you pack a web browser with this program, it becomes a single EXE and web browsers can boot.
- Etc. etc.

What is included in this package:

- FireFoxChromiumSEBuilder.exe (The actual program, requires .NET framework 2.0)
- ChilkatDotNet2.dll (The application library, builds the ZIP EXEs)
- firefox.ico, chromium.ico (Icons for use when creating the ZIP EXEs)

How to use this program:

In the GUI, you are presented with 2 groups of togglebutton checkboxes. You can select either Firefox or Google Chrome, and either to Download the Latest Browser release or to use a local ZIP file of your choosing. Check those accordingly, and if you want a different icon than the default browser ones, check the box below and browse for an icon file. In the bottom textbox, type the location you want to create the EXE in. It's defaulted into C:\, but be sure to choose a location suitable to your situation. When ready, Create EXE. If you are downloading the latest build, you don't have to specify a ZIP file, however, you need to wait a few minutes for the downloads to finish.

ZIP file formatting:

When choosing ZIP files, you must be sure that the directory structure is correct. When downloading the latest releases, the structure is already present, but if you select your own you should be careful. The format is as such:

- For Firefox, inside the ZIP should be a 'firefox' directory, which contains 'firefox.exe' and necessary files.
- For Chromium, inside the ZIP should be a 'chrome-win32' directory, which contains 'chrome.exe' and necessary files.

Credits:

Much of this program was based of the TagTooga.com program known as 'TagTooga.com's Zip Self-Extractor Creator Creator v1.0.' found on http://www.tagtooga.com/zip-self-extractor.html. If you are looking for a similar concept of ZIP self-extraction, but don't want Firefox or Chrome, this program is a good choice. It's not quite as convienient for web browsers, which prompted the development of this program.

This and TagTooga's program are developed using the ChilkatDotNet2.dll, which provides the core ZIP EXE packing.

This program is being developed by WB3000, more information can be found at
http://wb3000.co.nr
Click to expand...

Download: MediaFire Mirror

There's a page dedicated to it on my site as well.

Comments

tKo HaXoR
great! I needed a way to bypass the stupid site blocker at school! proxies never work.. thanks again dude :grog:
 
WB3000
[quote name='tKo HaXoR' post='1434345' date='Sep 29 2008, 08:57 PM']great! I needed a way to bypass the stupid site blocker at school! proxies never work.. thanks again dude :grog:[/quote]

Not all forms of blocking software are the same, so you may be out of luck unless you've tried the firefox method before and it's worked. This just compacts the program into a single EXE, no guarantees on web block bypassing.

Sounds cool, i jsut install firefox on the school pc's anyway.
Click to expand...

I can guarantee this is a safer method, installing software is a lot more obvious to admins than this. :lol:
 
Sir-Fritz
[quote name='WB3000' post='1434355' date='Sep 30 2008, 11:59 AM'][quote name='tKo HaXoR' post='1434345' date='Sep 29 2008, 08:57 PM']great! I needed a way to bypass the stupid site blocker at school! proxies never work.. thanks again dude :grog:[/quote]

Not all forms of blocking software are the same, so you may be out of luck unless you've tried the firefox method before and it's worked. This just compacts the program into a single EXE, no guarantees on web block bypassing.

Sounds cool, i jsut install firefox on the school pc's anyway.
Click to expand...

I can guarantee this is a safer method, installing software is a lot more obvious to admins than this. :lol:
[/quote]Yeah, i know but so many people have already done it that 9 times out of ten its already installed. I just have to use known "methods" to get to it.
 
WB3000
[quote name='Urza' post='1434375' date='Sep 29 2008, 09:09 PM']http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFT...-Chromium.shtml[/quote]

Yes I understand portable editions of many web browsers are available, but they are not contained in a single EXE (at least after installation). This packs everything into a single program file.

On computers which are being EXE whitelisted, the only way I've found to boot other programs is to put them in a ZIP and load them from there (Windows copies them to temp and boots them.) The problem with Firefox was that it and other programs which need additional files in the same directory do not have access to them when just the EXE is copied to temp. This creates a single EXE, which holds all of the firefox contents, and dumps them all into temp. From there firefox can access all of it's required files and load successfully.
 
Urza
[quote name='WB3000' post='1434385' date='Sep 29 2008, 07:16 PM']EXE whitelisted[/quote]
GEE WHIZ RENAMING FILES IS HARD.
 
WB3000
[quote name='Urza' post='1434718' date='Sep 30 2008, 12:10 AM']GEE WHIZ RENAMING FILES IS HARD.[/quote]

Windows may have low security, but it's not that low. I haven't really looked into it much, but absolutely nothing runs unless it's an approved application. So it's obviously more than a file name check, possibly a file location check or a hash check.

There's plenty of other uses for this beyond the scope of web block bypassing, so I would be grateful if you could come up with more constructive things to say before you post. ;)
 
Urza
[quote name='WB3000' post='1435365' date='Sep 30 2008, 07:36 AM']There's plenty of other uses for this beyond the scope of web block bypassing, so I would be grateful if you could come up with more constructive things to say before you post. ;)[/quote]
I'll give you a constructive post when you give me something useful to criticize.
 

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