How to get Windows' Smart Screen to trust my Installer?

Question

I\'m trying to deploy and distribute a C++ app on Windows.

I\'ve managed to create an MSI installer with Visual Studio (with the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projec

Answer 1

You need an officially code sign or and code sign EV certificate, it will cost some money, and sign with signtool or build events your output (dll, msi, exe) with that certificates. Then your setup, is from a known publisher (you / your brand).

You can use a self-signed cert, but then you need to install the cert on every machine ... that use case is useful for "internal" usage. In your case, when you offer a download from your Website, you need to inform the user, that you used a self-sign cert and you can offer the CA of your cert and ask the user to install it ... or you just mention that the cert is self-signed and share the Fingerprints / MD5 Hashes so your customers can verify the content on there own.