Extracting Solid Framework for Installations.

Solid Framework is designed to extract its support files to the current users %AppData% directory on load. This is convenient, as there is only one dll to manage in your installer. But sometimes this can cause issues. One issue that can arise is a sporadic issue with overzealous 3rd party malware applications deleting the support files in the %AppData% folder, even though they are signed, strong named and time stamped. To work around this, you can extract the support files beforehand and reference these files in your installer.


To extract the 32 and 64 bit support folders from Solid Framework, you use the ExtractFramework.exe tool. Download the tool and SolidFramework AnyCPU dll into a folder. On the command line, run “ExtractFramework.exe .\SolidFramework.dll <Extraction folder> All”. <Extraction folder> should be replaced with a directory of your choosing. 

The All parameter tells ExtractFramework.exe to extract both the 32 and 64 bit folders. If you are releasing a 32 bit, or 64 bit only application, you can use Win32 or Win64 in place of All. 

We include both Win32 and Win64 folders in our installers. During installation, we detect if the OS is 32 or 64 bit, and install the appropriate folder to the application’s program directory. Do not include the larger SolidFramework AnyCPU dll in your install, because a smaller, 32 or 64 bit version is included in the Win32 or Win64 folders that will be installed in the application’s program directory that satisfies the application’s reference to SolidFramework.dll.