Unknown publisher prevents an unrecognized app from starting.

[zikato]

When using Edge I have a warning message on download that "Graphia installer isn't commonly downloaded. Make sure you trust the publisher"

This is just a warning and can be bypassed. But then I'm blocked from running the installer and I get:

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.

Is it possible to submit it for approval?

https://stackoverflow.com/a/66582477

[timangus]

I have submitted both the installer and main exe for approval, but the submission process is so obtuse it's hard to know if it is getting sent to the right reviewers. In theory you can unblock things manually entirely locally btw: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-app-has-been-blocked-your-protection-windows-10. As the Stack Overflow reply indicates, eventually newly released executables gain enough reputation and the problem goes away; it just takes time. For such a niche thing as Graphia, that can unfortunately be quite a lot of time.

The whole situation with app approval and reputation based blocking is rather unfortunate. I used to get Graphia code signed in previous releases, which mitigates the issue a little (but doesn't avoid it completely), however in the last year or two the code signing process has changed so that it can't be performed on a remote CI server such as is provided by Github actions, and must now be delivered on a physical USB dongle and performed locally. This alone was enough for me to decide to stop doing it, but moreover the prices literally quadrupled, and for an independent developer receiving no funding, spending hundreds of [currency] is not really on. The whole thing is essentially a mafioso style protectionist racket where 3rd party companies unaffiliated to Microsoft extract large amounts of money for performing literal seconds of actual work. And it doesn't really prove anything regarding the legitimacy of your software product anyway, beyond that its owner is willing to cough up the aforementioned metaphorical pound of flesh. If Microsoft were to administer it themselves for a more reasonable price, and allow remote signing, it might have some merit, but as it stands, if it's not abundantly clear, I am not a fan.