User gets "publisher not verified" message when downloading my installer .exe - how can I avoid this?

Question

I've created an installer .exe for my app and made it available for download. When users download it they end up getting a message from Windows about the "publisher not verified". I'd like to see what is required to get rid of this.

I found articles indicating that different system settings would avoid it, however, I don't want to require users to change any settings. I'd rather see what I need to do on my end to avoid them from seeing the message in the first place.

I'm sure the answer has something to do with code signing, however, in order to sign my code doesn't that also mean I have to be Windows logo-certified? Not sure I want to go through that. Or is that a separate thing? Is there a way to sign it without being logo-certified?

Answer 1

"Logo-certified" involves obtaining a code signing certificate, but in your case no logo-certification is needed. You just purchase a code-signing certificate from one of certificate authorities (no, self-signed certificate won't work) and that's it.