SCMDM Solution: Signed applications install but fail to run with a signature failure related error

Here’s an interesting issue that a one of our top Support Escalation engineers by the name of James Geater ran into a while back.  It can be a tricky one to troubleshoot as the cause of the issue isn’t obvious so I thought it would be worth a quick post here:

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When using System Center Mobile Device Manager to distribute software, the installation may complete normally but the application fails to run with a signature failure of some kind. I say “some kind” because the exact error may vary depending on the application.

This can happen if the files used by the application are altered during the installation. For example, if the date/time stamp is changed at the time of install, possible from the file getting renamed, you can see this exact issue.  This is because altering the file invalidates the digital signature.

To verify this look at the files in the source and compare them to the ones on the device.  Look closely at the size and the Date/Time stamp.  If there’s a discrepancy, copying the original files from the source onto the device may server as a workaround to the issue.

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Thanks James!

 J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer