LINQPAD.USERQUERY.EXE prevented from running by Group Policy

Zodman

I want to upgrade from my current version (v4.45.05) to the latest version for all the debugging awesomeness. However, the way in which LINQPad executes queries seems to have changed and is now violating group policy where I work.

Looks like the new version creates LINQPAD.USERQUERY.EXE in a subfolder of your AppData\Local folder when you hit F5 to execute. My work's group policy is to not allow exes to execute from this folder.

Is it possible to add another folder preference to tell LINQPad where it can execute these files from? This would probably solve the issue for most people in the same boat as me.

JoeAlbahari

I've just uploaded a new beta which might help. Copy linqpad.userquery.exe file into the same folder that LINQPad.exe is located, and LINQPad will pick it up from there.

Zodman

Thanks Joe, but it still didn't work.

Looking at the AppLocker logs, it still reports that it's trying to pick it up from my AppData\Local folder.

I did notice in the Application Log an System.IndexOutOfRangeException around the time I first ran the new version, but that may be a coincidence as I can't replicate it again.

To confirm, I downloaded the standalone exe (not the installer, which is blocked by group policy), and copied the linqpad.userquery.exe (and it's config) to the folder where I extracted and ran LINQPad.exe. The About screen says I'm running v4.55.03.

JoeAlbahari

You're running the old version. The new beta is 4.56.04.

Download it here:
http://www.linqpad.net/download.aspx#beta

Zodman

Excellent. It's now working for me. Thanks Joe!

JoeAlbahari

For anyone using LINQPad 6, the workaround now is to create a folder called ProcessServer under where LINQPad6.exe is located. LINQPad will then automatically copy LINQPad6.query.exe and its dependencies to this folder.

If you're running the installed version of LINQPad (i.e., from the Program Files directory), you'll need to run LINQPad with administrative elevation.

oshea00

"If you're running the installed version of LINQPad (i.e., from the Program Files directory), you'll need to run LINQPad with administrative elevation."

Can this problem be avoided by installing Linqpad6 by XCOPY installation?

oshea00

I'd like to allow non-admin folks to run linqpad scripts for various tasks, so this privilege elevation is kind of an issue.

JoeAlbahari

You need administrative elevation to install LINQPad to the Program Files directory, but you don't need administrative elevation to run LINQPad. This is line with the way that Windows applications are supposed to work.

You can unzip the xcopy version of LINQPad to any directory and run it without administrative elevation.

hansjoerg

I have the same issue but also with LINQPad.Drivers.EFCore.dll being blocked by AppLocker
Blocked files
"C:\Users\\AppData\Local\LINQPad\7.7.15\ProcessServer\6.0.18-x64\LINQPad7.Query.dll"
"C:\Users\\AppData\Local\LINQPad\7.7.15\EF\LINQPad.Drivers.EFCore.dll"

JoeAlbahari

You'll need to whitelist these files - they're essential for LINQPad.