SNRemove

SNRemove is a handy tool for dealing with those pesky .NET files that are signed with strong name keys. You know how it goes—when you try to tweak a signed dll or exe file, .NET throws a fit and won’t let you modify it. If you’ve ever tried using a signed assembly after making changes with a Hex editor or another tool, you might have seen this error: An unhandled exception of type 'System.IO.FileLoadException' occurred in system.windows.forms.dll Additional information: Strong name validation failed for assembly 'MyAssembly.Test.'

Understanding the Errors

If you attempt to run a signed executable after modifying it, the following message pops up: Strong name validation failed for assembly... The file may have been tampered with or was partially signed but not fully signed with the correct private key. Pretty frustrating, right?

What Does SNRemove Do?

This is where SNRemove comes into play! It helps you remove the reference to strong name signatures from .NET exe and dll files. Once you've taken out that strong name reference, feel free to make any changes without running into those annoying exception messages. Just keep in mind that files without strong names can’t be added to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).

How to Use SNRemove

Using SNRemove is super easy! All you need to do is extract snremove.exe to any folder of your choice and run it from Command Prompt using some simple command-line options.

Your Command Options

You can use these commands:

• -r: Remove the reference to Strong Name signature from the specified file.


• -d: Display the Strong Name signature of the specified file.

You can even use wildcards in your parameters!

Example Commands

If you're wondering how this looks in action, here are a couple of examples:

• SNRemove -r c:\myfiles\dll1.dll


• SNRemove -d "c:\my files\*.dll"