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[bgjyd834]

I want to put a program and files into a separate program. The program within the program should run and open the files when the user clicks on it, but the user should not be able to get the files from the program without a password. Is there any way to do this on Ubuntu and Windows?

Thanks in advance

[LuthfiHakim]

I can only speak for Windows environment, and the short answer is yes.

There are two methods to do this that I know for sure. Let's call them the weak and the stronger ones. The weak one is done by using resource section of a program. You can store the "inner" program and files inside resource section of the "outer" program. When the "outer" program got executed, you can either save the "inner" program and files into temporary files and execute it, or you can stream the "inner" program to memory (doable, but quite difficult) of the "outer" program.

The stronger one is done by manipulating the PE header of your executable. By modifying the PE header of the "inner" program and inject the "outer" program codes into it, you can make it to execute the "outer" program first before running the "inner" one's actual code. So you can have the "outer" program to ask for password and even decrypt the "inner" program codes and files prior continue execution. I consider his one is stronger since it's harder to extract your "inner" program and files (extracting resources is very easy).

Note that no methods are hack-proof.