Run .exe on client system from server-side c# code

Question

I want to run an exe on client system from my c# asp.net website. When I use Process.Start() it throws an error:

The requested operation

Answer 1

Or you can develop an ActiveX control that you can have the browser automatically download from a Trusted Internet Zone.

Once downloaded, proper signing with a certificate (signed from the trusted (corporate) root certificate) will avoid the user getting a prompt to ask whether he wishes to allow the ActiveX control to install/be activated -

The ActiveX control can subsequently do anything the interactively logged on user could. This means that to actually install a program you'd need to elevate (UAC on Vista+); But if the goal was just to run a standalone executable, you should be good to go.

This all assumes white-hat purposes in a (larger) corporate setting, because it relies on PKI infrastructure and central browser policies, to name just two.**

This would, really, lead to some excellent questions on serverfault or superuser