📦 How to build self-contained executables

The downloads need the .NET runtime installed. If you would rather not install it, on a forensic workstation or a machine you don't control for example, you can build any command line tool yourself as one self-contained file with the runtime inside it.

🧰 What you need

• git
• The .NET 10 SDK (the SDK, not only the runtime)

🛠️ Steps

This example builds MFTECmd. Every command line tool works the same way.

1. Clone the repository. Open a shell (PowerShell, for example), go to where you want it (here C:\Temp) and run:

   git clone https://github.com/EricZimmerman/MFTECmd.git
   

   

2. Go into the repository:

   cd C:\Temp\MFTECmd
   

3. Build it. Pick the system it will run on:

   WindowsLinuxmacOS (Apple silicon)

   dotnet publish -f net10.0 -r win-x64 -p:PublishSingleFile=true --self-contained true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true
   

   dotnet publish -f net10.0 -r linux-x64 -p:PublishSingleFile=true --self-contained true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true
   

   dotnet publish -f net10.0 -r osx-arm64 -p:PublishSingleFile=true --self-contained true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true
   

   

4. Find the result in the publish folder, for Windows C:\Temp\MFTECmd\MFTECmd\bin\Release\net10.0\win-x64\publish:

   

5. ✅ Test it before you rely on it: run it with --help, then on some test data.

The screenshots show .NET 9 (net9.0); use the net10.0 commands and paths above.