compressing an app into a zip and extracting the file onto a different system won't necessarily work: it will not copy any DLL files your app requires, and it won't install the .NET framework if that is not "up to scratch" on the target system. For example, if you app is compiled for .NET 4.5, and the target PC only has .NET 3.0 installed, teh app will not work.
The best solution is to create a deployment project which will create an installer for you and add it to your solution:
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects - Visual Studio Marketplace[
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If it's something else, you would need to give us a whole load more information on the exception for us to be able to help you at all.