I recently met one of my old buddies from my firefighter hey-days. (Yes, I was a fireman once as part of my national service, don’t ask.) We talked some and he found out I was working with computers (it’s hard to explain what software testing is all about in layman terms). And of course, I got the obligatory question: “Do you know what’s wrong with my computer?”
Apparently, his PC is unable to run any exe files. It was intriguing, as this is the first time I heard of such a thing. So I decided what the hell, since he stays very near me, I might as well take a look.
Whenever his PC tries to run an executable file, it will open up Microsoft Word (of all applications) and because it is unable to read the file, some file conversion dialog will pop up and display the contents. Of course, since it is a binary file, the data displayed are all weird logos. I forgot to take a screenshot, but it looks similar to this one I found in Google Image.
This happens for most exe files. I said most, because apparently, from the Start menu, you can run IE if you click on the top-most “Internet” shortcut. But if you were to try to start a browser from Start > Programs, it will fail. Rebooting into Safe Mode didn’t help either. It was still exhibiting the same behaviour, so I suspect it has to be a corrupt registry setting.
First thing I did was to check the Task Manager. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. All the processes running seem to check out. I googled those with weird names and found out that they were legitimate.
The Startup folder in the Start menu also did not contain any funny looking shortcuts.
Next, I wanted to check the registry, which was a problem in itself, because I am unable to run cmd.exe or regedit.exe. Knowing that the problem was with the exe setting, I decided to try running a batch file.
echo This is a test...
pause
Surprisingly, it did run in a command shell and printed those out. Next I tried to run regedit.exe from within a batch. It worked!
echo This is a test...
regedit
Found a workaround! Of course, I have no idea why. If someone could explain why running an executable from a batch file is different from starting it via windows explorer or a command prompt, it will be great.
So I poked into the normal areas where processes are executed upon startup (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, etc). It all checks out, so I’m guessing that the rogue process is no longer there. Googling this problem brought me to this page. I wasn’t keen on running the com file hosted there at first, but everything that was listed in Method 2 checked out perfectly. Taking a gamble and performing the cliché act of swallowing my saliva before taking the plunge, I downloaded and executed the com file.
It worked!
I’m not sure why it is so, when all the registry entries I checked out in the section Method 2 is fine. Anyway, if you’re having the same problem in XP, be sure to grab that file.
[Unable to Start a Program with an .exe File Extension]
Tags: PC problem, troubleshooting
“the cliché act of swallowing my saliva”.. hahahah *BIG GULP* here goes nothing!!
Oh man! This is classic – you should have asked me. I can tell you exactly how this happens:
1. User gets an exe file
2. User double clicks it and nothing happens
3. User right clicks on the file and says Open With chooses Microsoft Word
4. User forgets to un-check the “Always use this program to open this type of file” box
5. .exe extension gets associated with MS Word
I’ve seen this happen. You can usually get rid of the problem like this:
1. In explorer go to Tools, Folder Options
2. Go to File Types tab
3. Find the entry for EXE files
4. Delete it
5. Possibly reboot – just in case
Which is essentially what you did via registry but this is more straightforward way of tackling the issue.
Oh and running an executable from a batch file is different because it bypasses explorer.exe.
Explorer does an automatic file association check whenever it open a file – so when you try to launch an exe from within explorer (ie. double clicking on a shortcut) it does the check, and fires up MS Word. When you launch it from a batch file you actually execute the file directly and explorer does not have the opportunity to preempt execution and open the file in word.
You just love Microsoft Word, don’t you?
Yeah, I did that too, but the exe extension was not there. And all the registry entries checked out too for some reason. But the tool somehow fixed it.
Btw, you know of any good decompilers for .com files?
I want to contact the author for the source, but the feedback form linked from the copyright page (right at the bottom under “Contact Information” gave me a 404. 