Re: How can I check (and run) if an *.exe is a DOS or a Windows program?
On Sat, 7 Jan 2023 11:33:44 +0000
Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have a few DOS/Windows abandonware that I'd like to check but I
> only want the DOS ones, because Wine on my installation is a total
> pain.
>
> For example:
>
> $ file test2/sm416.exe
> test2/sm416.exe: Zip archive data, made by v2.0, extract using at
> least v2.0, last modified Sat Mar 15 12:34:37 1986, uncompressed size
> 221709, method=deflate, R
The first (barely) usable Windows was 3.0, 1990, though I've never seen
anything earlier than 3.1/3.11 in the wild. No doubt that this one is
DOS.
>
> It doesn't really say much about this executable. However, if I
> uncompress it:
>
> $ ls test2/sm/
> ADVANCE.DOC JOBS.SM RIGS.SM SMLRN.HLP SMREVU.HLP
> ANTENNAS.SM NAMES.SM RUNS.SM SMMAIN.HLP SMSESS.HLP
> CITIES.SM ORDER.SM SCRIPT.SM SMMEAS.HLP SMSTATS.HLP
> CLASSES.SM 'Q&A.SM' SESSION.SM SMMORSE.HLP SMTKEY.HLP
> EXAMQ.SM QSO1.SM SMBLD.HLP SMONLINE.HLP STATES.SM
> FEEDBACK.FRM QSO2.SM SMBYE.SMT SMOP.HLP STEPS.SM
> GROUPS.1 QUICK.DOC SMENH.HLP SMOPT.HLP
> WHATSNEW.416 GROUPS.2 QWORDS.SM SM.EXE SM.OVR
> GROUPS.SM README.1ST SMHOME.HLP SM.PIF
> HAMWORDS.SM REGWORDS.SM SM.ICO SMRADIO.HLP
DOS is limited to 8 characters before the '.', but of course Windows
can use such files also. Any more than 8 characters is definitely a
Windows file. You would generally expect Windows to use a few .dll
files in a group like this, though that isn't guaranteed. Help files
would normally be .chm files.
>
>
> $ file test2/sm/SM.EXE
> test2/sm/SM.EXE: MS-DOS executable, MZ for MS-DOS
>
> Which makes me think it's DOS but it could be a false positive. Then,
> how do I run it? Dosemu, Dosbox?
>
> Should that be run before or after uncompressing it?
Sorry, can't help there.
--
Joe
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