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How can I check (and run) if an *.exe is a DOS or a Windows program?



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

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


$ 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?





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Ottavio Caruso

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