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

[Georgi Naplatanov <gosho@oles.biz>]

On 1/7/23 13:33, Ottavio Caruso 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
>
> 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?

Hi Ottavio,

I think that "file" program has recognized the file properly. If this 
was a Windows program it would contain installer like setup.exe file, 
*.ini file, *.dll files so I think that this is a MS-DOS program.

You can try to run DOS programs with DosBox. If you have a virtual 
machine with 32-bit Windows - this also will work.

Kind regards
Georgi