Unable to open .exe files

Question

Vista won't load .exe files! And more problems...

Ok, so all of a sudden, my computer goes berserk and I get all these pop-ups and messages saying that my computer is infected. Then it continues to say that I can't use the computer unless I delete the Trojans. I press the Remove Virus button and it takes me to a page on IE that says I have to pay for this Windows Vista Security package to remove the viruses. I ignore that, and proceed to download Avast! the great free anti-virus program that so many people have told me about.

Well, I tried to open Avast! but Windows kept saying that that file was infected. So I shut down several times, and I still had the problem. So I gave up, went to bed, hoping that the problem would be fixed tomorrow.

Next day: I opened Windows, and I didn't have any of those pop-ups. But, I couldn't open ANYTHING. I tried to open Firefox, and something popped up saying something like "Windows cannot find the correct program to open firefox.exe, choose a program from the list" and all that was on the list was Internet Explorer.

When I tried to open Microsoft Word, it said that it couldn't find the correct program, and told me to choose frmo the listed programs, which was just Internet Explorer.

Same thing happened with Google Chrome, Avast!, and Notepad.... All of them were prompting me to open them with a different kind of program.

Thing is, when I try to open IE itself, it prompts me to open it with the correct program-opener, and lists Internet explorer.

I didn't get those pop-ups, or messages telling me I had viruses anymore...

Please help, as soon as possible.

Answer 1

Hello Pixel Lite,

There was a KB article created to help fix this issue, the article has a Fix it to automate the steps.

See this KB article:

Can't open .EXE files in Windows 7 or Windows Vista

Hope this helps.

L.D.

Answer 2

So I just fixed mine, EXEs are loading correctly now. It was a few registry issues that just need to be changed.

1. Type command in the RUN dialog box to open Command Prompt
2. When Command Prompt is up, type cd \windows3. Type regedit to open up the Registries.

4. Expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and find the folder of .exe

5. Without expanding it, on the main .exe folder, Right-click (Default) and Modify. Change the Value Data to exefile6. Now in the same HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT find the folder of exefile and Right-click (Default) and Modify. Change the Value Data to "%1" %*
6. Lastly expand exefile, expand shell, expand open, click on the command folder, Right-click (Default) and Modify. Change the Value Data to "%1" %*
7. Close Regedit and Restart the computer. When restarted, EXE files should not prompt you to choose a program to run it now and load correctly.

Hope this helps yall out!

Answer 3

If you're unable to open a setup exe by clicking on its icon, try calling the file from a command prompt or from the shell.  I was able to install a program in that manner.  You might have to open the cmd or shell as administrator; I have not tested for that, since I did it as administrator.  Try it both ways, and see which works for you.

Answer 4

Jimbo!!! You are awesome! Everyone else was telling me to do things that I had no idea how to start. I did this and it worked great!!! Thank you a million times. You just proved that there are still great people in the world. Not all people are out to cause harm or give us nasty virus'. Thanks again!!!

Answer 5

In case you can't get online here is the .reg file for restoring .exe files:

(Copy and paste it in notepad then save it as a .reg file, and then double click it to install it in the registry and fix the broken .exe links.)

(Search google to find more info on the av.exe virus and its variants.)

(You should delete all instances of av.exe or ieav.exe, etc, from your hard drive and the registry before you do this.)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.EXE]

@="exefile"

"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.EXE\PersistentHandler]

@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile]

@="Application"

"EditFlags"=hex:38,07,00,00

"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\

  00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\

  32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\

  00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,35,00,36,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon]

@="%1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]

"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]

@=""%1" %*"

"IsolatedCommand"=""%1" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas\command]

@=""%1" %*"

"IsolatedCommand"=""%1" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\DropHandler]

@="{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.exe\UserChoice]