How to open exe.files

I tried to open some recovered .exe files using WindowsXP and was unable to do so, quite possibly because I didn't understand the instructions. I tried to get back to that instruction page couldn't find my way back. Please help and thanks in advance for helping.

it could be that the exe files were corrupted (overwriten a bit) a thus will not run. I'm not sure sure what instructions you are referring to though.

Nergal,

I'm sorry for the delay in answering your comment, but I've been up to my eyeballs with problems. The "exe" files I inquired about are just a few of thousands of others that were recovered. These were indicated to be 100% recoverable so I thought I would start there. These are some of the associated groups. I don't know what they mean or how to open them. The groups are titled "download progress", "file to execute", "unpacked" and "use delta". I assume that within those groups are the files that would be recognizeable to me if I knew how to open them. There are about 25 files in each of the groups. Please help me. Thanks.

Frank

Sadly just because it shows as green this is not a guaranty that the file will work. exe files are especially difficult to restore as they are very reliant on their entire code being intact.

Did you recover the files to a seperate drive or the same drive from which you were recovering?

Is it safe to open an exe file that has been recuvered ?

Personally I would be afraid that right click context menu then option OPEN would launch execution and either :-

Malfunction and crash and burn with unpredictable results because the file was corrupt ; or

Work perfectly but with undesirable results because what I have launched might be a downloaded drive wiper ! !

Alan

Does anyone on this foruum know how to open an exe. file? If so, I would greatly appreciate your assistance and instructions as how to do it. I'm a little slow at my age, but I welcome anyone at Piriform to elaborate on the instructions. Thank you so very much.

exe files will just open, they are just application files. if it doesn't open it is either corrupted (as I stated above) or requires more files (such as dll files) and/or registry entries.

unless it is a single file (portable program) you will not be able just to run an exe. the software on a p.c. is installed and thus most programs are not stand-alone.

Files that lack the MZ signature at the start are not a valid executables, if you want to verify your files then try EXE Explorer.

Richard S.

I apologize for the delay in answering your responses. I?ve been to three doctors this week regarding surgery this past December and it?s consuming most of my time.

Thanks for your additional participation. I want to add to the comment I sent on 2/13/11. I mention the following because Nergal spoke of the need for dll files. Where are the

DLL files to come from?

1. The file names I wrote about on 2/13/11 are as follows:

?downloadprogress? type - there are 28 STATE files numbered sequentially

?file to execute? - there are 16 TEXT DOCUMENT files numbered sequentially

?unpacked? - there are 27 STATE files numbered sequentially

?usedelta? - there are 19 STATE files numbered sequentially

?useselfcontained? - there are 10 STATE files numbered sequentially

?explorer? - there are 2 files numbered sequentially

?susdl? - there are 10 RQ0 files numbered sequentially

?useselfcontained? - there are 16 STATE files numbered sequentially

What does all of the above mean and am I supposed to combine these in some way to produce something that I can understand as being files that I generated on a particular date?

2.I have 2 drives, the C: drive is NFTS and the D: drive is FAT32. I put the above file into the C: drive. I don?t believe the D: drive would accept the above file that I recovered.

3. I will respond further after I follow up with redhawk?s post. Thank you all for your particiption.

Frank

Don't worry about any delay, Frank.

There's something here I can't grasp. What are these groups? I think you are talking about a recovered file or files, but I have never seen any 'groups' in Recuva recovery.

You just double-click on an exe file, or as has been mentioned right-click and select open, to open it. The dll files are common modules loaded onto your system that an exe file might require to operate correctly: they are called automatically from the exe.

Frank, are you trying to recover lost applications or just curious about opening executables??

Executables are not like media files i.e. photos, video, audio in which you can double click and they appear on the desktop.

They usually require other files to load into memory for them to work i.e. data files, DLL (dynamic link libraries) etc.

Furthermore it's highly likely that recovered deleted executables contain errors and thus any attempt to run them would crash.

Richard S.

Forget I ever used the word "groups" and concentate on item 1.of my previous post. Even though, prior to me recovering them, they showed up with green dots that indicated 100% recoverability-if I read everything correctly to that point. There was no indication

"Files that lack the MZ signature at the start are not a valid executables".

Did I miss something along the way regarding the requirement of MZ signature?

When I click each of the "file to execute files" that show they are Text Document files get a pop-up that says "This file is not in a recognizable format".I captured the pictur

e but was unable to send it.

I am trying to recover lost applications and NOT just curious about opening executables. I am desperate!Also, I downloaded EXE Explorer as directed but have been unable to finf it. My "Search For Files and Folders" isn't woarking properly either.

Green dots only show a "best guess" that the deleted item has not been over-written,

and are NOT a guarantee of fitness for purpose.

trying to "open an exe" and hoping for the best will probably do more harm than good.

Alan

Did I miss something along the way regarding the requirement of MZ signature?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zbikowski

Richard S.

Wikipedia is incorrect, as 'In ASCII representation, 0x5A4D is MZ, the initials of Mark Zbikowski' actually reads ZM. It's only when the value is held as little-endian on an x86 box that it becomes MZ.

Please excuse this nit-picking digression Frank.

I am still not grasping what stage you are at. You have recovered many files to the c drive. Where did they come from in the first place? Why don't you think they could be recovered to the FAT drive?

The files you have recovered should show as file names. I don't know what ?downloadprogress?, ?file to execute?, ?unpacked?, ?usedelta? etc. mean. What application is grouping these files in these categories?

I downloaded Piriform?s Recuva Free version and it produced thousands of files. I selected those of a particular date that I thought would include that most recent and up to date files. I elected to recover and save them to My Documents folder.

So,in answer to the question "What application is grouping these files in these categories?"; all I did was attempt to recover them and the grouping was a result of the the Recova program.

I haven't the faintest idea as to why Pirifom grouped them that way.

When I tried to open them I got this pop-up: ?This file is not in a recognizable format?.

If I ran the scan again should I send the recovered files to the D: drive to see if they would open? Also, if I copied the recovered files to CD?s would I be able to open them?

Thanks.

What drive or device are you scanning with Recuva to produce these files? I am at a loss to explain what these groups mean, maybe someone can throw a little light on them. I don't think that your files would be any better on the D (FAT) drive, I was asking as you said you didn't think that the d drive would accept the file. Was that because of the size of the file?

Never at any time should you try to recover a deleted file to the same drive that holds the deleted entity.

Always restore to a different partition or device, regardless of whether using Recuva or any other tool

My best guess is that natural defaults have resulted in :-

Download and installation of Recuva to system partition C:\ = using free space ;

Detection of Deleted files within C:\

Recovery of Deleted files into the "My Documents" folder within C:\ = using free space ;

All the "using free space" has destroyed information previously held in files that had been deleted.

Whatever has been destroyed cannot be recovered.

It is a matter of luck, influenced by "Murphy's Law", whether the destroyed file is what you really wanted to recover.

HOW MUCH IS DESTROYED ? ? :-

I do not know your actual numbers but this should help you guess;

If the "Free Space" on drive C:\ is 20 times the "size on disc" of the "Recovered Files" in "My Documents",

then what has been recovered has consumed 5% of all deleted files,

so each deleted files still has a 95% chance of recovery,

and every time another flawed attempt of recovery to C:\ is made another 5% may be destroyed.

I do not understand what you mean by

?downloadprogress? type - there are 28 STATE files numbered sequentially

?file to execute? - there are 16 TEXT DOCUMENT files numbered sequentially

?unpacked? - there are 27 STATE files numbered sequentially

?usedelta? - there are 19 STATE files numbered sequentially

?useselfcontained? - there are 10 STATE files numbered sequentially

?explorer? - there are 2 files numbered sequentially

?susdl? - there are 10 RQ0 files numbered sequentially

?useselfcontained? - there are 16 STATE files numbered sequentially

Google has many results (including virus fighting sites and sites that Firefox warns are dangerous) for ?susdl.rd0",

but none for ?useselfcontained.STATE?

Many people here will instantly recognise what you are referring to if you run CMD.EXE,

and then do a DIR listing of the files.

I suggest you copy all the recovered files to a flash drive,

and show that to your local corner shop that sells computer sundries and does a little computer work.

They should instantly recognise what you have got and whether they will be of any use to you.

Alan

There's a fair amount of info on the Tech Support Guy forums (http://forums.techguy.org/search.php?searchid=1941973) that indicates that Frank has been having problems over the last few months, and quite a bit of info that's not present here. I don't know whether this will ever be resolved, I'm personally not a lot further on in my understanding than when the thread started.

Alan,

The files I recovered were 3.1 MB. Are you saying that the files that were shown on my screen are still in my computer? How could I put more files into my computer that exceded the capacity of the C:\drive? Please advise. Thank you.