Converting a txt.file into an executable (exe)?
Thread poster: Maja Dojcinova
Maja Dojcinova
Maja Dojcinova  Identity Verified
North Macedonia
Local time: 10:54
Macedonian to English
+ ...
Jul 9, 2009

I am sorry to post this issue here....it is more a technical one...I should convert a txt.file into an executable (exe). I am supposed to change the extension only.
I have tried this, but it doesn't work..Has anybody tried this before?
If does,please give me a better solution...

Many thanks,

Maja

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2009-07-09 16:47 GMT]


 
Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:54
German to English
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What's it supposed to do? Jul 9, 2009

Maja Dojcinova wrote:

I am sorry to post this issue here....it is more a technical one...I should convert a txt.file into an executable (exe). I am supposed to change the extension only.
I have tried this, but it doesn't work..Has anybody tried this before?
If does,please give me a better solution...

Maja

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2009-07-09 16:47 GMT]

Certainly, just changing the filename from something.txt to something.exe won't work.
The main question is: what do you want the ".exe" file to do?
An .exe file must be an executable program, i.e. it must contain executable instructions in the form that the operating system (e.g. Windows) and the processor of the computer can understand and obey. It is usually made by writing the program in a programming language (such as C or Pascal) and then compiling it (giving it to a compiler to process) which produces the .exe file. The instructions in a .exe file are, of course numbers, since strictly speaking, EVERY computer file is nothing but a sequence of numbers. A text file contains ASCII or Unicode text (i.e. the numbers that represent text according to the definitions of the code used). An executable file contains numbers that make sense according to the rules of the operating system and the processor that will actually execute the instructions.
You can, as another example, ask WinZip to produce an executable file, but this is simply a combined executable program and Zip archive and the only job of the executable program is to uncompress the archive.

Oliver


 
Selcuk Akyuz
Selcuk Akyuz  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 11:54
English to Turkish
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Folder options Jul 9, 2009

Hi Maja,

If you are using Windows XP, open any folder, then go to Tools > Folder Options... > View
Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types

HTH


[Edited at 2009-07-09 17:30 GMT]


 
Derek Gill Franßen
Derek Gill Franßen  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:54
German to English
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In memoriam
TXT2EXE Jul 9, 2009

If the file is really an .EXE file but has the ending .TXT, then Selcuk's suggestion should work (after doing what he suggested, then just rename the extension like you already tried to do).

But if you are trying to make a self-executing TXT file, then you might consider googling for "TXT2EXE" and find a (usually freeware) converter, l
... See more
If the file is really an .EXE file but has the ending .TXT, then Selcuk's suggestion should work (after doing what he suggested, then just rename the extension like you already tried to do).

But if you are trying to make a self-executing TXT file, then you might consider googling for "TXT2EXE" and find a (usually freeware) converter, like here: http://www.safesite.com/product.php[id]54314[cid]298[SiteID]digibuy (note that I have no idea if the program is any good, since I have not downloaded it nor tried it, so use it at your own risk).


[Edited at 2009-07-09 17:19 GMT]
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Maja Dojcinova
Maja Dojcinova  Identity Verified
North Macedonia
Local time: 10:54
Macedonian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Jul 9, 2009

I would like to thank all of you for your help.It was a true help indeed. I have followed the steps given by Selcuk (thanks so much) and it works now...

Thanks so much !!!

Maja


 
dkbaghel
dkbaghel
Local time: 14:24
many thanks Jan 25, 2011

I had faced the same problem longtime back and had given up, but this time i can across this help, awesome it worked.

I posted this relpy just to lift the google search rank so that many people could benefit

Maja Dojcinova wrote:

I would like to thank all of you for your help.It was a true help indeed. I have followed the steps given by Selcuk (thanks so much) and it works now...

Thanks so much !!!

Maja


 
FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:54
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Info Jan 25, 2011

Just in case somebody is wondering how you change a text file into an executable: you don't. At least, not any random text file and not without some fairly deep IT knowledge.

I'm guessing what happened here is that somebody sent the OP a .exe application via email and just renamed it to txt to get around the dumb file extension limitations built into gmail and other email services.

"Extension" and "file type" are very different things, and it's important to know the dif
... See more
Just in case somebody is wondering how you change a text file into an executable: you don't. At least, not any random text file and not without some fairly deep IT knowledge.

I'm guessing what happened here is that somebody sent the OP a .exe application via email and just renamed it to txt to get around the dumb file extension limitations built into gmail and other email services.

"Extension" and "file type" are very different things, and it's important to know the difference. Just because your file called whatever.txt when you got it, that doesn't mean it was a txt file. It was an executable, an .exe renamed to .txt. By renaming it back to .exe, you didn't convert it at all, you just renamed it. "Help me change a file's extension" would have been a much better thread title.
All file extensions do is tell a computer what program to open a file by default, but you can even override that so they don't do anything vital.
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FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:54
English to Hungarian
+ ...
txt2exe Jan 25, 2011

Derek Gill Franßen wrote:

if you are trying to make a self-executing TXT file, then you might consider googling for "TXT2EXE" and find a (usually freeware) converter, like here: http://www.safesite.com/product.php[id]54314[cid]298[SiteID]digibuy (note that I have no idea if the program is any good, since I have not downloaded it nor tried it, so use it at your own risk).


As per my previous post, the chances of txt2exe or some similar program doing what you want them to do are very remote. The program you linked seems to be designed to work as a simple text viewer program. I.e. the executable created will display the text that was in your text file.

To get a bit technical: you can make an executable out of text if that text is actually source code. In that case, the extension probably won't be txt, but I guess it could happen.
There are dozens of widely used programming languages, and you can't build your executable without at least knowing what language that source code is in. You'll probably need to install the appropriate compiler, provide dependencies and generally know what you're doing to make it work.


 
Miguel Carmona
Miguel Carmona  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:54
English to Spanish
.EXE file renamed as .TXT file to get around file extension limitations Jan 25, 2011

FarkasAndras wrote:

I'm guessing what happened here is that somebody sent the OP a .exe application via email and just renamed it to txt to get around the dumb file extension limitations built into gmail and other email services.



Without more info from the OP, what you describe seems to be the case.

Thanks a lot for your explanation, Farkas!


 


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Converting a txt.file into an executable (exe)?






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