Can't open .exe's

[someguyoutthere]

Hi, I'm new to Linux and I can't figure out how to open .exe's.
Whenever I click on a .exe, nothing happens...
And yes, these programs are made for Linux not Windows.
I'm using Ubuntu by the way.

[reed9]

Hello. I've never seen software for linux end in .exe. What programs are these?

Installing software in linux should almost always be done through your package manager.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware

[rcgreen]

Right click. -->Properties-->Permissions--allow executing as a program.

This is because the permissions determine whether it can be executed.

[Rubberman]

.exe files are Windows applications (normally). You need to install Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) to run them.

[hugortega]

Just to complement the info:

$ ls -l program.exe

will tell you the permission of the file; check if execution flag for the user is on.

Also,

$file programe.exe

should tell you that the file is an "ELF 32-bit LSB executable" or something similar. If not, maybe it's an script with exe extension (anyway, the file command will tell you)... but if the result is "DOS or Windows executable file" you will need wine or something similar.

[someguyoutthere]

Thanks, rcgreen, I'll remember that, but they're still not working...
By the way, I'm not sure if they are .exes anymore... all it says under type is "executable (application/x-executable)" I just assumed that meant .exe in linux language.
And @ hugortega... huh? I honestly have no idea what you just said.

[reed9]

And @ hugortega... huh? I honestly have no idea what you just said.

He was giving commands that would give you more info on the file. These would be entered into a terminal.

ls -l program.exe

ls lists directory contents. Add the '-l' also outputs file permissions, ie, which users can read, write, or execute a file. So the above command, where program.exe is the name of your file, would give info on whether the file is marked to be run as a program and whether your user has permission to do so.

file programe.exe

This file command outputs the file type. Linux for the most part does not use file extensions, so it may not be obvious what any given file is just by the name. Here's an example output

[reed@reed-laptop ~]$ file pd_maddow_mp3-11-06-2009-191231.mp3 
pd_maddow_mp3-11-06-2009-191231.mp3: Audio file with ID3 version 2.3.0, contains: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v2,  32 kbps, 22.05 kHz, Monaural

As you can see, it can give a lot of info about your file, in this case my Rachel Maddow podcast.

Again I ask, what programs are these? Where did you get them?