The.exe extension on a filename indicates an exe cutable file. Executable files may, in some cases, harm your computer. Therefore, please read below to decide for yourself whether the mac.exe on your computer is a Trojan that you should remove, or whether it is a file belonging to the Windows operating system or to a trusted application. Feb 06, 2012 As to the Executable file. Apple Mac OS X does not use Executable files (.exe). Those are for Windows based computers. Mac OS X uses.DMG files and.APP files.DMG is the compressed format of a program which may come as just a DMG or a DMG wrapped up in a.ZIP file. Make a file executable in Terminal on Mac. Shell scripts must be executable files in order to run. You can use the chmod command to indicate that the text file is executable (that is, its contents can be run as a shell script). Mar 19, 2020 How to Convert an EXE File. EXE files are built with a specific operating system in mind. Decompiling one that's used in Windows would result in many Windows-only compatible files, so converting an EXE file to a format that makes it usable on a different platform like a Mac, would be a tedious task.
- What Is Exe File For Mac High Sierra
- What Is Exe File For Mac Operating System
- What Is Exe File For Mac File
- What Is Exe File For Mac Os
What Is Exe File For Mac High Sierra
Problem:You need to open an .exe file but you have a Mac®.
What Is Exe File For Mac Operating System
Solution:You can easily open an .exe from your Mac by using Parallels Desktop® for Mac.
I frequently get questions like this from Mac users:
My friend asked me to download a file named Paint-tool-sai.exe, but I can't open it on my Mac. How can I open this file?
From a person who only uses Mac computers and iPads, this is a very reasonable question.
The quick, short answer is, 'By itself, the Mac can't open this file.'
The longer, more positive answer requires a little background.
What Is Exe File For Mac File
File Extensions
Both PC and Mac computers use three- or four-letter extensions on file names—the portion of the name after the period—to determine which application can open a file.
What Is Exe File For Mac Os
You may have noticed that files with extensions '.jpg' or '.jpeg' are opened by the Preview app on the Mac. Those files are images or photos.
Similarly, you may have noticed that files with extensions '.docx' or '.doc' are opened on the Mac by Microsoft Word or TextEdit. Those files are word processing documents.
What you may not have noticed is that Mac applications themselves have an '.app' extension. Hide my ip address for mac. (See figure 1.)
Figure 1_Applications on the Mac have the file name extension '.app'
When you double click on a file with the '.app' extension on a Mac, the macOS® launches that application. In other words, opening a file with an '.app' extension is really launching that application; the macOS itself opens that file.
With this background, it is understandable that the Mac by itself can't open an '.exe' file because the .exe extension means that the file is a Windows application. The Windows operating system is needed to open an '.exe' file.
Enter Parallels Desktop
When you have Parallels Desktop and a Windows virtual machine (VM) on your Mac, everything just works when you double click on an '.exe' file. It feels a little bit like magic.
Underneath, here is how the magic works: Parallels Desktop tells the Mac that it can open '.exe' files. So when you double click on that '.exe' file, the macOS® launches Parallels Desktop. This is just like when you double click on a '.jpg' file and the macOS launches Preview, or when you double click on a '.docx' file and the macOS launches Microsoft Word.
When you have Parallels Desktop and a Windows virtual machine (VM) on your Mac, everything just works when you double click on an '.exe' file. It feels a little bit like magic.
Underneath, here is how the magic works: Parallels Desktop tells the Mac that it can open '.exe' files. So when you double click on that '.exe' file, the macOS® launches Parallels Desktop. This is just like when you double click on a '.jpg' file and the macOS launches Preview, or when you double click on a '.docx' file and the macOS launches Microsoft Word.
When Parallels Desktop is launched because you clicked on an '.exe' file, Parallels Desktop boots your Windows VM and tells Windows that you want this '.exe' file opened. Windows then launches the application for that '.exe' file.
While the quick, short answer to the question at the beginning of this blog post still is, 'By itself, the Mac can't open this file'…
The longer, more positive answer is, 'This is a Windows file, so you need Windows to open it. The easiest way to get Windows on your Mac is to get Parallels Desktop and a Windows VM.'
Oh yeah, and if you have Boot Camp® on your Mac, you still won't be able to double click on that '.exe' file and have it open. The short answer to 'Why not?' is because the macOS and Boot Camp can't talk to each other. The long answer will be the subject of a future blog post.
Try Parallels Desktop for free for 14 days!
