You might think you can just copy notepad.exe
and run it:
PS C:\tmp> copy C:\windows\notepad.exe c:\tmp PS C:\tmp> dir c:\tmp * Directory: C:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name —a———— 2/20/2021 11:35 PM 181248 notepad.exe PS C:\tmp> .\notepad.exe PS C:\tmp> # Nothing happens...
But nothing happens.
What’s wrong? This is a simple operation!
Answer: You need the .\en-US\notepad.exe.mui
file
Or, more generally the .\xx-YY\notepad.exe.mui
file, for any local “xx-YY”, for any similar built-in Microsoft™ program.
For notepad.exe
you can find this file in c:\windows\xx-YY\notepad.exe.mui
PS C:\tmp> mkdir en-US Directory: C:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 4/2/2021 11:26 AM en-US PS C:\tmp> copy C:\Windows\notepad.exe .\ PS C:\tmp> copy C:\Windows\en-us\notepad.exe.mui .\en-US\ PS C:\tmp> dir Directory: C:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 4/2/2021 11:27 AM en-US -a---- 2/20/2021 11:35 PM 181248 notepad.exe PS C:\tmp> dir .\en-US\ Directory: C:\tmp\en-US Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a---- 3/19/2019 2:18 AM 12288 notepad.exe.mui PS C:\tmp> .\notepad.exe PS C:\tmp> # it works!
Other Examples
Not all exe
files have the problem. Here are some other famous exe’s that do, however. They’re in C:\Windows\System32
(not C:\Windows\
like notepad.exe
):
Directory: c:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 4/2/2021 4:21 PM en-US -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 34816 ipconfig.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 21504 ping.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 17920 tracert.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 369152 msinfo32.exe
And here are their associated .mui files:
Directory: c:\tmp\en-US Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a---- 3/19/2019 2:17 AM 28160 ipconfig.exe.mui -a---- 3/19/2019 2:17 AM 11264 ping.exe.mui -a---- 3/19/2019 2:17 AM 6656 tracert.exe.mui -a---- 3/19/2019 2:17 AM 30720 msinfo32.exe.mui
Most programs do not have a en-US
\*.mui file in the first place. Here’s a few that do, but run fine when you copy them nevertheless:
Directory: c:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 4/14/2021 4:55 PM en-US-not_needed -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 14336 HOSTNAME.EXE -a---- 2/20/2021 11:33 PM 280064 cmd.EXE -a---- 3/19/2019 12:44 AM 86528 nslookup.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:43 AM 40448 Netplwiz.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 40960 where.exe -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 71168 whoami.exe
tasklist.exe
is interesting. It partially works when copied. It works without its .mui
file, but only if you provide no parameters. If you want to provide parameters, you need the copied .mui
file:
Directory: c:\tmp Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d----- 4/14/2021 6:33 PM en-us -a---- 3/19/2019 12:45 AM 101376 tasklist.exe Directory: c:\tmp\en-us Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- -a---- 3/19/2019 2:17 AM 15872 tasklist.exe.mui
An oddball is mspaint.exe
. It has a .mui
but copying it still doesnt work. It may be interacting with the Windows 10 “App” interface.
References:
- https://superuser.com/questions/279031/copy-notepad-exe-from-system-folder-to-desktop-and-run-it
- https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/the-case-of-the-notepad-that-wouldn-t-run/ba-p/723535
- https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/5cbb8581-a490-4571-a143-db7ba2e2a2a7/why-wont-notepad-run-if-copy-to-another-location