Unix Executable files - need help to open

Hi folks, sorry i have been looking through previous discussions re these type of files but its all well and truley above me. I have been given a video file and when copied to 'finder' it showed it was a unix executable file and it opened Terminal, again made no sense to me. I was informed to download MPEG Streamclip with no luck and the jargon I have read is goobledegook to me, sorry. Can anyone help pls in simple terms????

One thing you could try is to drop one of the files on to the vlc video player. If the file is truely a video file then odds are vlc will figure that out and be able to play it. It also has a menu to tell you info about the file so you could figure out what kind of file it actually is.
In the case of windows .wmv files you should add Flip4Mac. That would allow you to play those with QuickTime.
Similarly add Perian to add more power to QuickTime so that it too could possibly handle those files like vlc.

Similar Messages

Unix Executable Files need to be Imported to ITunes

I have numerous sound files that are listed as Unix Executable Files in Finder. I can Play the sounds within Finder, but cannot seem to import them into ITunes. I read in another thread to simply add ".mp3" (or some other suffix) and then import. I don't know what the suffix should be, but I have tried .mp3, .aiff, and .wav, with none working. Are there other types of sound files I can try? Is there a way to make them become .mp3 (or something usable)? I have them stored on the HD, but would like to be able to share them or burn them to CD. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
quicksilver power pc Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I got them from another Mac user when I first bought my Mac. Unfortunately, I no longer have contact with him, so no way to ask where he got them from. I know he had never owned a PC, but that doesn't mean they weren't originally from one. Thanks for the help.
quicksilver power pc Mac OS X (10.4.8)

AppleWorks 6.0 Files Listed As Unix Executable Files. Unable To Open.

A client of mine backed up a number of AppleWorks 5 & 6 files last week on a PowerMac w/ OS X 10.3. I reformatted the HD, upgraded the OS to 10.4 and attempted to reinstall AppleWorks 6.0. It would not allow installation. So, I installed OS 9 Classic. Still would not allow me to install AppleWorks. Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files. iWork would only open a hand full of the files. The remaining 90% of the files are listed as "Unix Executable" files.
Have the files been corrupted in the move?
Any ideas on how to open/recover these files?
Thanks,
stc

If one device used during the process was not an HFS one, the AppleWorks documents may have lost their resourceFork.
Are you sure that the files are named with the name extension ".cwk" which is quite required under Mac OS X?
Then, I installed iWork '08, having read that it would open AppleWorks files.
This is right and wrong.
Iwork components are able to work this way:
Pages may open AppleWorks 6 WP document, not the AW5 ones
Numbers may open AppleWorks 6 SS document, not the AW5 ones
Keynote may open AppleWorks 6 Presentation document, not the AW5 ones
Nothing may open the DB, Paint and Draw AW documents.
There is no reason that you can't install AppleWorks on a machine running 10.4.
I installed AppleWorks 6.0.4 last week on a machine running 10.4.11.
So, at this time it seems that the main problem is to understand why you are unable to reinstall AppleWorks 6.
If you wish to know if the documents are in good health, you may attach one to a mail and send it to my mailbox.
Click my blueName to get my address.
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE lundi 25 août 2008 19:12:51)

Unix Executable file - How do I open

I have a Software DVD ( Route 66 Road Planner ) and want to install onto my New Macbook, problem is I can't. I know it is an "Unix Executable file" ( Apple - i keys give me that information ) I do know that on my old iMac G4 it opens no problem using VISE and I'm using 10.4.10, any reason why I can't open this on my Macbook ?
Can I open it ? If so how ?
Thanks to all.
Steve

It probably requires X11. X11 is not installed by default in OS X. It is on the install cds though as an optional install.

Word documents appear as "unix executable files" and cannot be opened

Hi: I am running 10.5.5 on my Intel Imac. The problem is that many old MS Word documents have suddenly flipped into documents with no file extension, but which are identified in the Preview window as "unix executable files."
I've had this happen before, and all I had to do was add the .doc extension for them to become Word documents again. This time there is nothing I can do to change them over. I have tried opening them from Word, from Pages, from Text Edit, with no results. (I have also used all the possibilities available from Word as well).
There doesn't seem to be any pattern -- random documents in the same folder, created at the same time and modified at the same time, appear as unix files, while the others seem fine. Any ideas?
<Post Relocated by Moderator>

This is the iWeb forum. You should post your question in the Leopard forum. But I'll give a try at a possible solution:
1 - check the Finder preferences and make sure you have the option to show file extensions checked.
2 - select one of the Work files, type Command+i and in the Info window go to the Open With menu and select Word as the default application. Then click on the Apply to All... button.
OT

Old Quark files are now Unix Executable Files

I made hundreds of archive CD's with Mac's running OS 9 back in 1990's. They contain Quark files and .tif's. I've referred back to these CD's many many times over the years with no problems. My new iMac has the intel processor. I pop an archive CD in and all the files (with no extensions like "tif" or ".qkd" or ".eps") are now "Unix Executable Files" that won't open.
I simply add an extension to the images files (like ".tif") and they work. HOWEVER, it's not so easy with the Quark files. I add ".qkd" to the file name and it still remains a Unix file.
I launch Quark and try to open the file through the finder and it doesn't work. I took an archive CD to a friends house whose on a G5 and the CD worked properly with no extensions needed to be added.
So I figure the problem is with the Intel/PC based processor. I shouldn't have sold my old G5.
One forum claimed that a program called "File Buddy" did the trick for him. Does anyone have any other ideas other than me buying a non-Intel Mac.
I love our new iMacs but I need these archive CD's to work!
Thanks

I automatically run OnyX once a week for maintenance, but it didn't help this situation.
Those chores won't reset the LaunchServices database. Go to the Maintenance heading and click on the Reset tab. Turn on the check box for "LaunchServices database" (all other check boxes off). Click the Reset radio button and then Execute. Restart your Mac.
OS X will automatically rebuild the database according to the applications on your hard drive, giving preference to Apple applications as they would be when you first install OS X. So if you have the Acrobat Reader set up to open PDF files, you'll have to do that again as they will be set back to Preview.
Actually it's .qxd not .qkd for Quark XPress file extensions.
That's it! I knew .qkd was wrong, but Quark 6.x won't show you the old extensions when you save a file, and I couldn't remember it (been using InDesign steadily for a while now).

Need help opening Unix Executable Files

I've recently been given the task of updating various files containing instruction manuals. However, the person who created these files is long gone and no one seems to know what program they were created in. All I know is that they are listed as "Unix Executable File" when I click on the document. I've tried opening them in TextEdit and this does me no good. Does anyone know how I can determine what program these files were originally created in so that I can open them?

Files that have no filename extensions (used by Windows and OS X, but not by OS 9) and have lost their Type and Creator codes (used by OS 9, but not by Windows or OS X), and are then written to a DOS-formatted disc by OS 9 and copied back to a Mac disc, are usually if not always misidentified by the OS X Finder as Unix executables.
Your company's old files, created in applications that ran in OS 9, probably have never had any filename extensions. Their Type and Creator codes have evidently been lost; those are what OS 9 uses to link the files to the applications that created them. If the files have also been written by OS 9 to any disk or flash drive formatted for Windows, i.e. FAT16 or FAT32, they have also lost their resource forks. The resource fork is a portion of a Mac file that has no analogous structure in a PC file. When a Mac file that contains data in its resource fork is written by OS 9 to a PC-formatted storage device, there's no place in the Windows file structure for that data — so it is simply discarded. When the Mac file is later copied back onto a Mac-formatted storage device, its resource fork is gone along with whatever data it contained, and the file may for all practical purposes be destroyed. OS X handles writing Mac files to Windows-formatted drives more gracefully, but passing files back and forth between OS 9 and OS X via a Windows-formatted storage device is asking for trouble.
I don't know just what practices have been used in moving these files from the Macs they were created on to the one you're trying to open them on now, but I suspect there has been some unwitting demolition in the process.
If copies of these files are still stored on the old Mac on which they were created, and that Mac still works, get on it and double-click the saved copies of the files to open them in the program(s) that created them, and make notes of which application opens each of the files. Be aware that the folder structure containing the files may have to be preserved exactly as it is for the files to open properly — do not reorganize anything. It may be essential, for example, for a PageMaker file to be kept in the same folder as all the individual files that have been "placed" in it using the Place command in PageMaker. If any of those files are moved elsewhere, they may be missing from the PageMaker document when it opens. I've never used Quark or Freehand, so I don't know whether they have the same requirement, or other requirements that are less than obvious.
Any of the old manuals that you're able to open in their original applications can be saved as PDF files using an invaluable OS 9-based "printer driver" called PrintToPDF. They can then be opened in Adobe Reader or Preview on your G5 running OS X, though you won't be able to edit them easily. If you require the ability to edit these files on the G5, rather than on the old computer using the apps that originally created them, you will need first to discover which OS 9-based application created each one, and then ascertain what if any current OS X-based application is able to open the file format used by that old application. In the case of PageMaker files, that will probably be Adobe InDesign or nothing. InDesign may also open old Quark files; I don't know. Aldus or Adobe Freehand files may be openable using Adobe Illustrator. These are just guesses.
Dragging and dropping the files onto MS Word or TextWrangler may reveal, buried somewhere in them, the name of the application(s) that created them. I know a PageMaker file, opened as plain text, will always contain the word "PageMaker". As for other file formats, I'm not sure.
Message was edited by: eww
Message was edited by: eww

Unix executable file won't open HELP!

I am having the same problem as one other person, my word folder has changed to a Unix executable file and I can't open the content in the folders anymore. I was just using the folder yesterday and now they are now working. Please help!

I'm not sure if this is your problem. But I was futzing with a file, and intentionally removed most of it's attributes, as reported by the mdls command.
I was able to get enough of them back, for the file to be recognized by the finder again.
This command lists the different importers.
$ mdimport -L
find the one that matches the filetype. Then run the following, where testfile is the file that you're having problems with.
mdimport -g /System/Library/Spotlight/XXXXXX.mdimporter testfile
I don't use Word, so I can't tell you the name of the importer file that you need. It may be possible to just
run
mdimport testfile
Nils

Opening a Unix Executable File

I am a Mac newbie, switching from PC. I do embroidery digitizing and downloaded several embroidery designs in "zipped" format. When I viewed them in the Get Info dialog, they were listed as Unix Executable Files. When I tried to open one, a dialog box came up saying that I needed to choose a file to open them with. What program or helper app do I choose?
Respectfully,
Patricia

Sometimes ZIP files are made into self-expanding .exe files. When run on a PC, they will unzip without needing any unzipping software. They will not do this on a Mac, but Stuffit Expander may work with them
<http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/>

Problems after opening "Get Document" Unix Executable file

After importing documents from my Dell computer to macbookpro and opening a file called "Get Document" which is a Unix Executable file, I now have dozens of these type of these type of files in "Places":
file://localhost/Users/sacredsprings/%25B0%2580%25A9%25C0SR
I had Linux installed on my Dell, and having read a few threads think it may be to do with that. Can I just safely delete all these files?

Sometimes ZIP files are made into self-expanding .exe files. When run on a PC, they will unzip without needing any unzipping software. They will not do this on a Mac, but Stuffit Expander may work with them
<http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/>

Can't open recovered files, which are now Unix Executable Files

My external hard drive, where I kept my Final Cut Pro documents, recently died. I hired someone to recover the data. Now, when I try to open them in FCP 6, however, I get the message "File Error: Wrong Type". It says they are "Unix Executable Files". Looking back in this forum, none of the previous solutions have worked for me--like adding .mov to the file extensions, for example.

ah, the subtle difference between a movie or media file and a project file.
Thanks for posting your solution, hardly anyone ever does that around here. And congrats on the rescue! We rarely hear of a successful data recovery on media files but this was a data drive, yes? You could help future users who suffer catastrophic drive failures by posting your contractor and the cost if you want to share that information.
bogiesan

Unix Executable Files...why won't they open?

I now have a new iMac and using Mavericks 10.9.3. I used TimeMachine to transfer my files (that contained these strange "Exec" files after I had updated to Mavericks on my previous iMac) a number of these files turned into something called "Exec" files (Black rectangular icon with green "exec" in the upper left corner). and randomly appeariing in diff software. Have these files become corrupted? Should I trash them?
Thanks for any help
Julie

In the Finder, click on these Exec files and press command+I. If the file is an AppleWorks document (even with no extension) it will tell you that. If it is a UNIX shell script with owner+group+world execute permissions, or a compiled executable from source code, it will state that it is a UNIX Executable File.
In the Terminal application, you can use the file command to discern (usually) more accurately what these black Exec documents comprise. The filenames that I use below at random, were created on my machine.
file -b dictx2
Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
file -b mvim
POSIX shell script text executable
file -b fubar.cwk # Finder Get Info says it is an AppleWorks document, and opens nicely in LibreOffice
data
The decision to delete these depends on what they are, the purpose they may continue to serve, and in the case of word processing documents, content for retention consideration.

Unix Executable Files how to open

I have a disc from a design company which contains many Unix Executable Files. I have no idea what the content files extensions are and some of the files are quite large. The cotents are important for my job. Is there any way I can open these files? A 5 hour internet search and I'm no closer to a solution, I'm just more confused. I am scared to just try adding a 'guess' extention as the contents I am hoping to find are ai, psd or other hi res but there could be text data. I am scared of destroying stuff. Can anyone help me please?
Thank you,
Amanda

If the file follows the "proper conventions", in terminal use the file command. In terminal, type the command file followed by a space. Then drag one of the files into the terminal window. You will see a line that looks something like,
file path-to-file
Hit return. If it's a file that the file command can recognize it will tell you what it thinks it is. It it isn't it will tell you it's just a data file.
If it's a executable mach-o file file will tell you that and for which architecture. But if you are getting these files from some non-Mac system the odds are pretty good they can't be executed in the mac environment because they won't follow the mac architectural coding conventions or they aren't even mach-o executables in the first place. If they did come from a mac system and are executable, then without any documentation on each file you can only guess at what they may do (or screw up). Many unix tools have a convention where if you just execute them without any arguments they may give you some minimum help info on what they do. But it may not.
Not one of those files documents what on that CD?
If file does recognize the file, say as a pdf, or text, etc., then you probably can use mac tools to open them. For example, if it's pdf (gif, jpg, etc.) open it with preview. If text, open with textedit.

Applications only open with Unix Executable File!

Safari and three other applications hang.
I've tried a bunch of tricks to get them working right with no real success.
I can run Safari (and others) by opening the Unix Executable File in the .App bundle!?
*Can anyone explain to me why this works?
The applications also open fine in Safe Mode.
Any help would be great! Thanks!
More Detail Here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18176135?ac_cid=142432#18176135

Afer lots of struggling with this, I finally rebuilt Launch Services with OnyX and all is well again.
Probably my fault for messing around with the FileSystem to often experimenting with this and that.
With any luck this might hlep someone else too!
Hackintoshes are computers too!

HELP! Indesign changes to Unix executable file

I have a Mac Xeon Dual core quad pro running an older Mac OSX and have recently bought a Macbook running OS 10.6.
On my old mac I use Indesign / Illustrator / Photoshop CS3 (no money to upgrade yet) and all works fine.
This week I transferred some Indesign files to my laptop to work in another office. The files show up as Unix executable files. They have the correct tags on the end of filenames and work fine on the old mac. Indesign and Illustrator have also been crashing on startup and I have had to dump out prefs twice now.
Illustrator files show up as Unix executable file as well and all have a grey icon.
I migrated everything over from the old mac to the laptop.
It is driving me mad as I have to trust that I can work on this out of the office.
If I upgrade to a newer version of the programmes will it solve the problem?
Any help gratefully received please!
PS I am a designer, so please use simple language - I do not have a lot of techie knowledge about macs
Thanks!

Thanks, Kappy. I've tried that but I get an error message saying "An error ocurred while changing...because not enough information is available." Could that mean that the action cannot be done because these files don't have extensions? When I go ahead and select to use Word to always open the file it only takes effect on that file. But the file remains a Unix Executable file.
Could anyone provide any further help with this issue?
Message was edited by: Karkula

Unix Executable files - need help to open

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for