WINEXE(1)

📦
version 4.24.7 · 12 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 WINEXE(1) — the winexe glow-up, part 1 💖

okay bestie, welcome to winexe, manual page 1 from the User Commands shelf of the library. grab a boba, we're doing this. 🧋✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

winexe — Winexe is a Remote Windows-command executor. that's it, that's the whole vibe. she literally runs commands on far-away Windows boxes. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

winexe [--uninstall] [--reinstall]
 [--runas [DOMAIN/]USERNAME[%PASSWORD]] [--runas-file FILE]
 [--interactive [0|1]] [--ostype [0|1]] [-d|--debuglevel=DEBUGLEVEL]
 [--debug-stdout] [--configfile=CONFIGFILE] [--option=name=value]
 [-l|--log-basename=LOGFILEBASE] [--leak-report] [--leak-report-full]
 [-R|--name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER]
 [-O|--socket-options=SOCKETOPTIONS] [-m|--max-protocol=MAXPROTOCOL]
 [-n|--netbiosname=NETBIOSNAME] [--netbios-scope=SCOPE]
 [-W|--workgroup=WORKGROUP] [--realm=REALM]
 [-U|--user=[DOMAIN/]USERNAME%[PASSWORD]] [-N|--no-pass]
 [--password=STRING] [--pw-nt-hash] [-A|--authentication-file=FILE]
 [-P|--machine-pass] [--simple-bind-dn=DN]
 [--use-kerberos=desired|required|off] [--use-krb5-ccache=CCACHE]
 [--use-winbind-ccache] [--client-protection=sign|encrypt|off]
 [-V|--version] [-?|--help] [--usage]

that's a lot of brackets huh. it's giving "choose your own adventure", but every path is a flag. 🦋

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so this tool? she's part of the samba(7) suite. family affair. 🫶

and what she does is: winexe allows remote command execution on native Windows operating systems. periodt. that's the whole point of her existence. 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay here's the menu, no cap, every single one:

  • --uninstall — Uninstall winexe service after remote execution. she does the job then packs up her little service and leaves. 🙈
  • --reinstall — Reinstall winexe service before remote execution. fresh install energy, like washing your face before bed. ✨
  • --runas [DOMAIN/]USERNAME[%PASSWORD]] — Run as the given user.
⚠️ BEWARE: this password is sent in cleartext over the network! like, literally naked. over the network. bestie no. 😭
  • --runas-file FILE — Run as user options defined in a file. put the deets in a file, keep them out of your shell history. so smart. 🎀
  • --interactive [0|1] — Desktop interaction.

There are two options:

  • 0 - disallow
  • 1 - allow. If allow, also use the --system switch (Windows requirement). Vista does not support this option.

(yes, Vista said "not my problem". iconic honestly. 💀)

  • --ostype [0|1|2] — Determines which version (32-bit or 64-bit) of service will be installed.

There are three options:

  • 0 - 32-bit
  • 1 - 64-bit
  • 2 - winexe will decide

letting winexe decide is the "you pick, I trust you" of flags. main character energy. 👑

  • -d|--debuglevel=level — level is an integer from 0 to 10. The default value if this parameter is not specified is 1 for client applications.

The higher this value, the more detail will be logged to the log files about the activities of the server. At level 0, only critical errors and serious warnings will be logged. Level 1 is a reasonable level for day-to-day running - it generates a small amount of information about operations carried out.

Levels above 1 will generate considerable amounts of log data, and should only be used when investigating a problem. Levels above 3 are designed for use only by developers and generate HUGE amounts of log data, most of which is extremely cryptic.

Note that specifying this parameter here will override the log level parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

  • --debug-stdout — This will redirect debug output to STDOUT. By default all clients are logging to STDERR.
  • --configfile=<configuration file> — The file specified contains the configuration details required by the client. The information in this file can be general for client and server or only provide client specific like options such as client smb encrypt. See /etc/samba/smb.conf for more information. The default configuration file name is determined at compile time.
  • --option=<name>=<value> — Set the smb.conf(5) option <name> to value <value> from the command line. This overrides compiled-in defaults and options read from the configuration file. If a name or a value includes a space, wrap whole --option=name=value into quotes.
  • -l|--log-basename=logdirectory — Base directory name for log/debug files. The extension ".progname" will be appended (e.g. log.smbclient, log.smbd, etc...). The log file is never removed by the client. she's a keeper, not a deleter. 🧚
  • --leak-report — Enable talloc leak reporting on exit.
  • --leak-report-full — Enable full talloc leak reporting on exit. the extra-detailed edition, the director's cut. 🔥
  • -V|--version — Prints the program version number.
  • -R|--name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER — This option is used to determine what naming services and in what order to resolve host names to IP addresses. The option takes a space-separated string of different name resolution options. The best is to wrap the whole --name-resolve=NAME-RESOLVE-ORDER into quotes.

The options are: "lmhosts", "host", "wins" and "bcast". They cause names to be resolved as follows:

  • lmhosts: Lookup an IP address in the Samba lmhosts file. If the line in lmhosts has no name type attached to the NetBIOS name (see the lmhosts(5) for details) then any name type matches for lookup.
  • host: Do a standard host name to IP address resolution, using the system /etc/hosts, NIS, or DNS lookups. This method of name resolution is operating system dependent, for instance on IRIX or Solaris this may be controlled by the /etc/nsswitch.conf file). Note that this method is only used if the NetBIOS name type being queried is the 0x20 (server) name type, otherwise it is ignored.
  • wins: Query a name with the IP address listed in the wins server parameter. If no WINS server has been specified this method will be ignored.
  • bcast: Do a broadcast on each of the known local interfaces listed in the interfaces parameter. This is the least reliable of the name resolution methods as it depends on the target host being on a locally connected subnet.

If this parameter is not set then the name resolve order defined in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file parameter (name resolve order) will be used.

The default order is lmhosts, host, wins, bcast. Without this parameter or any entry in the name resolve order parameter of the /etc/samba/smb.conf file, the name resolution methods will be attempted in this order.

  • -O|--socket-options=SOCKETOPTIONS — TCP socket options to set on the client socket. See the socket options parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf manual page for the list of valid options.
  • -m|--max-protocol=MAXPROTOCOL — The value of the parameter (a string) is the highest protocol level that will be supported by the client.

Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client max protocol parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

  • -n|--netbiosname=NETBIOSNAME — This option allows you to override the NetBIOS name that Samba uses for itself. This is identical to setting the netbios name parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. However, a command line setting will take precedence over settings in /etc/samba/smb.conf. command line stays winning, fr fr. 🏆
  • --netbios-scope=SCOPE — This specifies a NetBIOS scope that nmblookup will use to communicate with when generating NetBIOS names. For details on the use of NetBIOS scopes, see rfc1001.txt and rfc1002.txt. NetBIOS scopes are very rarely used, only set this parameter if you are the system administrator in charge of all the NetBIOS systems you communicate with. rare flag sighting, collect it. 🦋
  • -W|--workgroup=WORKGROUP — Set the SMB domain of the username. This overrides the default domain which is the domain defined in smb.conf. If the domain specified is the same as the servers NetBIOS name, it causes the client to log on using the servers local SAM (as opposed to the Domain SAM).

Note that specifying this parameter here will override the workgroup parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

  • -r|--realm=REALM — Set the realm for the domain.

Note that specifying this parameter here will override the realm parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

  • -U|--user=[DOMAIN\]USERNAME[%PASSWORD] — Sets the SMB username or username and password.

If %PASSWORD is not specified, the user will be prompted. The client will first check the USER environment variable (which is also permitted to also contain the password separated by a %), then the LOGNAME variable (which is not permitted to contain a password) and if either exists, the value is used. If these environmental variables are not found, the username found in a Kerberos Credentials cache may be used.

A third option is to use a credentials file which contains the plaintext of the username and password. This option is mainly provided for scripts where the admin does not wish to pass the credentials on the command line or via environment variables. If this method is used, make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access from unwanted users. See the -A for more details.

Be cautious about including passwords in scripts or passing user-supplied values onto the command line. For security it is better to let the Samba client tool ask for the password if needed, or obtain the password once with kinit.

While Samba will attempt to scrub the password from the process title (as seen in ps), this is after startup and so is subject to a race.

🚨 bestie listen: scripts with passwords in them are a whole red flag parade. let the tool ask. or kinit once. protect your peace and your creds. 💜
  • -N|--no-pass — If specified, this parameter suppresses the normal password prompt from the client to the user. This is useful when accessing a service that does not require a password.

Unless a password is specified on the command line or this parameter is specified, the client will request a password.

If a password is specified on the command line and this option is also defined the password on the command line will be silently ignored and no password will be used.

  • --password — Specify the password on the commandline.

Be cautious about including passwords in scripts or passing user-supplied values onto the command line. For security it is better to let the Samba client tool ask for the password if needed, or obtain the password once with kinit.

If --password is not specified, the tool will check the PASSWD environment variable, followed by PASSWD_FD which is expected to contain an open file descriptor (FD) number.

Finally it will check PASSWD_FILE (containing a file path to be opened). The file should only contain the password. Make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access from unwanted users!

While Samba will attempt to scrub the password from the process title (as seen in ps), this is after startup and so is subject to a race.

  • --pw-nt-hash — The supplied password is the NT hash.
  • -A|--authentication-file=filename — bestie, this is your "log me in with a lil file instead of typing it every time" option 💖 You point it at a file that holds the username and password used for the connection. The format is exactly this, no freestyling:
username = <value>
password = <value>
domain   = <value>
⚠️ Okay this part is not a vibe, it's a whole warning: make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access from unwanted users! Lock that file down like it's your diary, fr fr 🔒
  • -P|--machine-pass — use the stored machine account password. That's it, that's the whole move ✨
  • --simple-bind-dn=DN — the DN to use for a simple bind. Short, sweet, and specific 🎀
  • --use-kerberos=desired|required|off — this one decides whether the Samba client tools will even try to authenticate using Kerberos 👑

Real talk, if you're doing Kerberos auth, use DNS names instead of IP addresses when connecting to a service. Don't come at it with an IP and expect the Kerberos magic to work, that's giving chaos 🙈

By default, Samba client tools try to use the default Kerberos credential cache (ccache). But if the ccache doesn't exist, or the -U|--user option was specified, the clients will ask you to enter a password and will obtain a Kerberos ticket (kinit) for you 💅 If you want an alternative Kerberos credential cache, go use the --use-krb5-ccache option instead.

Heads up bestie: specifying this parameter here will override the client use kerberos parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. The config file gets overruled, no discussion, periodt 📢
  • --use-krb5-ccache=CCACHE — tells you where the credential cache lives for Kerberos authentication. 🗂️

And lowkey a big deal: this will enforce --use-kerberos=required. It's not a suggestion, it's a whole instruction 🫶

  • --use-winbind-ccache — just trying to use the credential cache supplied by winbind. Simple. Iconic. 🦋
  • --client-protection=sign|encrypt|off — sets the connection protection the client tool should use. Pick your fighter: sign, encrypt, or off 🔐
Note, bestie: specifying this parameter here will override the client protection parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.

And if you're the kind of girl who needs more fine grained control than that, you have these in your bag:

  • --option=clientsmbencrypt=OPTION
  • --option=clientipcsigning=OPTION
  • --option=clientsigning=OPTION
  • -?|--help — prints a summary of the command line options. Your lil safety net when you forget literally everything 🌸
  • --usage — displays a brief usage message. Short version energy, we love her ⭐

💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

The winexe program returns 0 if the operation succeeded, or 1 if the operation failed. Binary queen behavior, no in-between 💅

🎀 VERSION 🎀

This man page is part of version 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1 of the Samba suite. That's the one, that's the version, don't @ me 🫶

👑 AUTHOR 👑

The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed. (Yes, like the Linux kernel, we love an open source ecosystem moment 🌈)

The winexe and it's native Windows counterpart were written by Andrzej Hajda. The Samba client tool winexe was later rewritten by Volker Lendecke.

This manpage was written by Guenther Deschner. Putting the whole team on the map, respectfully ✨

Okay that's the whole page bestie, you made it to the end 🥳 Samba 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1 being the version, and it's dated 09/13/2026 — go forth and winexe responsibly 💖🎀🦋

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