thanks all of you for patiently answering my question “About exec() function in PHP: About exec() function in PHP“, it has given me an idea of how this works and so. Lots of them pointed the syntax error, my pardon forgot to include the quotes.
Actually I have got a requirement in normal conditions the customer has the .exe file which he needs to normally run from command prompt, where he needs to include the path for the license and config files manually, so that application is valid for installation.
Now he wants a php script where he will enter the web page with his valid login details and with the click of link he should be able to run the .exe file to install the software on his machine. Including the license and config file is my job which I have been working on, on the other hand I am still not clear that this is really possible to run the .exe file on the clients machine when the script runs on the php remote server. What can be the other alternatives to accomplish this. Can anyone clear my doubts?
You cannot run anything on the client machine from a PHP script running on the server. It’s impossible. What you can do is create an archive (e.g. ZIP) that contains the executable file, the license file and the configuration. Then you can offer this archive to the user as download. After extracting the archive on his machine he then would be able to execute the application.
Other possibilities to execute something on the client machine would be a Java applet or a Flash application. Those are subject to a lot of security restrictions though.