WINEXE(1) User Commands WINEXE(1)
NAME
winexe - Winexe is a Remote Windows-command executor
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]
DESCRIPTION
This tool is part of the samba(7) suite.
The winexe allows remote command execution on native Windows operating
systems.
OPTIONS
--uninstall
Uninstall winexe service after remote execution.
--reinstall
Reinstall winexe service before remote execution.
--runas [DOMAIN/]USERNAME[%PASSWORD]]
Run as the given user (BEWARE: this password is sent in cleartext
over the network!)
--runas-file FILE
Run as user options defined in a file.
--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.
--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
-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.
--leak-report
Enable talloc leak reporting on exit.
--leak-report-full
Enable full talloc leak reporting on exit.
-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.
--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.
-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.
-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
This option allows you to specify a file from which to read the
username and password used in the connection. The format of the file
is:
username = <value>
password = <value>
domain = <value>
Make certain that the permissions on the file restrict access from
unwanted users!
-P|--machine-pass
Use stored machine account password.
--simple-bind-dn=DN
DN to use for a simple bind.
--use-kerberos=desired|required|off
This parameter determines whether Samba client tools will try to
authenticate using Kerberos. For Kerberos authentication you need to
use dns names instead of IP addresses when connecting to a service.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client
use kerberos parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
--use-krb5-ccache=CCACHE
Specifies the credential cache location for Kerberos authentication.
This will set --use-kerberos=required too.
--use-winbind-ccache
Try to use the credential cache by winbind.
--client-protection=sign|encrypt|off
Sets the connection protection the client tool should use.
Note that specifying this parameter here will override the client
protection parameter in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file.
In case you need more fine grained control you can use:
--option=clientsmbencrypt=OPTION, --option=clientipcsigning=OPTION,
--option=clientsigning=OPTION.
-?|--help
Print a summary of command line options.
--usage
Display brief usage message.
EXIT STATUS
The winexe program returns 0 if the operation succeeded, or 1 if the
operation failed.
VERSION
This man page is part of version 4.22.11-Debian-4.22.11+dfsg-0+deb13u1
of the Samba suite.
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.
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.
Samba 4.22.11-Debian-4.22.11+d 07/28/2026 WINEXE(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Sat Oct 3 07:35:00 CEST 2026.