Hello, New to SharePoint. We just started migrating directories to our SharePoint server, and have encountered an issue storing .EXE files. The error message says that it is denied by the administrator, however our IT team believes you can not store .EXE in SharePoint and that it is a system limitation. Could someone please confirm whether or not there is a restriction for the storage of .EXE files in SharePoint? If this is just an administrator setup issue, is there a doc that would direct us how to remore this setting?Thank you,Dan.

Yes, .EXE files are excluded by default. My first question is why would you want to store .EXE file in SharePoint? Not neccessarily a great idea. But if that's what you need to do then yes you can change that in Central Admin. In the Operations tab go to Security Configuration Section and you will see Blocked file types. However, I would suggest you seriously reconsider storing .EXE's in SharePoint.Robert Stark MCTS - MOSS 2007 MCTS - WSS 3.0 ---www.thesharepointranch.com --- cas.excell.com

Hi Dan,This isn't a "limitation" of SharePoint. SharePoint actually blocks .EXE files from being stored in libraries (which is why you're getting the Error Denied message). You can find a list of blocked file types through Central Administration > Operations > Blocked file types (under the Security Configuration group)If you'd like to allow .EXE files to be stored in libraries, simply remove the file type from that list. Albeit, there's a reason SharePoint blocks .exe files in the first place :)Muhanad Omar [MOSS MVP]

Robert /Muhanad, Thank you both for your replies! I am curious why storing a .EXE file could cause issues? To give a little background, these files would be small apps that team members would need to download to their PC and install. Could you provide some reasoning why this may be an issue? If it is, we will need to look at alternatives.Thanks again!Dan.

Storing .EXE files in SharePoint can cause some serious security issues. Just imagine if a user was to upload a .exe with a friendly name like "Skype.exe" but wasreally a virus - not good!SharePoint is definitely notthe place to store everything, .EXE files being one of those things. If you really need to though, I would highly recommendinstalling "ForeFront for SharePoint" as an anti-virus software.Muhanad Omar [MOSS MVP]

Excellent!Thank you again for your very quick replies. I will push this back to the IT team to implement.Regards,Dan.

>I will push this back to the IT team to implement.From your answer it's difficult to know whether you want them to amend the file to allow .exe files or not. I guess yes as otherwise they wouldn't be implementing anything.If you are intending to have .exe files (or scripts etc.) stored in a SharePoint system, then at least put them inside zip files and allow .zip files to be uploaded rather than .exe files.This will mean that while the .exe files are still available, more effort will be needed to start them and they will not just run by someone idly clicking on (the wrong?) an icon in a view of a SharePoint List. You will have most of the perceived benefits but much less of the pain.

Great point Mike!Muhanad Omar [MOSS MVP]

is there a way to enable exe files to be uploaded to a single library by a single user, or defined on a per user per library way? i don't want to enable exe files for the whole site, which is what the central admin looks like it's doing...

No. This setting is for the entire web application. You can not restrict per library or site.Robert Stark MCTS - MOSS 2007 MCTS - WSS 3.0 ---www.sharepointsolutioncenter.com ---

Dan, Joel Oleson has a good article called "What Not to Store in SharePoint": http://bit.ly/a887aT -Brian

Even after removing .exe-files from the blocked file type list a copy operation (via xxcopy) just returns "copy failed" for all .exe files, the same happens via command line or drag and drop in windows-explorer mode if the library is connected via web-dav. I try to automatically transfer a bunch of files to sharepoint, other removed blocked types work as they should, but not .exe. Is there another place where this has to be removed, or any ideas what I can do? Or are these blocked regardless if they are listed or not? Any help very appreciated kind regards

It could well be that whereas the RTM version of MOSS 2007 still allowed .EXE files to be added after changing blocked files - even though this is always going to be a really bad idea - later fix packs and service packs have completely removed that possibility. Putting them in zip files as I wrote a long time ago would no doubt in that case still work. On the other hand it might just be that you need to run iisreset to make the setting operable. ----------------- Moderator Hat on: please say in reply here if you are satisfied with the above so I can lock a thread which the OP long ago wrote was over for his part.SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

Thank you, I'll try that - my problem is that I have about 120 gigs to transfer and can't just take extra treatment for several file types into account, but so I'm still looking for some workaround if there should be no way to move executables.