title: PHP open .exe server-side
body: <p>I've been trying to execute a .exe file server-side.<br/>
  In other words, what I really want is after the user uploads a file to the server a .exe file (which converts this file) is executed.<br/>
  I've tried opening notepad to see if the problem was on my executable file or in the php code and it doesn't run neither (although if I check the task manager I can see it has a notepad.exe process belonging to the SYSTEM user). My guess this is going against some security measure on windows <br/>
  I should probably say that I'm running XAMPP on windows 7 x64.</p>
  
  <p>This is what I'm doing:</p>
  
  <pre><code>exec("cd ../../ConvertObj/ &amp;&amp; ConvertObj.exe", $data, $ret);
  //for debuggging
  var_dump($data);
  var_dump($ret);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As you can see I'm also trying to read the output in an attempt to find the problem.
  Now, you're probably wondering why I tagged this as unity3d as well. This executable file is a Unity3d standalone .exe . For what i've read there is a commandline argument which allows Unity3d to run without a GUI but, unfortunately, this is a PRO only argument... I don't really mind to see the GUI on the server xD <br>
  So, the output I get (using the unity3d .exe) is</p>
  
  <pre><code>array (size=2)
      0 =&gt; string 'Mono path[0] = 'C:/xampp/htdocs/ConvertObj/ConvertObj_Data/Managed'' (length=67)
      1 =&gt; string 'Mono path[1] = 'C:/xampp/htdocs/ConvertObj/ConvertObj_Data/Mono'' (length=64)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I though it was kinda weird. My guess is windows is blocking all GUI applications on the server since dir commands work flawlessly and I think these two lines are Unity3D complaining about something...
  Any thoughts?</p>