This is Not the .exe You Are Looking For: Get Rid of it Now
Find out what worked for other who reported the error
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Key notes
- Civilization V, as well as other older games, sometimes throw the This is not the .exe you are looking for error.
- It indicates that there is no longer a direct connection between the game’s launcher (.exe) and its files.
- To fix things, disable any third-party antivirus or reinstall the missing DLLs, amongst other solutions.
The This is not the exe you are looking for error is usually encountered with Civilization 5 and Bioshock Infinite, amongst other games and apps. If you see this message, that usually means you have downloaded the game from a third-party website and it’s infected with a virus.
The This is not the .exe you are looking for error falls under the category of a dummy file. A dummy file is an application mimicking a real one but with no real output, and as a result, you can’t launch the app.
This is not the exe you are looking for is actually a pun from the Star Wars Ben Kenobi line These are not the droids you are looking for.
What to do is to immediately uninstall the game and manually delete any traces of the game files. Another important step is to use a reliable antivirus to scan your system and get rid of this dummy file.
How can I fix This is not the exe you are looking for error?
Perform a system restore
- Press Windows + R to open the Run command, type rstrui, and click OK.
- Select Choose a different restore point, and click on Next to proceed.
- Now, select a restore point created before the error was first encountered, and click Next.
- Click on Finish to start the restore process.
That’s it! If nothing so far has worked, a system restore should get things up and running. And you wouldn’t lose any files, though installed apps or configured settings might be lost.
That wraps it up for us! By now, you would have the This is not the .exe file you are looking for error fixed. In case it persists, reinstalling Windows is the only possible fix.
Also, find out how to optimize Windows 11 for gaming and get the best performance.
As always, if you found other methods to solve this issue, or if you think we missed something, feel free to let us know in the comments below!
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