Using Exec Function

I'm Windows XP Professional SP1, Apache 2.0.50 and PHP 5.0.4 I'm trying to run a Win32 application using Exec() or Shell_Exec() but it doesn't work. In PHP.INI safe_mode is Off Apache is running under SYSTEM user I also tryed to use backtick operator as shown in http://php.net/manual/en/language.operators.execution.php but with no success, in the browser I get something like this: C:\Programmi\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\prove>C:\HELLO.EXE php code <?php $test = c:\mybat.bat; echo "<pre>$test</pre>"; ?> mybat.bat C:\HELLO.EXE I'm still learning to use PHP, so this obviously beyond me. Davide