php 5.5可以读写但不会执行

So I have an executable that I'm trying to run on my desktop. I gave the proper permissions to the user to read write and execute. My php can write to a file and read from a file, but it wont execute a .exe. Here's what I found in my research

• Safe_Mode could be set to on in which case you will have to configure the safe_mode_exec_dir
• The parent directory could be blocking your php from executing a .exe
• The path is incorrect

In php 5.5 there is no Safe_Mode, I even looked in the php.ini to be sure. Also if I can read and write to the directory then I have the correct path, and it wouldn't be blocking my php from accessing it either. The weird thing is I got this to work before in the same directory but a setting had to have gotten changed somewhere. Are there any other common problems to why a php can read and write but not execute a .exe? The line of code i'm using is:

exec("C:\Users\myName\Desktop\Folder\MyexecutableName.exe");