diff --git a/src/artifacts/DirectoryArtifactReader.ts b/src/artifacts/DirectoryArtifactReader.ts
index 1e70c0e0e..cbbbbba69 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/DirectoryArtifactReader.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/DirectoryArtifactReader.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
   type ArtifactEntry,
   type ArtifactReader,
 } from "./ArtifactReader.js";
+import { hostExecutableMarking } from "./hostExecutableMarking.js";
 import { OwnedDirectoryHandle } from "../filesystem/OwnedDirectoryHandle.js";
 import { OwnedFileHandle } from "../filesystem/OwnedFileHandle.js";
 import { readFileHandleChunks } from "../filesystem/readFileHandleChunks.js";
@@ -270,7 +271,7 @@ const artifactEntry = (
     kind,
     declaredSize: kind === "file" ? metadata.size : null,
     compressedSize: null,
-    executable: (metadata.mode & 0o111) !== 0,
+    executable: hostExecutableMarking(absolute, metadata),
     encrypted: false,
     byteOffset: null,
     declaredSha256: null,
diff --git a/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.test.ts b/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7aff5bbda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { hostExecutableMarking } from "./hostExecutableMarking.js";
+
+const file = (mode: number) => ({ mode, isFile: () => true });
+const directory = (mode: number) => ({ mode, isFile: () => false });
+
+describe("hostExecutableMarking", () => {
+  it("marks Windows launchable files by extension because NTFS has no execute bit", () => {
+    expect(
+      hostExecutableMarking("C:\\scratch\\whoami.exe", file(0o666), "win32"),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      hostExecutableMarking("C:\\scratch\\SETUP.CMD", file(0o444), "win32"),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      hostExecutableMarking("C:\\scratch\\library.dll", file(0o666), "win32"),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      hostExecutableMarking(
+        "C:\\scratch\\tools.exe",
+        directory(0o666),
+        "win32",
+      ),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps POSIX permission bits authoritative regardless of extension", () => {
+    expect(hostExecutableMarking("/scratch/tool", file(0o755), "linux")).toBe(
+      true,
+    );
+    expect(
+      hostExecutableMarking("/scratch/whoami.exe", file(0o644), "darwin"),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.ts b/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dcc4b4fb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/artifacts/hostExecutableMarking.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import type { Stats } from "node:fs";
+import { extname } from "node:path";
+
+/** Extensions Windows launches directly through CreateProcess or cmd.exe. */
+const windowsLaunchableExtensions = new Set([".bat", ".cmd", ".com", ".exe"]);
+
+/**
+ * Whether a host filesystem entry carries the host's executable marking.
+ *
+ * POSIX hosts mark executability with permission bits. Windows has no execute
+ * bit (Node reports file modes from the read-only attribute alone), so it marks
+ * launchable files by extension instead.
+ */
+export const hostExecutableMarking = (
+  path: string,
+  metadata: Pick<Stats, "mode" | "isFile">,
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform,
+): boolean =>
+  platform === "win32"
+    ? metadata.isFile() &&
+      windowsLaunchableExtensions.has(extname(path).toLowerCase())
+    : (metadata.mode & 0o111) !== 0;
diff --git a/src/artifacts/inventory/scanCanonical.ts b/src/artifacts/inventory/scanCanonical.ts
index 1eb3a74d2..ef4df6d71 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/inventory/scanCanonical.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/inventory/scanCanonical.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import {
   artifactManifestId,
 } from "../../domain/artifactIdentity.js";
 import { classifyAndHashRootForInventory } from "./classify.js";
+import { hostExecutableMarking } from "../hostExecutableMarking.js";
 import type { HashResult } from "../ArtifactHash.js";
 import {
   hashStableRootArtifact,
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ const buildInventorySnapshot = async (
   rekeyOccurrences(rootNode.artifact_id, input.occurrences);
   const rootOccurrence = rootOccurrenceFor(rootNode, {
     size: metadata.size,
-    executable: (metadata.mode & 0o111) !== 0,
+    executable: hostExecutableMarking(path, metadata),
     format: rootFormat,
     path,
   });