How to find out what is in an exe file. How to open EXE file. Self-extracting archives as EXE files

Understand the process. EXE files are not supported by OS X, so you will need special software to get them to work. To do this, install the free Wine utility, which allows you to work with Windows files. Keep in mind that not all EXE files can be opened with this utility, and some programs will work better than others. You don't need a Windows installation disc to install Wine.

Download and install Xcode from the Mac App Store. This is a free developer tool needed to compile program code. You won't use this tool, but it is necessary to work with other utilities that open EXE files.

Launch Xcode and open its menu. Select "Settings" - "Downloads". Click Install (next to Command Line Tools).

Download and install MacPorts. This is a free utility that simplifies the compilation process that you will use to install Wine. You can download MacPorts from macports.org/install.php. Click the link for the version of OS X you are using and then double-click the downloaded .pkg file to install MacPorts.

Open a terminal to configure some MacPorts settings. You can open the terminal from the Utilities folder.

Copy and paste the following command into the terminal window, and then press Return:

echo export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:\$PATH$"\n"export MANPATH=/opt/local/man:\$MANPATH | sudo tee -a /etc/profile

Enter the administrator password to allow the command to run. No characters will be displayed when you enter your password. After entering your password, press Return. If you do not have an administrator password, the process will not start.

Copy and paste the following command. This command will notify MacPorts if you are running a 64-bit system. Paste the following command and press Return:

if [ `sysctl -n hw.cpu64bit_capable` -eq 1 ] ; then echo "+universal" | sudo tee -a /opt/local/etc/macports/variants.conf; else echo "n/a"; fi

Enter the command to accept the Xcode license terms to be able to compile the code. After running this command, close and reopen the terminal:

sudo xcodebuild -license

Enter the command to install Wine. You may be prompted to enter your administrator password again. The installation process may take some time.

sudo port install wine

Go to the folder with the EXE file. To do this, use the cd command in the terminal.

Using Wine to run an EXE file. Enter the following command to run the EXE file located in the current directory. Replace file_name with the name of the selected EXE file.

wine filename.exe

Use the program as usual. If the EXE file launched the program, you can start working with it. If this is an installation file, follow the on-screen instructions to install the program (as you would in Windows).

Not every program will work in Wine. For a complete list of compatible programs, visit appdb.winehq.org.

Run the installed program (if you used an EXE file to install it). To do this, use Wine.

Type cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/ to open the "Program Files" directory where programs are installed in Wine.
Type ls to see a list of all installed programs. Type cd program_name to open the program directory. If there is a space in the program name, type \ before the space. For example, for Microsoft Office, enter cd Microsoft\Office.
Type ls to find the EXE file.
Enter wine program_name.exe to run the program

Install the Mono libraries if the program requires .NET. This is a software library required by many Windows programs, and Mono is a free equivalent of such a library that is supported by Wine. Install Mono only if your programs require .NET.

Type sudo port install winetricks and press Return.
Type winetricks mono210 and press Return to install Mono.

With help Resource Tuner you can open executable files such as .EXE, .DLL, .OCX, screensavers (.SCR) and many others. By opening the file, you gain access to the file's resources and can replace icons, cursors and graphics in various formats, change lines in menus, dialog boxes and other user interface elements.

However, it is worth keeping in mind that the resources in the executable file are separate from the program code, and by changing the program interface, you do not gain access to the program code. Using the resource editor, you can change program controls. The program code cannot be changed using the resource editor.

For more serious changes (which, however, will not lead to anything good without sufficient experience in programming applications for Windows), we recommend using PE Explorer (PE file structure editor) or FlexHex (hex editor for binary files).

Opening an EXE or DLL file in Resource Tuner

Supports multiple ways to open files. To open a file for viewing and editing, click the button Open File on the toolbar or select the command File > Open from the menu. The drop-down menu next to the button on the toolbar gives you quick access to a list of recently opened files. The same list can be obtained with the command File > Recent Files from the program menu. The number of files in the list is configured in the dialog Customize.

You can also open the file using Resource Tuner directly from Windows Explorer by right-clicking the file and selecting Open with Resource Tuner from the context menu.

Or you can simply drag and drop the file icon from Windows Explorer onto the Resource Tuner icon on the desktop or onto the window of the running Resource Tuner.

You can also open the file from the command line.
For example: restuner.exe filename.exe

When opening a file, Resource Tuner performs several automatic operations: unpacks the file if it is detected that it was packed using UPX, then checks the structure and resources of the file for possible errors, and finally rebuilds damaged resources in accordance with the executable file format specification.

Errors when opening a file

If an error occurs when opening a file, it is most likely for three reasons: the file is protected, the file is 16-bit, or it is not an executable file at all.

1. Error: The file is damaged, compressed by a packer or protected by a protector.

There is a very good chance that the file has been compressed to reduce its size. There are dozens of packers and protectors for executable files, and new ones appear all the time. Resource Tuner supports unpacking of only one, but the most common packer - UPX. Other packers are not supported, and you will have to unpack the file yourself before you can open the file for viewing or editing.

This situation is not considered a program error. We are not going to fight the attempts of other program authors to protect their creations from hacking, nor support the unpacking of several dozen different packagers, including both commercial products and homemade products.

2. Error: The file is defined as 16-bit NE Executable. This format is not supported!

Our programs only work with 32- and 64-bit PE files. The NE format (short for "New Executable") is a 16-bit application format left over from older versions of Windows 3.xx. With the advent of Windows 95, this format is considered obsolete and is not used, although it can be executed on modern platforms from Microsoft. We do not support 16-bit files and do not intend to support them.

3. Error: The file is not an EXE or DLL file. At all!

Resource Tuner does not detect a file by extension. If you rename the extension of an executable file, say, correct .EXE to .TXT, or remove the extension altogether, Resource Tuner will not be fooled by this: when opening a file, the program analyzes the file header inside the file, and does not look at the extension at all.

Therefore, if Resource Tuner tells you that the file is not executable, then it is so. If for some reason someone added a .DLL extension to a text file in a game package, then the file does not cease to be text and does not become a dynamic library. Don't be fooled by the file extension.

Which files do not make sense to open in the resource editor?

Despite the fact that Resource Tuner is designed to open and edit any 32/64-bit executable files, there are some types of EXE files that have virtually no resources.

1. Files created using Visual Basic.

In such files, there is nothing in the resources section except an icon and version information. Lines and dialogue in programs written in Visual BASIC are stored in their own proprietary format, and they do not use the standard resource section.

2. EXE files of gigabytes or more in size.

Since Resource Tuner is a 32-bit program, there are natural limitations for placing the image of the file being opened in virtual memory within the first gigabyte. A file of a gigabyte or more simply will not fit there.

3. Self-extracting archives in the form of EXE files.

In such files, there is nothing in the resources except an icon and version information, and maybe even that. Essentially, this is archived data equipped with a subroutine for unpacking.

4. Installers of other programs.

In such files, there is nothing in the resources except an icon and version information. Very similar to point 3. An installer file can be thought of as a container that contains another .EXE file in compressed form and a subroutine for extracting it. In addition, programs for creating installers use different algorithms to store archived data within themselves.

Download your free trial!

Resource Tuner runs on all versions of Windows
from 2000 and XP to 8 and 10.

Minimum system requirements:
Intel Pentium® or AMD K5 166 MHz processor
16 MB RAM

Resource Hacker is a utility for working with resources packaged in executable files. It includes a complete set of tools for editing resources: compiling, viewing, decompiling and recompiling resources of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows executable files (*.exe; *.dll; *.scr; *.mui and so on) . Resource Hacker can save, add, modify or delete individual resources from these files, as well as create and compile .rc scripts and edit .res files.

For ordinary users, Reshacker will be of interest primarily as a convenient program for extracting icons, cursors, pictures from programs and, in some cases, audio and video files. For programmers, localizers and people who clearly understand why they need this program, Resource Hacker opens up wider opportunities, ranging from translating programs into other languages to changing the interface and other functions. The program has a dialog editor and the ability to add new control elements from Microsoft Common Control classes. The utility provides the ability to work and compile via the command line using .rc scripts, which are similar in style to the C language with additional parameters and directives (for example #DEFINE, #UNDEF, #IF, #ELIF, #ELSE and so on).

Resource editors are specialized programs for viewing, creating and editing PE file resources. With their help, you can, for example, unlock menu items in a shared program, change the application icon, change the appearance of dialog boxes, translate the interface, etc. Every reverse engineer has their own favorite resource editor, so it's impossible to say that any of them are better or worse. Very often, solving various problems requires the functions of a specific tool, and in this article I will try to briefly talk about the most popular executable file resource editors.

Restorator- perhaps the most famous resource editor for executable files in exe, dll, ocx, scr, res and others formats. Allows you to create and edit standard .RES resource files, extract and add your own resources to the file. But the main advantage of Restorator is that the results of your work can be issued in the form of a small patch with a few clicks of the mouse. In this way, for example, a huge number of Russifiers for various programs have been created. Of the noticed shortcomings, the first one is the need to pay for using the program (in the attached versions this problem has already been solved), and the second one is the stupid habit of crap with the line “Bome” in the service fields of the icons of the edited file.

eXeScope- my favorite editor. It works very quickly with resources, you can quickly view dialog boxes, pull out or change icons and pictures, but I am especially pleased with working with resources of files written in Delphi. Sometimes problems arise with the resources of unpacked files; in this case, rebuilding the resource section of the file before sending it to the editor usually helps. eXeScope is also paid, but this problem has also been resolved a long time ago. If you prefer the English interface, then delete the eXeScope.RUS file from the program directory.

PE Explorer designed to view and edit the internal structure of executable files, such as EXE, DLL, ActiveX and others. PE Explorer includes a resource editor, a section editor, a disassembler, a dependency scanner, a digital signature analyzer and other tools that are indispensable for the work of program researchers. With PE Explorer it is very easy to analyze, edit or optimize problematic files, and translate interfaces into other languages. The authors of this section are the same as the previous one, with all the ensuing consequences. But abroad will help us again.

Resource Builder- another commercial development in the arsenal of resource editors. Using Resource Builder, editing resources becomes a breeze. This editor provides a complete set of very convenient and intuitive tools for all types of resources. The built-in linker will update resources directly in executable modules without recompiling, and creating Resource Only DLLs used for application localization takes just a couple of mouse clicks. You can get this useful tool for free on third-party resources: and two.

- free viewer and editor of executable file resources. You can download it, and the source code of the editor is also available for developers. So, learn, bloomers, how to work.

ResEdit.1.5.9.zip (527,389 bytes)

R.C.E.- a resource editor for visually creating and editing RC files, can be used in conjunction with the IDE or used with other resource editors as an auxiliary tool. It doesn’t work directly with executable files, so I don’t see much benefit from RCE.