EXE - Revision history

Jsummers: /* Formats */

2025-08-08T12:30:38Z

‎Formats

SJK: /* Unrelated usage */

2024-09-04T21:21:21Z

‎Unrelated usage

SJK at 22:30, 3 September 2024

2024-09-03T22:30:25Z

Sembiance: Added sample files

2023-12-28T15:17:22Z

Added sample files

Jsummers: /* Identification */

2023-08-04T16:25:18Z

‎Identification

Jsummers at 19:38, 3 July 2022

2022-07-03T19:38:20Z

Jsummers: Copied from MS-DOS EXE, etc.

2016-10-29T21:15:08Z

Copied from MS-DOS EXE, etc.

Jsummers: Changes to clarify this article's scope

2016-10-28T15:27:46Z

Changes to clarify this article's scope

Jsummers: Undo revision 26410 by Felix (talk) - See Talk:Dynamic-link library (Windows) for reasons

2016-10-28T15:25:48Z

Undo revision 26410 by Felix (talk) - See Talk:Dynamic-link library (Windows) for reasons

Felix at 15:53, 12 September 2016

2016-09-12T15:53:49Z

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 == Formats ==
-This is an incomplete outline of the EXE family of formats.
+An incomplete outline of the EXE family of formats:
 *  '''EXE'''
 ** [[MS-DOS EXE]]
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 *** '''PE32''' (32-bit Windows)
 *** '''PE32+''' (64-bit Windows)
 == Identification ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:21, 4 September 2024
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	Note .EXE is also used as an executable extension on some other operating systems, such as OpenVMS, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, RSX-11, etc. The file formats used by those operating systems are completely unrelated to those used by MS-DOS/PC-DOS and its descendants (OS/2, Windows, EFI, etc.) However, historically speaking, that's likely where Microsoft got the .EXE file extension from (early in Microsoft's history, they used TOPS-10 as a hosted cross-development environment for their microcomputer products, before switching to their own Unix distribution, Xenix, on PDP-11s.)		Note .EXE is also used as an executable extension on some other operating systems, such as OpenVMS, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, RSX-11, etc. The file formats used by those operating systems are completely unrelated to those used by MS-DOS/PC-DOS and its descendants (OS/2, Windows, EFI, etc.) However, historically speaking, that's likely where Microsoft got the .EXE file extension from (early in Microsoft's history, they used TOPS-10 as a hosted cross-development environment for their microcomputer products, before switching to their own Unix distribution, Xenix, on PDP-11s.)
		+
		+	OpenVMS VAX and Alpha used their own proprietary executable format; GNU binutils [https://github.com/bminor/binutils-gdb/blob/master/include/vms/eihd.h has some knowledge of it] (at least the Alpha version, which was based on the VAX version but with some incompatible changes). .EXE files on OpenVMS Itanium and x86-64 are in ELF format.

	== Formats ==		== Formats ==

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |extensions={{ext|exe}}
 }}
-'''EXE''' is a family of executable file formats. It includes the original [[MS-DOS EXE]] format, and a number of newer formats built on top of that format. Most of them use the same '''.exe''' file extension.
+'''EXE''' most commonly refers to a family of executable file formats. It includes the original [[MS-DOS EXE]] format, and a number of newer formats built on top of that format. Most of them use the same '''.exe''' file extension.
 Although all members of the EXE family have a file signature of "MZ", it seems that the term "MZ format" is generally used to mean only [[MS-DOS EXE]] (i.e. files designed for MS-DOS).
 EXE files designed for operating systems other than MS-DOS usually contain a short program (called a DOS stub) which, when executed by DOS, prints a message like "This program cannot be run in DOS mode" or "This program requires Microsoft Windows", and immediately exits. Some programs contain a more functional DOS stub, e.g. the Windows 9x registry editor.
 == Formats ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:17, 28 December 2023
Line 28:		Line 28:

	The starting point for identifying extended formats is the field at offset 60, which if present, points to an extended header.		The starting point for identifying extended formats is the field at offset 60, which if present, points to an extended header.
		+
		+	== Sample files ==
		+	* {{DexvertSamples\|executable/exe}}

	== Links ==		== Links ==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 == Identification ==
-All EXE formats start with ASCII signature "{{magic|MZ}}" or, rarely, "{{magic|ZM}}". The byte at offset 3 is <code>0x00</code> or <code>0x01</code> (as it is the high byte of a field whose valid values are 0 through 511).
+All EXE formats start with ASCII signature "{{magic|MZ}}" or, rarely, "{{magic|ZM}}".
 The starting point for identifying extended formats is the field at offset 60, which if present, points to an extended header.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-"<code>[[:Category:File formats with extension .exe|.exe]]</code>" is a file extension of various executable file formats, most of which are based on [[MZ]], the executable format of MS-DOS. The following formats use this extension:
+{{FormatInfo
-* [[MZ]]
+== Formats ==
-* [[Portable Executable]]
+This is an incomplete outline of the EXE family of formats.
-* [[New Executable]]
+*  '''EXE'''
-* [[Linear Executable]]
+** [[MS-DOS EXE]]
-{{Disambiguation}}
+== Related formats ==