MS-DOS EXE

From Just Solve the File Format Problem
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(Links)
Line 18: Line 18:
 
* [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/exefs.pro DOS EXE format]
 
* [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/exefs.pro DOS EXE format]
 
* [http://www.mitec.cz/exe.html EXE Explorer utility]
 
* [http://www.mitec.cz/exe.html EXE Explorer utility]
 +
* [http://www.ctyme.com/intr/rb-2939.htm Ralf Brown's Interrupt Reference] has an extensive list of (mostly older) MZ-based executable formats
  
 
[[Category:Microsoft]]
 
[[Category:Microsoft]]

Revision as of 19:31, 13 September 2016

File Format
Name MS-DOS EXE
Ontology
Extension(s) .exe
PRONOM x-fmt/409

MZ (also called by its extension EXE and by other names) is an executable file format used mainly by MS-DOS; the format is a successor of COM.

Many other executable formats are extensions of MZ, including New Executable (used by 16-bit Windows), Portable Executable (newer Windows versions) and Linear Executable (OS/2). Files in these formats usually begin with a short MZ 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.

Identification

An MZ file begins with an ASCII signature of 'M' 'Z' (or, rarely, 'Z' 'M'), followed by a series of 16-bit fields. The field at offset 24 (the relocation table offset) is usually (but apparently not always) less than 64, and at least 28.

Links

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox