en:docs:tk:formats:exe

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DOS Executable file format

  • All multi-byte values are stored LSB first. One block is 512 bytes, one paragraph is 16 bytes.
  • If the word at offset 02h is 4, it should be treated as 00h, since pre-1.10 versions of the MS linker set it that way.
  • If both minimum and maximum allocation (offset 0Ah/0Ch) are zero, the program is loaded as high in memory as possible (DOS only checks the maximum allocation, however).
  • The maximum allocation is set to FFFFh by default.
  • Additional data may be contained in the file beyond the end of the load image described by the .EXE header; this data may be overlays, the actual executable for newer-format executables, or debugging information (see #01600,#01624).
  • Relocations entries need not be in any particular order, although they are typically stored in order from beginning to end of the load image.
Offset Size Name Description
00h WORD e_magic 0x4d, 0x5a or 0x5a, 0x4d. This is the “magic number” of an EXE file
02h WORD e_cblp The number of bytes in the last block of the program that are actually used. If this value is zero, that means the entire last block is used (i.e. the effective value is 512).
04h WORD e_cp Number of blocks in the file that are part of the EXE file. If [02-03] is non-zero, only that much of the last block is used.
06h WORD e_crlc Number of relocation entries stored after the header. May be zero.
08h WORD e_cparhdr Number of paragraphs in the header. The program's data begins just after the header, and this field can be used to calculate the appropriate file offset. The header includes the relocation entries. Note that some OSs and/or programs may fail if the header is not a multiple of 512 bytes.
0Ah WORD e_minalloc Number of paragraphs of additional memory that the program will need. This is the equivalent of the BSS size in a Unix program. The program can't be loaded if there isn't at least this much memory available to it.
0Ch WORD e_maxalloc Maximum number of paragraphs of additional memory. Normally, the OS reserves all the remaining conventional memory for your program, but you can limit it with this field.
0EH WORD e_ss Relative value of the stack segment. This value is added to the segment the program was loaded at, and the result is used to initialize the SS register.
10h WORD e_sp Initial value of the SP register.
12h WORD e_csum Word checksum. If set properly, the 16-bit sum of all words in the file should be zero. Usually, this isn't filled in.
14h WORD e_ip Initial value of the IP register.
16h WORD e_cs Initial value of the CS register, relative to the segment the program was loaded at.
18h WORD e_lfarlc Offset of the first relocation item in the file.
1Ah WORD e_ovno Overlay number. Normally zero, meaning that it's the main program.
1Ch DWORD e_res
20h WORD e_oemid
22h WORD e_oeminfo
24h 24 WORD e_res2
2ch DWORD e_lfanew

Relocation table entry

Offset Size Name Description
00h WORD offset
02h WORD segment