How to extract data from EXE File

IDA far and away beats Ollydbg for static code analysis any day of the week, especially with 64 bit native windows applications. Both however have a "search for strings" function as text data is generally put in a read-only text segment in RAM when an application compiled.

Not to dissuade you too much here, but this project sounds way outside your zone. Also database information, if that is what you are actually looking for, is generally stored in a linked database file or remotely rather than in the executable itself.
 
IDA far and away beats Ollydbg for static code analysis any day of the week, especially with 64 bit native windows applications. Both however have a "search for strings" function as text data is generally put in a read-only text segment in RAM when an application compiled.

Not to dissuade you too much here, but this project sounds way outside your zone. Also database information, if that is what you are actually looking for, is generally stored in a linked database file or remotely rather than in the executable itself.

Your right. It is outside of my zone.
Wanna help? I can send you the file to look at, and tell me what you think.
 
My consultant rate is unfortunately also probably way outside your zone. Throw it up over in the freelancer section, I'm sure you will get someone to bite on it.
 
I don't think so. Everyone on here says they know how to do it, but no one will take the challenge.
 
Actually I can't understand your problem clearly ,
but i think your file is affected by virus.
First you need to recover it from the source ,then go to the extraction process.
 
No. It's an exe file that I want to extract the data from.
 
Search for Universal Extractor (it's free), it will unpack all contents from exe. It doesn't work with every format of exe or setup file, so you must try it yourself.For .Net type apps you can use ILSpy to read source.
 
Can you give me a step by step on this?
 
From what I understand, an .exe is a COMPILED application - NOT the source code. To "De-compile" something, it is really difficult to do (much like cracking a hash key).
 
Yeah from what I'm seeing, not to many people can crack these types of programs.
 
hi...
Are you are talking about a self extracting zip file or talking about an actual "application"??? If you are talking about an actual application then typically there are graphics and whatnot stored in an EXE. But if you open an EXE in a resource editor, or say, in Visual Studio directly. You can "look through" it.If any problem you have abut this...i'll help you...
 
I need someone GOOD to crack this exe file, and make it usable on my site.

So all data would need to be extracted, and a new script created to run this program on my site.
Anyone have experience with getting into a .exe file?
 
Moderator.. Maybe move this to hire a freelancer.

Anyone interested, please PM me.
 
Your problem is that you're asking a very generic question in a field that every single specific matters. Without the executable, _no one_ can accurately tell you what to do, what needs to be done or even what they'd do. If it's packed, some tools automatically go out the window. If it has anti-debugging techniques, then some debuggers go out the window for some people. It's not a matter of no one being able to, it's that you're not asking the right question or providing the right information. Consider this: imagine walking up to someone, and handing them your car keys. Then also imagine that you demand for them to drive you to the store. You never actually take them to your car, you never show them where it's at - hell, you don't even describe it. How are they supposed to do what you're asking? Sure, they know where you want to end up - but you're not helping them to help you to get there. The same is happening here. Unless I missed the link: we have no information on the program, what language it was written in, whether it has any protections, where the data is actually coming from, etc.

Just because a desktop/executable program is showing you the information - that does not mean it's contained within it. Right now, Chrome is showing me this page - but as you can probably guess, this page wouldn't be found in the "source code" (or disassembled code). Point being: few people, if any, will commit to something like this without the necessary information being given beforehand. For all we know, the application is just a web browser control that connects to a website, pulls and parses XML data, and then displays it to you. Pulling that information to be used on your own site would be easy. Extracting and rebuilding the exact format of the strings inside the executable, however, probably would not.

So, what kind of information are we talking about? Is the information ever updated? Frequently? How often? And if it is updated, do you need to download a new version to have the updated information, or is it instant? Questions like that give us a better understanding of exactly what's going on. Best case would be for you to provide the executable, then we can analyze it and give you a better/more informed answer (and subsequently, possible solutions).
 
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Hm, this is interesting. What I recall is that if the program was written in C# / .NET, it can be relatively easy to decompile. I'll look it up and get back to you if you're still interested.

However, the code will be obfuscated where the variable names and the comments are stripped making it a bit hard to read... It was either C# / .NET or it might have been XNA... for sure, I know if it's written with XNA (a game engine or all things) it CAN be decompiled pretty well. I would imagine it would hold true for any other C# program.
 
Yes I am still very interested in getting this figured out. I don't believe it's anything to creative that this exe was built on. It seems like a very dated program. The program itself is huge, and has tons of information. (450 MB to be exact)

but there's only certain areas I want taken out and created for my site. All the data is in the program, it does not use web for information.
 
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