How to extract data from EXE File
- Thread starter youtalk
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- exe executable extract data
jameshilton105
BANNED
- Feb 17, 2012
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You got to be a software engineer to do that. It's hard to decode it without the right tools... Search google my friend, there are 2 or 3 that stand out the rest out there. Good luck!
ultra.marine
Registered Member
- Oct 5, 2012
- 80
- 105
Of course it's possible, but not all people can do it. I am programmer myself and have no idea how that goes 
I tried it once and failed, since then i lost interest....
I tried it once and failed, since then i lost interest....
youtalk
Regular Member
- Jul 5, 2012
- 353
- 6
Were you able to locate anything?
It depends on what data you would like to extract - as your question isn't specific, I'll give you a general purpose answer: use OllyDBG or any similar debugger. Using a debugger will allow you to open the executable file and view its assembly, and OllyDBG in particular also allows you to search for data within the assembly.
If you decide to get OllyDBG I'd recommend searching YouTube for "crack trial application with OllyDBG" and watching one of the resulting videos to get some basic experience searching for data in applications; an easy way to find strings once you've loaded an application into OllyDBG is to use the Right Click -> Search for -> All referenced strings menu option which will bring up a list of all of the plain text strings stored within the application.
I apologize if this is not the type of answer you were looking for, but I did my best. Good luck.
If you decide to get OllyDBG I'd recommend searching YouTube for "crack trial application with OllyDBG" and watching one of the resulting videos to get some basic experience searching for data in applications; an easy way to find strings once you've loaded an application into OllyDBG is to use the Right Click -> Search for -> All referenced strings menu option which will bring up a list of all of the plain text strings stored within the application.
I apologize if this is not the type of answer you were looking for, but I did my best. Good luck.
SlimProxies
Supreme Member
- Oct 4, 2011
- 1,423
- 1,324
I extract files from within exe's using a HEX editor. I prefer HEX Workshop. I find the headers of the file I want , and find the end of the file, and just copy paste that part into a new file from within HEX Workshop. Then I just change the extension to that file's and it works perfectly.
vishalgmistry
Regular Member
- Sep 25, 2008
- 338
- 532
ResourceHacker, HexEditor, OllyDebug can help you.
depends on data type.
like TheBestSpinner i wanted only their synonym database so above tools didn't worked for me but due intelligence helped me and found it in Application Data folder.
depends on data type.
like TheBestSpinner i wanted only their synonym database so above tools didn't worked for me but due intelligence helped me and found it in Application Data folder.
seeplusplus
Power Member
- Aug 18, 2008
- 525
- 179
Another vote for OllyDBG here. You won't get clear source code mind. Variable and function names wont be the same as they are in the source.
When you say "data", do you mean strings like "dog" and "cat"? For instance, if one were to be looking for a password that might be embedded in an application, a "string" is what they would want extracted from it.
Also, I read your PM but I am unable to respond as I do not yet have 15 posts. I may make a post in the Introduction section soon to answer your question(s).
Ah, I see. Unfortunately, I do not know of a general-purpose quick solution to your problem, and as such you will most likely have to find someone (maybe someone in this thread) that can consult with you and perhaps develop custom software to do what you're asking, if no already existing software is available and able to do the job.
Alternatively, if the information you want to extract might be found elsewhere on the internet, you may have better luck going that route and scraping the informational pages using regular expressions (RegEx) - something any intermediate programmer can accomplish with ease and will likely not charge you much if anything at all to do.
Again, best of luck to you in your endeavor.
Alternatively, if the information you want to extract might be found elsewhere on the internet, you may have better luck going that route and scraping the informational pages using regular expressions (RegEx) - something any intermediate programmer can accomplish with ease and will likely not charge you much if anything at all to do.
Again, best of luck to you in your endeavor.
Wilson Grant Fisk
Elite Member
- Nov 10, 2012
- 15,677
- 46,846
With a debugger you can step through the program assembly interactively.
With a disassembler, you can view the program assembly in more detail.
With a decompiler, you can turn a program back into partial source code, assuming you know what it was written in (which you can find out with free tools such as PEiD - if the program is packed, you'll have to unpack it first).
Additionally, if you are doing malware analysis (or use SICE), I wholeheartedly suggest running everything inside a virtual machine, namely VMware Workstation. In the case of SICE, it will protect your actual system from BSODs, and in the case of malware, it will protect your actual system from the target program. You can read about malware analysis with VMware here.
Personally, I roll with Olly, WinDbg & W32Dasm, and some smaller utility tools.
Also, remember that disassembling or even debugging other people's software is usually against the EULA in the very least
Copied from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...e-a-windows-exe-or-at-least-view-the-assembly
http://superuser.com/questions/282580/is-it-possible-to-retrieve-source-file-from-an-exe
I used to have a list of forums that would help you. I will see if I can find them.
If you go to the following forums then you should find the information you need.
http://www.woodmann.com/forum/content.php (look at the bottom of the page for useful sites)
http://tuts4you.com/
http://www.woodmann.com/forum/forum.php
With a disassembler, you can view the program assembly in more detail.
With a decompiler, you can turn a program back into partial source code, assuming you know what it was written in (which you can find out with free tools such as PEiD - if the program is packed, you'll have to unpack it first).
- Debuggers:
- OllyDbg, free, a fine debugger, for which you can find numerous user-made plugins and scripts to make it all the more useful.
- WinDbg, free, a quite capable debugger by Microsoft. WinDbg is especially useful for looking at the Windows internals, since it knows more about the data structures than other debuggers.
- SoftICE, SICE to friends. Commercial and development stopped in 2006. SoftICE is kind of a hardcore tool that runs beneath the operating system (and halts the whole system when invoked). SoftICE is still used by many professionals, although might be hard to obtain and might not work on some hardware (or software - namely, it will not work on Vista or NVIDIA gfx cards).
- Disassemblers:
- IDA Pro, commercial, top of the line disassembler/debugger. Used by most professionals, like malware analysts etc. Costs quite a few bucks though.
- W32Dasm, free, a bit dated but gets the job done. I believe W32Dasm is abandonware these days, and there are numerous user-created hacks to add some very useful functionality. You'll have to look around to find the best version.
- Decompilers:
- Visual Basic: VB Decompiler, commercial, produces somewhat identifiable bytecode.
- Delphi: DeDe, free, produces good quality source code.
- C: HexRays, commercial, a plugin for IDA Pro by the same company. Produces great results but costs a big buck, and won't be sold to just anyone (or so I hear).
Additionally, if you are doing malware analysis (or use SICE), I wholeheartedly suggest running everything inside a virtual machine, namely VMware Workstation. In the case of SICE, it will protect your actual system from BSODs, and in the case of malware, it will protect your actual system from the target program. You can read about malware analysis with VMware here.
Personally, I roll with Olly, WinDbg & W32Dasm, and some smaller utility tools.
Also, remember that disassembling or even debugging other people's software is usually against the EULA in the very least
Copied from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...e-a-windows-exe-or-at-least-view-the-assembly
http://superuser.com/questions/282580/is-it-possible-to-retrieve-source-file-from-an-exe
I used to have a list of forums that would help you. I will see if I can find them.
If you go to the following forums then you should find the information you need.
http://www.woodmann.com/forum/content.php (look at the bottom of the page for useful sites)
http://tuts4you.com/
http://www.woodmann.com/forum/forum.php
Last edited:
sirgold
BANNED
- Jun 25, 2010
- 1,260
- 649
Olly and IDA are you BEST bets for heavy duty work, as in reversing shit on windows. If you just want to get familiar ANY hexeditor will help you have a little fun. ResourceHacker (look it up, it's small and free) will help you change the resources (icons, bitmaps, etc) on a native pe32 exe. If you're on unix you can always use "strings myfile.exe" to extract the text strings compiled into an exe and there's ports for windows as well via cygwin and others. HTH!