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New Executable file format
New Executable (NE) file format used by set of operating system including OS/2, Windows, Multitasking MS-DOS 4 and set of DOS Extenders. It is designed to be store on disk and in-memory usage. In-disk format is same for all OSes, but In-memory usage is mostly specific for Windows systems.
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | ne_magic | Signature word NEMAGIC |
| On-disk | |||
| 02h | BYTE | ne_ver | Version number of the linker |
| 03h | BYTE | ne_rev | Revision number of the linker |
| In-memory | |||
| 02h | WORD | count | Usage count (ne_ver/ne_rev on disk) |
| 04h | WORD | ne_enttab | Entry Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| On-disk | |||
| 06h | WORD | ne_cbenttab | Number of bytes in the entry table |
| In-memory | |||
| 06h | WORD | next | Selector to next module |
| On-disk | |||
| 08h | DWORD | ne_crc | 32-bit CRC of entire contents of file. These words are taken as 00 during the calculation |
| In-memory | |||
| 08h | WORD | dgroup_entry | Near ptr to segment entry for DGROUP |
| 0Ah | WORD | fileinfo | Near ptr to file info (OFSTRUCT) |
| 0Ch | WORD | ne_flags | Flag word |
| 0Eh | WORD | ne_autodata | Segment number of automatic data segment. This value is set to zero if SINGLEDATA and MULTIPLEDATA flag bits are clear, NOAUTODATA is indicated in the flags word. A Segment number is an index into the module's segment table. The first entry in the segment table is segment number 1 |
| 10h | WORD | ne_heap | Initial size, in bytes, of dynamic heap added to the data segment. This value is zero if no initial local heap is allocated |
| 12h | WORD | ne_stack | Initial size, in bytes, of stack added to the data segment. This value is zero to indicate no initial stack allocation, or when SS is not equal to DS |
| 14h | DWORD | ne_csip | Segment number:offset of CS:IP |
| 18h | DWORD | ne_sssp | Segment number:offset of SS:SP If SS equals the automatic data segment and SP equals zero, the stack pointer is set to the top of the automatic data segment just below the additional heap area. +————————–+ ! additional dynamic heap ! +————————–+ ← SP ! additional stack ! +————————–+ ! loaded auto data segment !% +————————–+ ← DS, SS |
| 1Ch | WORD | ne_cseg | Number of entries in the Segment Table |
| 1Eh | WORD | ne_cmod | Number of entries in the Module Reference Table |
| 20h | WORD | ne_cbnrestab | Number of bytes in the Non-Resident Name Table |
| 22h | WORD | ne_segtab | Segment Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| 24h | WORD | ne_rsrctab | Resource Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| 26h | WORD | ne_restab | Resident Name Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| 28h | WORD | ne_modtab | Module Reference Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| 2Ah | WORD | ne_imptab | Imported Names Table file offset, relative to the beginning of the segmented EXE header |
| 2Ch | DWORD | ne_nrestab | Non-Resident Name Table offset, relative to the beginning of the file |
| 30h | WORD | ne_cmovent | Number of movable entries in the Entry Table |
| 32h | WORD | ne_align | Logical sector alignment shift count, log(base 2) of the segment sector size (default 9) |
| 34h | WORD | ne_cres | Number of resource entries |
| 36h | BYTE | ne_exetyp | Executable type, used by loader. 02h = WINDOWS |
| 37h | BYTE | ne_flagsothers | Operating system flags |
| 38h | WORD | ??? | offset to return thunks or start of gangload area |
| 3Ah | WORD | ??? | offset to segment reference thunks or length of gangload area |
| 3Ch | WORD | ??? | minimum code swap area size |
| 3Eh | 2 BYTEs | ??? | expected Windows version (minor version first) |
On-disk segment entry
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | ns_sector | Logical-sector offset (n byte) to the contents of the segment data, relative to the beginning of the file. Zero means no file data |
| 02h | WORD | ns_cbseg | Length of the segment in the file, in bytes. Zero means 64K |
| 04h | WORD | ns_flags | Flag word |
| 06h | WORD | ns_minalloc | Minimum allocation size of the segment, in bytes. Total size of the segment. Zero means 64K |
In-memory segment entry
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | ns1_sector | Logical-sector offset (n byte) to the contents of the segment data, relative to the beginning of the file. Zero means no file data |
| 02h | WORD | ns1_cbseg | Length of the segment in the file, in bytes. Zero means 64K |
| 04h | WORD | ns1_flags | Flag word |
| 06h | WORD | ns1_minalloc | Minimum allocation size of the segment, in bytes. Total size of the segment. Zero means 64K |
| 08h | WORD | ns1_handle | Selector or handle (selector - 1) of segment in memory |
struct new_segdata {
union {
struct {
WORD ns_niter;
WORD ns_nbytes;
char ns_iterdata;
} ns_iter;
struct {
char ns_data;
} ns_noniter;
} ns_union;
};
Relocation table header
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | nr_nreloc | ??? |
Relocation table entry
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | char | nr_stype | ??? |
| 01h | char | nr_flags | ??? |
| 02h | WORD | nr_soff | ??? |
| Internal fixup | |||
| 04h | char | nr_segno | ??? |
| 05h | char | nr_res | ??? |
| 06h | WORD | nr_entry | ??? |
| ??? | |||
| 04h | WORD | nr_mod | ??? |
| 06h | WORD | nr_proc | ??? |
| OS Fixup | |||
| 04h | WORD | nr_ostype | ??? |
| 06h | WORD | nr_osres | ??? |
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | char | rs_len | ??? |
| 01h | char | rs_string[1] | ??? |
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | rt_id | ??? |
| 02h | WORD | rt_nres | ??? |
| 04h | DWORD | rt_proc | ??? |
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | rn_offset | ??? |
| 02h | WORD | rn_length | ??? |
| 04h | WORD | rn_flags | ??? |
| 06h | WORD | rn_id | ??? |
| 08h | WORD | rn_handle | ??? |
| 0Ah | WORD | rn_usage | ??? |
| Offset | Size | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00h | WORD | rs_align | ??? |
| 02h | struct rsrc_typeinfo | rs_typeinfo | ??? |




