Source Code from a exe

Question

1.75/5 (4 votes)

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Hey Friends,
I want to develop the program which will copy the source code from the executable file and paste it any best accessible format for eg: notepad, word, etc. using c#.net through visual studio.
Can anybody help me with the program that will help me to achieve my Goal.

Thanks In Advance!!!

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:45pm

Ank_ush

Updated 5-Apr-11 21:46pm

v2

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Comments

Wayne Gaylard 6-Apr-11 3:48am

That sounds an awful lot like you want to pirate someone elses software. I don't think you are going to get many answers here.

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:51pm

Not true Wayne Gaylard it got six answers. Good test for .net exe. Still wondering why Ank_ush wants the source code by spending energy. he can right away use that exe :). When somebody said Watson find the DNA model, actually it was a team work. :). May be Ank_ush wants to own an exe.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 18:07pm

Albin, you're not trusting. I assume OP is driven by curiosity and interesting theoretical issues.
You need to apply Presumption of innocence in all cases :-)

(Is that right, Ank_ush?)
--SA

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 22:58pm

I think it is. I have checked other questions from him and it looks like he is just driven by curiosities for now.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 7-Apr-11 0:29am

Great. All people deserve some initial credit in the form of trust.
--SA

Albin Abel 7-Apr-11 4:52am

Agreed

Albin Abel 7-Apr-11 4:51am

I appreciate his curiosity. :)

6 solutions

Solution 5

Hi,
there is already an application for reverse engineering. Some time ago it was even free of charge. http://www.reflector.net/[^]
Regards

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:59pm

Ciumac Sergiu

Updated 5-Apr-11 22:01pm

v3

Comments

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:42pm

hmm really? will try it. :)

Solution 3

lol, emm an executble does not have source code int it, if you you open it with a hex editor or heck , even notepad you will find CIL code or machine code.
if you want to get the source code of an application you need to conduct reverse egninerring which is a realy complicated process.

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:55pm

Kurt Degiorgio

Updated 5-Apr-11 21:56pm

v2

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 3:59am

Yes. LOL. My 5. For OP - not feasible; see my Answer...
--SA

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:44pm

Think so, feasibility is a question thats what Microsoft hopes.

Solution 4

Sorry, no. This is a very big and difficult project, with your level of understanding — absolutely not feasible. Why do you think I'm trying to access your level? Sorry, this is apparent from your Question: you mix up unrelated concepts: C# project itself is unrelated to VS, the term C#.net makes no sense and is not used because C# not for .NET does not exist; you think that there is such thing as Notepad format (no, there is no Notepad format); and MS Word format is unrelated to C# (which is always a plain text, possible Unicode); you say "executable file" instead of ".NET assembly".

No wonder you have no idea of the scale of the problem of C# code generation based on .NET assembly

If you want to start learning some programming, do it, but in realistic tasks. I cannot advise anything better.

—SA

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:57pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Comments

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:41pm

Wondering when code project starts reverse engineering support.lol.5

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 18:04pm

Thank you.
The situation when you need reverse engineering is quite ugly thing, but doing it is not really unlawful or something like that.
--SA

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*dan!sh* · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05T21:48:00

Solution 1

It already exists. Search for Reflector and google shall reveal it to you. :)

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:48pm

dan!sh

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 3:58am

I never know Reflector can generate C# code... can it, really?
--SA

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 4:07am

Yes it can and not just C# but VB.Net and I think J# and F# as well.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 4:20am

OK, thank you for information, good to know. My 5.
--SA

P.S.:
By the way, thank you very much for your good words here: http://www.codeproject.com/Messages/3841469/A-big-thank-you-to-SAKryukov.aspx

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 4:27am

That's well deserved. You sure are a great help here.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 16:19pm

Thank you.

Remember, sometime people ask about translation between different .NET languages?
This could be another way: build a project in one language, generate in another one. Well, comments would be lost, but -- some solution, not worse than the original reverse engineering problem.

--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 17:29pm

Yes, I saw it, and voted and asked you the question: will it generate C# or other .NET high-level language code as well?
Thank you.
--SA

Wendelius 6-Apr-11 15:07pm

There's also another (free) tool available nowadays. If interested, pleas see my answer :)

mika

BobJanova 6-Apr-11 4:26am

Yes, .Net code is relatively easy to decompile.

If this is somebody else's software, though, it is almost certain to be against the license agreement.

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 4:28am

Yes. It is a paid product with a proper license agreement. It is/was also a part of "10 must have tools for a .Net developer" list on MSDN.

Wendelius 6-Apr-11 15:06pm

If you're interested for an option, see my answer :)

mika

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:46pm

Is this cross obfuscation barrier? my 5

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 22:56pm

I had used it 1.5 years back. At that time, it couldn't do that. Not sure if anything has changed now.

It was merely a parser kind of tool which analyzes the IL and creates it's equivalent C# etc.. Breaking obfuscation will make the tool really huge and possibly slow. You will have to accommodate all the algorithms to break obfuscation and to it fast as well. Can be done through clever threading and all that Parallel processing though.

Wendelius · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-06T09:04:00

Solution 6

Since reflector is a licensed product these days, I have started to use ILSpy[^] which is still free. It's not so rich in features but does the job.

Posted 6-Apr-11 9:04am

Wendelius

Comments

Albin Abel 6-Apr-11 15:45pm

Is this cross the obfuscation barrier? my 5

Wendelius 6-Apr-11 15:51pm

Thank you :) Never tried but I wouldn't think so. If you give it a try at some point, please let me know.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Apr-11 16:17pm

So ILSpy also can generate C# code, is that true? Very interesting reference, thank you. My 5 certainly.
--SA

Wendelius 6-Apr-11 16:24pm

Thanks :)

dan!sh 6-Apr-11 22:51pm

Nice one Mika. Thanks :)

Wendelius 7-Apr-11 14:18pm

No problem :)

Piccadilly Yum Yum · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05T21:50:00

Solution 2

You are talking about Reverse Engineering.. From your exe you can disassembly instructions and see directly machine code of your exe, but, this probably will not be enough.. To have a view of high level structure of your code you need a reverse engineering tool.. see google

Posted 5-Apr-11 21:50pm

Piccadilly Yum Yum