The New Executable (NE or NewEXE) is a
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
executable
In computer science, executable code, an executable file, or an executable program, sometimes simply referred to as an executable or binary, causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instruction (computer science), in ...
file format
A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...
, a successor to the
DOS MZ executable format. It was used in
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
1.0–3.x,
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding version ...
,
multitasking MS-DOS 4.0,
OS/2
OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...
1.x, and the OS/2 subset of
Windows NT
Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...
up to version 5.0 (Windows 2000). An NE is also called a segmented executable.
It utilizes the
286 protected mode or
unreal mode, and it can be 16-bit and 32-bit hybrid.
[https://wiki.osdev.org/NE]
History
The first product to be released using the New Executable format was
Windows 1.0 in 1985, followed by the 1986
multitasking MS-DOS 4.0, which was a separate branch of MS-DOS development, released between mainstream MS-DOS versions 3.2 and 3.3, and sometimes referred to as "European MS-DOS 4.0".
The
Portable Executable
The Portable Executable (PE) format is a file format for executables, object file, object code, Dynamic-link library, dynamic-link-libraries (DLLs), and binary files used on 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows, Windows operating systems, as well ...
(PE) format replaced NE format in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, while
Linear Executables (LX) replaced NE for 32-bit programs in OS/2.
VxD in
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding version ...
also use
LE format.
Compatibility
While designed for 16-bit
OSes, NE executables can be run on 32-bit
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
. Beginning with Windows Vista, icon resources inside New Executables are not extracted and shown even by the 32-bit shell.
64-bit versions of Windows completely lack native support for running NE executables, because 64-bit Windows cannot run 16-bit programs on the processor without the help of an emulator.
Due to the rare and fairly complex nature of these files, only a few
.EXE packers support it: WinLite, PackWin,
PKLite 2.01, and SLR Optloader or NeLite for OS/2. The NE format is also still used as (non-executable) container for
.fon Microsoft Windows bitmapped fonts.
DOS stub
New (NE), linear (LX), and portable (PE) executables retain the DOS MZ format file header for
backward compatibility
In telecommunications and computing, backward compatibility (or backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, software, real-world product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with Input ...
with
DOS. When run under DOS, a so-called ''DOS stub'' is executed which usually prints "This program cannot be run in DOS mode" and exits. This constitutes a minimal form of a so-called
fat binary. Windows 1.0 executables, however, have their file header formatted in such a way that DOS refuses to run them with the "Program too big to fit in memory" error message; see
Windows 1.0 Features.
See also
*
COM file
References
{{OS/2
Executable file formats
Windows administration
DOS technology
OS/2 technology