Before you get too excited, try manually loading windows driver via its oemsetup.inf and the control panel, rebooting, THEN running setup.

That window decoration style screams win3.x, so be SURE the dosmode drivers are loaded FIRST.

wierd_w wrote on 2024-05-05, 04:13:

Before you get too excited, try manually loading windows driver via its oemsetup.inf and the control panel, rebooting, THEN running setup.

That window decoration style screams win3.x, so be SURE the dosmode drivers are loaded FIRST.

Yes, I'm asking to disassemble NE files, which are Win 3.x executables...

There is no INF file.

I've tried every permutation of DOS drivers and BLASTER variables. No change.

A generic 1868 card works fine, this Magitronic card is weird somehow. I suspect they changed some vendor ID or something in the EEPROM that holds the IRQ etc settings.

kingcake wrote on 2024-05-05, 04:22:

Yes, I'm asking to disassemble NE files, which are Win 3.x executables...

IIRC we had a thread some months ago about different freeware IDA versions, and until which version some 16-bit loaders are included in the IDA freeware version. A key point of IDA is that NE support is not required once you loaded the the file, because the database format is independent of the executable format. So if you load a file using an ancient NE-compatible IDA version and then open that database using a new IDA freeware version, you will be able to use the modern GUI on NE files, even though the modern IDA freeware versions only include a very limited set of loaders.

See [SOLVED] What is the last version of IDA Pro to support 16 bit DOS executables disassembly/decompilation? for more information. While that thread is about LE/LX files, and NE support might have been purged from the freeware version at a later time, the general discussion in that thread might be relevant to you as well.

kingcake wrote on 2024-05-05, 03:12:

Sourcer 8.01 for DOS says it's not packed and recognizes is as NE.

I bet it also tells you to use Windows Sourcer - that would be the included WINP.EXE, which is used to preprocesses NE executables. Tried that yet?

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-05, 10:34:

kingcake wrote on 2024-05-05, 03:12:

Sourcer 8.01 for DOS says it's not packed and recognizes is as NE.

I bet it also tells you to use Windows Sourcer - that would be the included WINP.EXE, which is used to preprocesses NE executables. Tried that yet?

Yeah I'm running it through WINP first. But WINP and Windows Source are two different things. Windows Source was a separate addon for Sourcer and is unobtanium.

https://www.digiater.nl/openvms/decus/vmslt97 … f/vcomwinp.html

kingcake wrote on 2024-05-05, 16:28:

WINP and Windows Source are two different things

I believe you're mistaken - unless there's a different program using not only the same title but also all the same file names.

Two different things. The naming is very confusing.

If you run an NE through WINP then load that with Sourcer, Sourcer will decompile the MZ stub, then tell you to use Windows Source for the NE portion.

Look at the old Windows Source website for version 3. It's a separate purchase. They did not come bundled.

Sounds like you did "winp foo.exe; sr foo.exe" instead of "sr foo.wdf" that winp generated for you?

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-05, 17:05:

Sounds like you did "winp foo.exe; sr foo.exe" instead of "sr foo.wdf" that winp generated for you?

Do you really think I can't follow simple directions? Of course that's what I'm doing.

Anyway, I messaged the author of Windows Source on social media and he's hooking me up with a copy.

Well I don't know what to tell you. Going by your screenshots we seem to have identical versions of those programs, it's working just fine for me. 🤷

edit: actually - you're running "sr c:\temp\esssetup.wdf" while winp's output is in the current directory?

edit2: yeah, that's it. You actually can't follow simple directions.

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-05, 17:20:

Well I don't know what to tell you. Going by your screenshots we seem to have identical versions of those programs, it's working just fine for me. 🤷

WINP is the PREPROCESSOR for Windows Source. WINP is included with Sourcer. Windows Source is not.

The author actually had updated 32-bit versions of WINP and Windows Source that run in the terminal in modern Windows! I was able to disassemble the setup file in about 0.5 seconds since I didn't have to emulate a 486 or something 🤣