Windows 10: Want to diagnose cause of system error 193.

Is there a tool that can tell me exactly why a particular .exe gets system error 193?

In my case, I have written a program that modifies an existing .exe and writes the modified file back out.

Right now, my program does nothing more than add 1000x to every section RVA and then adjust items in the header -- start of code, and entry point -- and clear the checksum. The tool also adjusts most items in the data directories; however, my input .exe has no data directories.

I have attached output from 'objdump -x' on the input and output files, in case you can spot something I failed to adjust.

Does Windows 10 validate the checksum on all executables now? Microsoft's PE format doc says
The following are checked for validation at load time: all drivers, any DLL loaded at boot time, and any DLL that is loaded into a critical Windows process.



:)

 

Windows 10 The Wireless AutoConfig Service (wlansvc) is not running.

I tried that but got this message:

The WLAN AutoConfig service could not be started.
A system error has occurred.
System error 193 has occurred.

*** is not a valid Win32 application.

 

How to diagnose cause of freeze just after boot up

Are you able to boot to a functional Windows desktop?

If not, try booting into Safe mode

Log out and go to the sign in screen.

Hold down the shift key on your keyboard while clicking the Power button on the screen.

Continue to hold down the shift key while clicking Restart.

Continue to hold down the shift key until the Advanced Recovery Options menu appears.

Click Troubleshoot

Click Advanced options

Click Startup Settings

Click Restart

Press (4) to Enable Safe Mode

Wait while Windows 10 starts in safe mode.

Log in

Press Windows key + X

Click Event Viewer

Expand Windows logs

Click System

Check the most recent red exclamation

See what it says, then copy and paste the results in a reply here.

But your hunch might be the right one, since you said it started happening after installing that device.

 

It's not the checksum, because I made another output file which is identical to the input file except for clearing the checksum, and it still runs OK.

 

There are two requirements on the pages occupied by the sections in the EXE file.
1. The sets of pages have to be consecutive and adjacent. This is explained in Microsoft's PE format spec.
2. The first section must begin at RVA = 1000x. This is *NOT* explained in that document.

If you know of a complete list of what is required for an EXE to load, please post it here. Also I posted a similar thread in the General Support forum, and you can post your answer there too.

 

I found an article on Stack Overflow: assembly - VA (Virtual Adress) RVA (Relative Virtual Address) - Stack Overflow that touches on this question. It indicates that the loader reserves the first image page for the PE header to be loaded in, treating this as a hidden one-page section. I don't know if this is "official" or not.