Windows API calls from assembly while minimizing program size

Posted by takteek on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by takteek
Published on 2009-06-02T22:03:06Z Indexed on 2010/03/20 20:41 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 294

Filed under:

winapi

|

assembly

|

nasm

|

linker

I'm trying to write a program in assembly and make the resulting executable as small as possible. Some of what I'm doing requires windows API calls to functions such as WriteProcessMemory. I've had some success with calling these functions, but after compiling and linking, my program comes out in the range of 14-15 KB. (From a source of less than 1 KB) I was hoping for much, much less than that.

I'm very new to doing low level things like this so I don't really know what would need to be done to make the program smaller. I understand that the exe format itself takes up quite a bit of space. Can anything be done to minimize that?

I should mention that I'm using NASM and GCC but I can easily change if that would help.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about winapi

C: WinAPI CreateDIBitmap() from byte[] problem

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have been working on this problem for a while now. I am trying to add JPEG support to a program with libjpeg. For the most part, it is working fairly well, But for some JPEGs, they show up like the picture on the left. It may not be obvious, but the background shows up with alternating red green… >>> More
mouse_event WinAPI call not working when cursor is over Flash

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I am writing a small program which can simulate mouse clicks at specified positions. Using the Win32 API call mouse_event like so: [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern void mouse_event(uint dwFlags, uint dx, uint… >>> More
Custom form designer, move/resize controls using WinAPI

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have to fix some problems and enchance form designer written long ago for a database project. In Design Panel class code I encountered these lines private void DesignPanel_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) { if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left) { (sender as Control).Capture… >>> More
winapi c - read/write mbr of system drive

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does anyone have any example code that shows how to identify the system boot harddisk, and read/write the mbr from the harddisk in windows xp and vista? I know createfile can be used. But I do not know how to properly identify which device is the boot device. Like how do you find out which ones… >>> More
How to use WINAPI from newer SDK but still using the old SDK in WindowsMobile.

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Specifically, I want to use Point-to-point Message Queue but because I am still using legacy codes in eVC++ 4 and it only support until PocketPC 2003SE SDK, I cannot find CreateMsgQueue and friends in the headers (the port to newer VisualStudio is still in progess) I am using the Message Queue to… >>> More

Related posts about assembly

More information wanted on error: CREATE ASSEMBLY for assembly failed because assembly failed verif

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a small application that uses SQL Server 2005 Express with CLR stored procedures. It has been successfully installed and runs on many computers running XP and Vista. To create the assembly the following SQL is executed (names changed to protect the innocent): CREATE ASSEMBLY myAssemblyName… >>> More
Installed SQL Server 2008 and now TFS is broken.

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi, My W2K3 server was running TFS 2008 SP1, SQL Server 2005 Development edition. I installed SQL Server 2008 Standard. I installed it while leaving SQL Server 2005 alone. Upgrading was not possible due to the differences in editions of the SQL Servers. Now TFS is broken. On a client computer… >>> More
How to Specify AssemblyKeyFile Attribute in .NET Assembly and Issues

as seen on Microsoft .NET Support Team - Search for 'Microsoft .NET Support Team'
How to specify strong key file in assembly? Answer: You can specify snk file information using following line [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile(@"c:\Key2.snk")] Where to specify an strong key file (snk file)? Answer: You have two options to specify the AssemblyKeyFile infromation. 1. In… >>> More
Assembly Language Question: Display Characters to screen LIFO (Last In First Out) in assembly langua

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Given a stack that displays characters to the screen First in First Out(FIFO), how do you switch it to display them Last in First Out(LIFO). Theoretically speaking... is it simply just sending the characters to print in reverse order? >>> More
c# - can you make a "weak" assembly reference to a strong named assembly

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
hi, for various reasons i would rather not use strong named (signed) assemblies in my project. however, one of the projects is referenced by a sharepoint web part which means it must be signed. is it possible to have this assembly signed but when I reference it from other projects, to do so using… >>> More