Sunday 26 September 2010

Decompiling VB.Net Applications

I recently had two situations where I needed to decompile vb.net applications. One was for a client who had an application that could not be supported any longer, and need a fix, there other was for a version of something I had written and I no longer had the original code.

I tried a number of tools, including one from Red Gate.
Red Gates was not the easiest to use, and does not recover form design, but it was good value at $59.

To decompile an executable using Red Gate Net Reflector Pro
Once installed open Visual Studio
There is a new main menu item .Net Reflector
1) Choose Debug an Executable
2) Browse to the Exectuable you wish to decombile
3) The executable will start in a sepecial debug mode
4) Choose .Net Reflector\Choose Assemblies to Debug (a screen like the one below will appear)




5) A list will appear in Visual Studio of available decompiled assemblies


6) Right click on a item and choose Go to Decompiled Definition

Others I tried included
http://www.decompiler-vb.net/register.aspx

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