GetBinaryTypeA function (winbase.h)

Article
06/01/2023

Determines whether a file is an executable (.exe) file, and if so, which subsystem runs the executable file.

Syntax

BOOL GetBinaryTypeA(
  [in]  LPCSTR  lpApplicationName,
  [out] LPDWORD lpBinaryType
);

Parameters

[in] lpApplicationName

The full path of the file whose executable type is to be determined.

By default, the name is limited to MAX_PATH characters. To extend this limit to 32,767 wide characters, prepend "\\?\" to the path. For more information, see Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces.

Tip

Starting with Windows 10, Version 1607, you can opt-in to remove the MAX_PATH limitation without prepending "\\?\". See the "Maximum Path Length Limitation" section of Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces for details.

[out] lpBinaryType

A pointer to a variable to receive information about the executable type of the file specified by lpApplicationName. The following constants are defined.

Value	Meaning
SCS_32BIT_BINARY 0	A 32-bit Windows-based application
SCS_64BIT_BINARY 6	A 64-bit Windows-based application.
SCS_DOS_BINARY 1	An MS-DOS – based application
SCS_OS216_BINARY 5	A 16-bit OS/2-based application
SCS_PIF_BINARY 3	A PIF file that executes an MS-DOS – based application
SCS_POSIX_BINARY 4	A POSIX – based application
SCS_WOW_BINARY 2	A 16-bit Windows-based application

Return value

If the file is executable, the return value is nonzero. The function sets the variable pointed to by lpBinaryType to indicate the file's executable type.

If the file is not executable, or if the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError. If the file is a DLL, the last error code is ERROR_BAD_EXE_FORMAT.

Remarks

As an alternative, you can obtain the same information by calling the SHGetFileInfo function, passing the SHGFI_EXETYPE flag in the uFlags parameter.

Symbolic link behavior—If the path points to a symbolic link, the target file is used.

In Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, this function is supported by the following technologies.

Technology	Supported
Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol	Yes
SMB 3.0 Transparent Failover (TFO)	Yes
SMB 3.0 with Scale-out File Shares (SO)	Yes
Cluster Shared Volume File System (CsvFS)	Yes
Resilient File System (ReFS)	Yes

Note

The winbase.h header defines GetBinaryType as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winbase.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll