Checking 64-bit binary code on windows

Question

How can I verify that a .exe file was created for a 64-bit version of Windows? I'm used to Linux, where I can just use the file command to see this.

Answer 1

Take a look at the file using the HEX editor. There's a magical signature PEsomewhere after the DOS stub, and the identifier is near the platform (some bytes later). For 64-bit builds, this 0x8664or that is pretty easy to determine.