Recover source code from .exe C#

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I paid a freelancer programmer for an app to tun my clinic. He got about 95% of the project done, but then got a job elsewhere and vanished into thin air, along with my source code... So, I have a semi-working program and I need to finish it. How can I recover the source code (Visual Studio, C#) to a point I can finish what I need and then recompile it again? Is this possible? I'm willing to buy/pay...

What I have tried:

I haven't tried anything - don't know how to start recovering the source code

Posted 17-Jun-16 9:32am

raulmorales

Updated 17-Jun-16 18:50pm

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FranzBe 17-Jun-16 16:27pm

there are some intermediate language browsers that are able to convert the intermediate language back to c#. ILSpy is one of them http://ilspy.net/ it is open source. How far you will get with this approach is however unclear

The Magical Magikarp 4-Apr-20 1:01am

I know this is old, but still.. Why not ildasm? It's built-in.. And it's free!

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Dave Kreskowiak · Answer 1 · 2016-06-17T10:24:00

You can use Redgate's Reflector. There's an option built in to generate a Visual Studio project from the code it pulls out of the executable.

It's not going to be a pretty project and you'll probably have to fix stuff to make it work again, but it's a start.

There's nothing that's going to do a perfect job.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 2 · 2016-06-17T10:37:00

There is no free version of Reflector anymore, but newer open-source ILSpy perfectly replaced it. The quality of reverse-engineered code is very good. Please see: ILSpy[^].

There are several other alternatives I never tried so far.

Just a note: if you are not using some suitable Revision Control system, you are not really doing software development. Your valuable code asserts may be sacrificed to any random mistake of failure. You should better stop doing of what you are doing and start using such system. Please see this page: Revision control systems, which to choose from?.

—SA

BillWoodruff · Answer 3 · 2016-06-17T18:50:00

The free 'JustDecompile app from Telerik can also create a new project from a .NET .exe file: [^]. It's VS2015 ready and is being actively maintained, and developed, at this time.

However, if the programmer used obfuscation on the source, you are going to have more trouble than you already have.

The idea of the programmer "disappearing into thin air" seems a bit fanciful: unless you paid him, already, and there is a dispute about the deliverable, or about future work.

Recover source code from .exe C#

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