Options

Description

Open the General IDA Options dialog, where settings are organized thematically across multiple tabs.

• Disassembly

• Analysis

• Cross references

• String options...

• Browser options...

• Graph options

• Lumina options

• Misc

Disassembly options

This tab configures the appearance of the disassembly.

Disassembly options

The checkboxes/input fields are organized into several categories:

• Address representation

• Display disassembly line parts

• Display disassembly lines

Display disassembly line parts

Line prefixes (non-graph)

This checkbox enables or disables line prefixes display. Line prefix is the address of the current byte:

         3000:1000      mov ax, bx
         ^^^^^^^^^

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_LINEPREFIXES

Stack pointer

If this option is set, IDA will display the value of the stack pointer in the line prefix.

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_SP

Number of opcode bytes (non-graph)

The opcode is the operation code of the current instruction. For the data items, the opcodes are elements of data directives. Sometimes there is not enough place to display all bytes of an item (of a large array, for example). In this case, IDA will display just the few first bytes of the item. For the code items, IDA will try to display all bytes of the instruction, even if it requires adding more lines just for the opcode bytes. If this behavior is not desired, the number of opcode bytes can be specified as a negative value. A negative value -N means to display N opcode bytes on a line but never display empty lines just for the opcode bytes. By default, IDA does not display the opcodes.

Opcode bytes are shown below:

        3000:1000 55           push    bp
                  ^^^^^^^^^

IDA.CFG parameter: OPCODE_BYTES

Comments-related options:

Option	IDA.CFG Parameter
Comments	n/a
Repeatable comments	SHOW_REPEATABLE_COMMENTS
Auto comments	SHOW_AUTOCOMMENTS

Auto comments are predefined comments for all instructions. If you forgot the meaning of a certain instruction, you can use this command to get comments for all lines on the screen. IDA does not give comments to very simple instructions, such as the 'mov' instruction, and does not override existing comments.

Address representation

Option	Description	Enabled	Disabled	IDA.CFG Parameter
Function offsets	This option controls the appearance of the line prefixes. If it is enabled, the addresses will be displayed as offsets from a function beginning.	somefunc+0x44	cseg:0x4544	SHOW_SEGMENTS
Include segment addresses	Marking this checkbox, you can enable segment addresses in the disassembly. IDA will show only offsets.	codeseg:0034	0034	SHOW_SEGMENTS
Use segment names	This option controls the appearance of the segment names in the addresses. (codeseg has base 3000)	codeseg:0034	3000:0034	USE_SEGMENT_NAMES

Display disassembly lines

Empty lines

This option enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated empty lines in the disassembly. It could be useful to decrease the number of the blank lines on the screen increasing amount of information on it.

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_EMPTYLINES

Borders between data/code (non-graph)

This command enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated border lines in the disassembly. It could be useful to decrease the number of the blank lines on the screen increasing amount of information on it. A border line looks like this:

         ;---------------------------------------------------------

Note that you can hide a particular border by using the Toggle border command (action ToggleBorder).

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_BORDERS

Basic block boundaries (non-graph)

This option enables or disables the presence of the autogenerated empty lines at the end of basic blocks in the disassembly.

IDA.CFG(../../configuration/configuration-files.md) parameter: SHOW_BASIC_BLOCKS

Source line numbers

This options controls the presence of the source line number information in the disassembly. Some object files have this information.

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_SOURCE_LINNUM

Try block lines

This option controls the display of the try block information in the disassembly.

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_TRYBLOCKS

Other text formatting options

Instruction identation (non-graph)

You can change indention of disassembled instructions:

                         mov ax, bx
         <-------------->
            indention

IDA.CFG parameter: INDENTION

Comments identation (non-graph)

You can change indention of comments:

                mov ax, bx                      ; this is a comment
        <-------------------------------------->
                       indention

IDA.CFG parameter: COMMENTS_INDENTION

Right margin (non-graph)

This option controls the length of disassembly lines for data directives.

IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_DATALINE_LENGTH

Low and high suspiciousness limit

If IDA suspects that an operand can be represented as something different from a plain number, it will mark the operand as "suspicious" and display it in red/orange.

Two values control the definition of suspiciousness. An operand is 'suspicious' if it has an immediate value between low and high 'suspicious' limits. The comparison is always unsigned, i.e., in the instruction:

        mov ax,[bp-2]

the immediate operand is 0xFFFE, not -2.

IDA uses a simple heuristic to determine initial suspiciousness limits. You may change these limits any time you want.

Analysis options

This tab allows you to configure analysis settings and processor-specific options.

• Target processor: Change the processor type (if multiple types are supported by the current processor module)

• Target assembler: Select the assembler style

Additional options (buttons):

• Kernel options

• Processor specific analysis options: Configure processor-specific settings (available when the current processor supports additional options)

• Memory mapping: Define memory mapping ranges (available when the current processor supports memory mapping)

• Reanalyze program

Analysis options

Analysis section

The checkboxes:

• Enabled

• Indicator enabled

allows you to disable and enable the autoanalysis and its indicator.

By default, the auto analysis and indicator are enabled. Disable them only if you are sure it will help.

 Action    name: SetAuto
 

The analysis indicator is located in the bottom left corner of the main IDA window (upper right corner in text version). Possible values of the indicator:

Indicator	Description
(empty)	Indicator is turned off
AU: idle	Autoanalysis is finished
AU:disabled	Autoanalysis is disabled
FL:<address>	Execution flow is being traced
PR:<address>	A function is being created
TL:<address>	A function tail is being created
SP:<address>	The stack pointer is being traced
AC:<address>	The address is being analyzed
LL:<number>	A signature file is being loaded
L1:<address>	The first pass of FLIRT
L2:<address>	The second pass of FLIRT
L3:<address>	The third pass of FLIRT
TP:<address>	Type information is being applied
FI:<address>	The final pass of autoanalysis
WF:<address>	Weak execution flow is being traced
??:<address>	The address becomes unexplored
@:<number>	Indication of various activity

Hint: you can right-click the analysis indicator to quickly disable or enable it, or to reanalyze the program.

See also auto analysis explanation.

Processor Type

Type	Description	Family
8086	Intel 8086	IBM PC family
80286r	Intel 80286 real mode	IBM PC family
80286p	Intel 80286 protected mode	IBM PC family
80386r	Intel 80386 real mode	IBM PC family
80386p	Intel 80386 protected mode	IBM PC family
80486r	Intel 80486 real mode	IBM PC family
80486p	Intel 80486 protected mode	IBM PC family
80586r	Intel Pentium & MMX real mode	IBM PC family
80586p	Intel Pentium & MMX prot mode	IBM PC family
80686p	Intel Pentium Pro & MMX	IBM PC family
k62	AMD K6-2 with 3DNow!	IBM PC family
p2	Intel Pentium II	IBM PC family
p3	Intel Pentium III	IBM PC family
athlon	AMD K7	IBM PC family
p4	Intel Pentium 4	IBM PC family
metapc	Disassemble all IBMPC opcodes	IBM PC family
8085	Intel 8085	Zilog 80 family
z80	Zilog 80	Zilog 80 family
z180	Zilog 180	Zilog 80 family
z380	Zilog 380	Zilog 80 family
64180	Hitachi HD64180	Zilog 80 family
gb	Gameboy	Zilog 80 family
z8	Zilog 8	Zilog 8 family
860xr	Intel 860 XR	Intel 860 family
860xp	Intel 860 XP	Intel 860 family
8051	Intel 8051	Intel 51 family
80196	Intel 80196	Intel 80196 family
80196NP	Intel 80196NP, NU	Intel 80196 family
m6502	MOS 6502	MOS Technology 65xx family
m65c02	MOS 65c02	MOS Technology 65xx family
pdp11	DEC PDP/11	PDP family
68000	Motorola MC68000	Motorola 680x0 family
68010	Motorola MC68010	Motorola 680x0 family
68020	Motorola MC68020	Motorola 680x0 family
68030	Motorola MC68030	Motorola 680x0 family
68040	Motorola MC68040	Motorola 680x0 family
68330	Motorola CPU32 (68330)	Motorola 680x0 family
68882	Motorola MC68020 with MC68882	Motorola 680x0 family
68851	Motorola MC68020 with MC68851	Motorola 680x0 family
68020EX	Motorola MC68020 with both	Motorola 680x0 family
colfire	Motorola ColdFire	Motorola 680x0 family
68K	Motorola MC680x0 all opcodes	Motorola 680x0 family
6800	Motorola MC68HC00	Motorola 8bit family
6801	Motorola MC68HC01	Motorola 8bit family
6803	Motorola MC68HC03	Motorola 8bit family
6301	Hitachi HD 6301	Motorola 8bit family
6303	Hitachi HD 6303	Motorola 8bit family
6805	Motorola MC68HC05	Motorola 8bit family
6808	Motorola MC68HC08	Motorola 8bit family
6809	Motorola MC68HC09	Motorola 8bit family
6811	Motorola MC68HC11	Motorola 8bit family
6812	Motorola MC68HC12
hcs12	Motorola MC68HCS12
6816	Motorola MC68HC16
java	java	Java family
ppc	PowerPC big endian	PowerPC family
ppcl	PowerPC little endian	PowerPC family
arm	ARM little endian	ARM family
armb	ARM big endian	ARM family
tms320c2	TMS320C2x series	TMS 16bit addressing family
tms320c5	TMS320C5x series	TMS 16bit addressing family
tms320c6	TMS320C6x series	TMS VLIW family
tms320c3	TMS320C3x series	TMS VLIW family
tms32054	TMS320C54xx series
tms32055	TMS320C55xx series
sh3	Renesas SH-3 (little endian)	Renesas SuperH series
sh3b	Renesas SH-3 (big endian)	Renesas SuperH series
sh4	Renesas SH-4 (little endian)	Renesas SuperH series
sh4b	Renesas SH-4 (big endian)	Renesas SuperH series
sh2a	Renesas SH-2A (big endian)	Renesas SuperH series
avr	ATMEL AVR	ATMEL family
mipsl	MIPS little endian	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsb	MIPS big endian	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsrl	MIPS & RSP little	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
mipsr	MIPS & RSP big	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
r5900l	MIPS R5900 little	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
r5900r	MIPS R5900 big	MIPS family: R2000, R3000, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4400, R4600, R8000, R10000
h8300	H8/300x in normal mode	Hitachi H8 family
h8300a	H8/300x in advanced mode	Hitachi H8 family
h8s300	H8S in normal mode	Hitachi H8 family
h8s300a	H8S in advanced mode	Hitachi H8 family
h8500	H8/500	Hitachi H8/500 family
pic12cxx	Microchip PIC 12-bit (12xxx)	PIC family
pic16cxx	Microchip PIC 14-bit (16xxx)	PIC family
pic18cxx	Microchip PIC 16-bit (18xxx)	PIC family
sparcb	SPARC big endian	SPARC family
sparcl	SPARC little endian	SPARC family
alphab	DEC Alpha big endian	ALPHA family
alphal	DEC Alpha little endian	ALPHA family
hppa	HP PA-RISC big endian	HP PA-RISC family
dsp56k	Motorola DSP 5600x	DSP 56K family
dsp561xx	Motorola DSP 561xx	DSP 56K family
dsp563xx	Motorola DSP 563xx	DSP 56K family
dsp566xx	Motorola DSP 566xx	DSP 56K family
c166	Siemens C166	C166 family
c166v1	Siemens C166 v1 family	C166 family
c166v2	Siemens C166 v2 family	C166 family
st10	SGS-Thomson ST10	C166 family
super10	Super10	C166 family
st20	SGS-Thomson ST20/C1	ST20 family
st20c4	SGS-Thomson ST20/C2-C4
st7	SGS-Thomson ST7	ST7 family
ia64l	Intel Itanium little endian	IA64 family
ia64b	Intel Itanium big endian	IA64 family
cli	Microsoft.Net platform
net	Microsoft.Net platform (alias)
i960l	Intel 960 little endian	i960 family
i960b	Intel 960 big endian	i960 family
f2mc16l	Fujitsu F2MC-16L	Fujitsu F2MC family
f2mc16lx	Fujitsu F2MC-16LX	Fujitsu F2MC family
78k0	NEC 78k/0
78k0s	NEC 78k/0s
m740	Mitsubishi 8-bit
m7700	Mitsubishi 16-bit	Mitsubishi 16-bit family
m7750	Mitsubishi 16-bit	Mitsubishi 16-bit family
m32r	Mitsubishi 32-bit	Mitsubishi 32-bit family
m32rx	Mitsubishi 32-bit extended	Mitsubishi 32-bit family
st9	STMicroelectronics ST9+
fr	Fujitsu FR family
m7900	Mitsubishi M7900
kr1878	Angstrem KR1878
ad218x	Analog Devices ADSP
oakdsp	Atmel OAK DSP
tricore	Infineon Tricore
ebc	EFI Bytecode
msp430	Texas Instruments MSP430

Processor modules can accept additional options that can be passed on the commandline with the -p switch. Currently only the ARM module supports it. For example, -parm:ARMv7-A will turn on options specific for the ARMv7-A architecture, such as NEON instruction set.

For information about additional processor modules, please check supported processors.

Please note that when you change the processor type, IDA may change the target assembler, so check it out.

You may get a message saying that IDA does not know the specified processor if IDA fails to load the corresponding processor module:

• Windows IDA uses .dll file extension

• Linux IDA uses .so file extension

• Mac IDA uses .dylib file extension

Changing the processor type leads to reanalysis of the whole program. Sometimes this is useful.

When you load a new processor module, all analysis options are reset to the values specified in the configuration file.

IDA determines the default processor using the input file extension and the contents of the input file. The table that describes the input file extensions and the corresponding processor types is located in IDA.CFG file and looks like this:

 DEFAULT_PROCESSOR = {
 /* Extension   Processor */
  "com" :       "8086"                  // IDA will try the specified
  "exe" :       "80386r"                // extensions if no extension is
  "dll" :       "80386r"                // given.
  "drv" :       "80386r"
  "o"   :       "68000"
  "prc" :       "68000"                 // PalmPilot programs
  "axf" :       "arm"
  "h68" :       "68000"                 // MC68000 for *.H68 files
  "i51" :       "8051"                  // i8051   for *.I51 files
  "sav" :       "pdp11"                 // PDP-11  for *.SAV files
  "rom" :       "z80"                   // Z80     for *.ROM files
  "cla" :       "java"                  // Java classes
  "class":      "java"                  // Java classes
  "s19":        "6811"
  "*":          "80386p"                // Default processor
}

If you want to change the default processor type, you need to change this table. You may add/delete rows in this table.

See also: ARM processor specifics.

ARM processor specifics

Since architecture version v4 (introduced in ARM7 cores), ARM processors have a new 16-bit instruction set called Thumb (the original 32-bit set is referred to as "ARM"). Since these two sets have different instruction encodings and can be mixed in one segment, we need a way to specify how to disassemble instructions. For this purpose, IDA uses a virtual segment register named 'T'. If its value is 0, then ARM mode is used. Otherwise, Thumb mode is used. ARM is the default mode. Please note that if you change the value of T register for a range, IDA will destroy all instructions in that range because their disassembly is no longer correct.

IDA use UAL (Unified Assembly Language) syntax by default which uses the same syntax for both ARM and Thumb mode. If necessary, legacy assembler syntax can be selected in Analysis options.

To decode Aarch64 (ARM64) instructions the segment with instructions must be set to 64-bit (see Edit segment... command; action EditSegment).

Processor options for ARM

• Simplify instructions: If this option is on, IDA will simplify instructions and replace them by clearer pseudo-instructions. For example:

              MOV     PC, LR

is replaced by

              RET

• Disable pointer dereferencing: If this option is on, IDA will not use =label syntax for loads from literal pools. For example,

                    LDR     R1, =dst
                    ...
      off_0_1003C   DCD dst

will be shown as

                    LDR     R1, off_0_1003C

• No automatic ARM-Thumb switch: If this option is on, IDA will not propagate ARM-Thumb modes automatically when following jumps and calls.

• Disable BL jumps detection: Some ARM compilers in Thumb mode use BL (branch-and-link) instead of B (branch) for long jumps, since BL has more range. By default, IDA tries to determine if BL is a jump or a call. You can override IDA's decision using commands in Edit → Other menu (Force BL call/Force BL jump). If your target does not use this trick, you can set this option and IDA will always treat BL as a call.

• Scattered MOVT/MOVW pairs analysis: A pair of MOVT and MOVW instructions can be used to load any 32-bit constant into a register without having to use the literal pool. For example: MOVW R1, #0xABA2 MOVT R1, #0x32AA is simplified by IDA into MOV R1, 0x32AAABA2 (unless macro creation is turned off). However, if there is an unrelated instruction between them, such simplification is not possible. If you enable the conversion, then IDA will try to convert operands of even scattered instructions. The example above could be represented as:

      MOVW  R1, #:lower16:0x32AAABA2
      [other instructions]
      MOVT  R1, #:upper16:0x32AAABA2

It is possible to select how aggressively IDA should try to handle such pairs:

• leave them as is, convert only if the result a valid address, or try to

• convert all pairs even if the result does not look like a valid address.

• Edit ARM architecture options: This button allows you to edit various features of the ARM architecture. This will affect the disassembly of some instructions depending on whether the selected architecture supports them. For details, see the ARM Architecture Reference Manual.

Command-line options

You can configure the architecture options from the command line. For that, use the -parm:<option1[;option2...]> switch. The following options are accepted:

• ARMv<N> - base ARM architecture version (e.g. ARMv4, ARMv4T, ARMv5TE, ..., ARMv7-M, ARMv7-A), or

• <name> - ARM core name (e.g. ARM7TDMI, ARM926EJ-S, PXA270, Cortex-M3, Cortex-A8)

Additionally, a special name "armmeta" can be used to enable decoding of all known instructions.

The options above will set some default values that can be adjusted further:

Option	Description
NoVFP/VFPv<N>	disable or enable support for VFP instructions (e.g. VFPv3).
NoNEON/NEON/NEON-FMA	disable or enable support for NEON (aka Advanced SIMD) instructions.
NoThumb/Thumb/Thumb-2	disable or enable support for Thumb (16-bit) or Thumb-2 (16/32-bit) instructions.
NoARM/ARM	disable or enable support for ARM instructions.
XScale	support for XScale-specific instructions. Implies ARMv5TE.
NoWMMX/WMMXv1/WMMXv2	support for Intel Wireless MMX extensions (v1 or v2). Implies XScale.

See also

• Change segment register value command (action SetSegmentRegister)

• Set default segment register value... command (action SetSegmentRegisterDefault) to specify the segment register value.

Specify Target Assembler

This command allows you to change the target assembler, i.e. the assembler for which the output is generated. You select the target assembler from a menu. The menu items depend on the current processor type.

Currently, IDA supports only a generic assembler for 80x86 processors. We recommend the use of Borland's TASM to compile the output assembler files.

Kernel options

Here you can change various kernel analysis options:

• options 1

• options 2

• options 3

Kernel analysis options 1

• Trace execution flow: This option allows IDA to trace execution flow and convert all references bytes to instructions (the Code command; action MakeCode) Mark typical code sequences as code. IDA knows some typical code sequences for each processor. For example, it knows about typical sequence

          push    bp
          mov     bp, sp

If this option is enabled, IDA will search for all typical sequences and convert them to instructions even if there are no references to them. The search is performed at the loading time.

• Locate and create jump tables: This option allows IDA to try to guess the address and size of jump tables. Please note that disabling this option will not disable the recognition of C-style typical switch constructs.

• Control flow to data segment is ignored: If set, IDA will not analyze code reference targets in pure data segments. Usually pure data segments have some instructions (e.g., thunk functions), that's why this option is set off by default. For Mach-O files, it is set on because pure data segment do not contain instructions in them.

• Analyze and create all xrefs: If this option is disabled, IDA will not thoroughly analyze the program: it will simply trace execution flow, nothing more (no xrefs, no additional checks, etc.)

• Delete instructions with no xrefs: This option allows IDA to undefine instructions without any xrefs to them. For example, if you undefine (Edit → Undefine) an instruction at the start of a function, IDA will trace execution flow and delete all instructions that lose references to them.

• Create function if data xref data->code32 exists: If IDA encounters a data reference from DATA segment to 32bit CODE segment, it will check for the presence of meaningful (disassemblable) instruction at the target. If there is an instruction, it will mark it as an instruction and will create a function there.

• Create functions if call is present This option allows IDA to create function (Edit → Create function...) (proc) if a call instruction is present. For example, the presence of:

          call loc_1234

leads to creation of a function at label loc_1234

• Create function tails: This option allows IDA to find and append separately located function tails to function definitions.

• Create stack variables: This option allows IDA to automatically create stack variables and function parameters.

• Propagate stack argument information:

This option propagates the stack argument information (the type and the name) to the caller's stack. If the caller is called, then the information will be propagated further through the whole program. Currently, the type propagation is really simple and non-intelligent: the first encountered type for a stack variable will be used.

• Propagate register argument information: This option propagates the register argument information (the type and the name) to the caller. If the caller is also called, then the information will be propagated further through the whole program.

• Trace stack pointer: This option allows IDA to trace (Edit → Functions → Change stack pointer...) the value of the SP register.

• Perform full stack pointer analysis: This option allows IDA to perform the stack pointer analysis using the simplex method. This option is valid only for the IBM PC processor.

• Perform 'no-return' analysis: This option allows IDA to perform the control flow analysis and determine functions which do not return to their callers. The 'exit()' function, for example, does not return to its caller.

• Try to guess member function types: If set, IDA will guess member function types using the demangled names. Please note that this rule may occasionally produce wrong results, for example, for static member functions. IDA has no means of distinguishing them from non-static member functions. If clear, IDA will guess only types of non-member functions.

See also:

• analysis options 2

• analysis options 3

Kernel analysis options 2

• Truncate functions upon code deletion: Truncate functions when the code at the function end gets deleted. If this option is turned off, IDA does not modify function definitions when code is deleted.

• Create string literals if data xref exists: If IDA encounters a data reference to an undefined item, it checks for the presence of the string literal at the target. If the length of the candidate string literal is big enough (more than 4 chars in 16bit or data segments; more than 16 chars otherwise), IDA will automatically create a string literal(Edit → Strings → String).

• Check for unicode strings: This option allows IDA to check for the presence of the unicode strings in the program and creates them if necessary. IDA will check for the unicode strings only if the string style is set to "C-style (0 terminated)" or "Unicode".

• Create offsets and segments using fixup info: IDA will use relocation information to make the disassembly nicer. More precisely, it will convert all data items with relocation information to words or dwords like this:

          dd offset label
          dw seg seg000

If an instruction has a relocation information attached to it, IDA will convert its immediate operand to an offset or segment:

          mov     eax, offset label

You can display the relocation information attached to the current item by using the Print internal flags command.

• Create offset if data xref to seg32 exists: If IDA encounters a data reference to 32bit segment and the target contains 32bit value which can be represented as an offset expression, IDA will convert it to an offset.

• Convert 32bit instruction operand to offset: This option works only in 32bit and 64bit segments. If an instruction has an immediate operand and the operand can be represented as a meaningful offset expression, IDA will convert it to an offset. However, the value of immediate operand must be higher than 0x10000.

• Automatically convert data to offsets:

This option allows IDA to convert all newly created data items to offsets if the following conditions are satisfied:

• the offset target is a valid address in the program

• the target address is higher than 0x20

• the target does not point into the middle of an item

• if the target is code, the execution does not flow to it from the previous instruction

• the data is dword (4 bytes) in a 32-bit segment or qword(8 bytes) in a 64-bit segment

• the segment type is not special (extern, communal, abs...)

• Use flirt signatures: Allows usage of FLIRT technology

• Comment anonymous library functions: This option appends a comment to anonymous library functions. The comment consists of the description of the FLIRT signature which has recognized the function and marked it as coming from a library.

• Multiple copy library function recognition: This option allows FLIRT to recognize several copies of the same function in the program.

• Automatically hide libary functions: This option hides the functions recognized by FLIRT. It will have effect only from the time it is set.

• Rename jump functions as j_...: This option allows IDA to rename simple functions containing only

          jmp somewhere

instruction to "j_somewhere".

• Rename empty functions as nullsub_...: This option allows IDA to rename empty functions containing only a "return" instruction as "nullsub_..." (... is replaced by a serial number: 0,1,2,3...)

• Coagulate data at the final pass: This option is meaningful only if "Make final analysis pass" is enabled. It allows IDA to convert unexplored bytes (Edit → Undefine) to data arrays in the non-code segments.

• Coagulate code at the final pass: This option is meaningful only if "Make final analysis pass" is enabled. It allows IDA to convert unexplored bytes to data arrays in the code segments. Make final analysis pass This option allows IDA to coagulate all unexplored bytes by converting them to data or instructions. See also analysis options 1 analysis options 3

Kernel analysis options 3

• Enable EH analysis: If this option is set on, IDA uses EH information of the binary for more detailed analysis.

• Enable RTTI analysis: If this option is set on, IDA tries to detect C++ Run-Time Type Identification and does additional analysis based on this information.

• Enable macros: This option is disabled if the processor module does not support macros. If this option is on, IDA will combine several instructions into one macro instruction. For example for the ARM processor:

      ADRP Rx, label@PAGE
      ADD  Rx, Rx, label@PAGEOFF

will be replaced by

      ADRL Rx, label

• Merge strlits: If the analysis option "Create string literals if data xref exists" is set and the target string literal ends at the existing one (without a termination character), IDA will merge these strlits into one.

Cross-References options

This tab configures how cross-references (xrefs) are displayed.

Cross-references options

IDA maintains cross-references automatically. Of course, when IDA starts to disassemble a new file, the cross-references will not appear immediately; they will be collected during background analysis.

Cross-reference parts

• Display segments in xrefs: This checkbox enables or disables segments in cross references:

           Enabled:     ; CODE XREF: 3000:1025
           Disabled:    ; CODE XREF: 1025

• Display xref type mark: If this option is disabled, IDA will not display "CODE" or "DATA" in the cross-references.

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_TYPES

• Display function offsets: This option controls the appearance of the cross-reference addresses. If it is enabled, the addresses will be displayed as offsets from a function beginning.

Example:

           Enabled:     somefunc+0x44
           Disabled:    cseg:0x4544

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_FUNC

• Display xref values: If this option is disabled, IDA will just display the presence of cross-references, like this:

                ; CODE XREF: ...

IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREF_VALUES

• Right margin: Determines the maximal length of a line with the cross references.

IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_XREF_LENGTH

• Cross reference depth: This value "how many bytes of an object to look at to collect cross references". For example, we have an array:

                A       db 100 dup(0)

If some instruction refers to the 5-th element of the array:

                mov     al,A+5

         with TD=3      we'll have no xrefs displayed
         with TD=10     we'll have this xref

IDA.CFG parameter: MAX_TAIL

• Number of displayed xrefs:

Determines the maximal number of the cross references to display. You may keep this value low because you can access all xrefs by using the List cross references to/from... command. IDA.CFG parameter: SHOW_XREFS

String options

This tab sets up the string literals options.

String options

• Generate names If this option is set, IDA will give meaningful names to newly created string literals.

Name generation

• Prefix: The prefix inserted in the field will be used to form the string name.

• Mark as autogenerated: If a name is marked as autogenerated, it will be displayed in a different color and will be included in the list of names [action JumpName] depending on the current setting.

• Generate serial names: IDA can generate serial names for string literals, i.e.

                pref_001,pref_002,pref_003 etc...

To enable serial names generation, specify prefix for names, starting serial number, and number of leading zeroes.

Each time you create a string literal (Edit → Strings → String), IDA generates a new serial name and assigns it to the string.

• String literal next line char: This symbol, when encountered in the string, will make IDA start a new line in the string representation in the disassembly. Usually it is the line feed character ('\n').

• Comment string literal references: This option tells IDA to display the contents of the string literal next to the instruction or offset that refers to the string.

Browser options

This tab of IDA Options configures the disassembly browser's display behavior, hints, highlighting and navigation features. There are two groups of settings:

• The first group is for hints that are displayed when the mouse is hovered over some text.

• The second group is for other navigation and display settings, like highlighting.

Browser options

Hints

Option	Description
Number of lines for identifier hints	Specifies how tall the hint window will be initially. IDA may decide to display less lines than specified if the hint is small. The user can resize the hint window using the mouse wheel.
Delay for identifier hints	Milliseconds that pass before the hint appears when the user hovers the mouse pointer over an identifier.
Mouse wheel resizes hint window	Permit to resize the hint window by using the mouse wheel. Can be turned off if the user does not want to resize the hints.
No hints if debugger is active	Hints will be disabled when the debugger is active. This may be useful to speed of debugging: calculating hints for zero filled ranges can be very expensive.

Other settings

Option	Description
Auto highlight the current identifier	Highlight the current identifier everywhere on the screen. IDA tries to determine if the current identifier denotes a register. In this case it will highlight references to other parts of the register. For example, if "AL" is highlighted, IDA will also highlight "AH", "AX", and "EAX" (if the current processor is x86).
Unhide collapsed items automatically when jumping to them	If this option is set on, IDA will automatically uncollapse hidden functions if the user decides to jump to them. As soon as the user quits the function by pressing Esc, the function is automatically collapsed again.
Lazy jumps	If this option is set on, IDA will not redraw the disassembly window if the jump target is already on the screen. In this case, it will just move the cursor to the specified address. This option leads to less screen redraws and less jumpy behavior.
Enable history sharing	This option is enabled by default. It keeps a shared global history across multiple widgets (including Disassembly, Pseudocode, Local Types, and Stack), allowing you to navigate back and forward between them.
Number of items in navigation stack drop-down menus	Specifies the number of entries in the drop-down menu for the 'Jump' toolbar.
Number of lines for auto scroll	Specifies how many lines force automatic scrolling of the disassembly view.
Caret blinking interval	Specifies how fast the input caret blinks (in milliseconds). Must be greater than or equal to 500, or zero. Zero means to disable blinking.

Graph options

This tab configures the visual appearance and behavior of graph view and proximity view.

Graph options

General

Option	Description
Use graph view by default	IDA switches to graph mode for each 'jump' command.
Enable graph animation	Animate the graph layout, movement, and group collapsing/uncollapsing. While animation takes time, it gives the user some idea what's going on.
Draw node shadows	Display shadows for each graph node. Shadows are not displayed for really huge or ridiculously small nodes.
Auto fit graph into window	Zoom the graph so that it occupies the whole window.
Fit window max zoom level 100%	The 'fit window' command maximal zoom level is 100%.
Re-layout graph if nodes overlap	IDA recomputes the graph layout if a node overlap is detected. The presence of a custom layout (if the user has displaced some graph nodes) effectively turns off this option.
Re-layout graph upon screen refresh	IDA recomputes the graph layout at each screen refresh. Turning this option off accelerates IDA but then a manual layout might be required after some operations.
Truncate at the right margin	All nodes at truncated at the right margin. The right margin is specified in the Options → General → Disassembly tab. This option narrows the graph but hides some information by truncating long lines.
Lock graph layout	Locks the graph layout by ignoring attempts to displace nodes. This prevents the creation of custom layouts that might lead to ugly graph layouts when nodes change their sizes.

Proximity view

Option	Description
Show data references	Show data cross-referenced items in proximity view.
Hide library functions	Do not show data or code cross-references to library functions, only show cross-referenced local functions.
Unlimited children recursion	Recurse until there are no more callees (children) of the currently selected central node and all of his children.
Recurse into library functions	Displays children data or code cross-references from library functions.
Max parents recursion	Maximum recursion level for displaying parents of the currently selected central node. The value 0 disables parents recursion.
Max children recursion	Maximum recursion level for displaying children of the currently selected central node. The value 0 means no maximum recursion level.
Max nodes per level	Maximum number of nodes to show per level of children and parents.

Lumina options

This tab configures Lumina server connection settings.

Lumina options

Servers

• Use public: Sets host and port to the default public server hosted by Hex-Rays. No username or password is required.

Private server authentication

Specify the username and password credentials for a Private Lumina server.

Automatically use Lumina server for analysis

Instructs IDA to fetch function metadata from the current Lumina server, after the initial auto-analysis is complete. This helps with the recognition of known functions stored in the database of the Lumina server.

Lumina command line options

Command line switch '-Olumina' overrides for ida session the primary server and '-Osecondary_lumina' the secondary one.

List of options

Option	Description
host	lumina server host
port	lumina server port
user	username for authentification on private lumina
pass	password for authentification on private lumina
proxy_host	proxy host
proxy_port	proxy port
proxy_user	username for authentification on proxy
proxy_pass	password for authentification on proxy

Example

  -Osecondary_lumina:host=lumina.hex-rays.com:port=443

Use the public lumina as secondary server for this ida session

Miscellaneous options

This tab configures miscellaneous options including editor settings, encoding and types autocompletion.

• Editor: A text editor is to be used when the user decides to edit an IDC script using the IDC toolbar.

• Navigation band refresh interval (milliseconds): Specifies how often the navigation band will be refreshed. IDA tries to minimize the number of redrawings because they could be really time and processor consuming (imagine a huge program, 50-100 megabytes of code. It would take a long time to refresh information on the navigation band because the whole program will be examined to determine how to draw the band). If this option is set to 0, the navigation band is refreshed only when the cursor is moved far enough to reflect its movement on the band.

• Convert already defined bytes: Determines how IDA should behave when user operations would end up redefining some already-defined bytes.

• Associate .IDB file extension with IDA: Whether or not the .IDB extension should be associated, at the OS-level, with IDA.

• Enable autocomplete in forms: Determines whether input fields should provide an auto-complete combo box by default.

• Setting type renames target: When enabled, IDA updates the target's name while setting types. When disabled, IDA ignores naming changes and only applies types.

• Output files encoding: The encoding used to generate output text files from IDA. The value '' means that the IDB's default 8 bit-per-unit encoding will be used.

Types autocompletion

Option	Description
Enable autocomplete for types	Enables or disables the entire autocomplete mechanism for types. If you uncheck the box, the behavior will not differ from previous versions. Enabled by default.
Case sensitive	Changes case sensitivity. When enabled, for example, the prefix b will show bucket but not BigStruct. Disabled by default.
Enable autocomplete for curly braces	Enables or disables autocompletion of curly braces and indents. When enabled, typing { inserts a closing brace on a new line, with an indented empty line and the cursor placed in between. Enabled by default.
Enable type hints	Enables or disables hints when selecting a type from the autocomplete suggestions. These hints behave similarly to the hints in Local Types. Enabled by default.