Registering DLLs is Not as Scary as You May Think

For the average computer user, DLLs are a mystery; all they know is Windows requires those files and that when an error message appears on the PCs, those files are involved. However, anyone can learn how to register DLL. These files by the way, are used by programs for sharing resources.

How the Files are Manually Registered

This guide is for Windows.

Step 1
Turn your computer on and if necessary log in using your administrator account.

Step 2
Click the Start button and type “command” or “cmd” depending on what version of Windows you are using.

Step 3
At the command prompt, type regsvr32 “path and FileName.dll” and hit the Enter key. Note: make sure that you type the right path where the DLL file you want to register is found. An example would be:
Regsvr32 “C:WindowsSystem32example.dll”

Step 4
You are done registering the file. A dialogue box will appear informing you the registration was successful.

Using the Command Line
The Regsvr32.exe is installed in your PC if you are using IE version 3 and later. If you are using the Windows OS 64 bit version, you will get two versions of this utility.

The 32 bit version is found at:
%systemroot%\SysWoW64\regsvr32.exe.

The 64 bit version is found here:
%systemroot%\System32\regsvr32.exe.

You can use these options with the command line: /s – Silent mode. Do not display any message boxes (new since Windows XP); /n – do not call DllRegisterServer, /i – Call DllInstall passing an optional [cmdline] and /u – Unregister server.

If you are going to use the Regsvr32.exe file, the identified component will be loaded and the DLLSelfRegister function called up. If the process is successful, a dialogue box will appear informing you of its success. An error message will appear instead if it doesn’t work.

Errors Connected with DLLs and the Causes
Although computer programs have improved tremendously over the years, there are still problems that do appear. Here are some of the error messages that appear on Windows systems, including Vista.

Error Message:
“The command-flag “”%1” is not valid. Please review the command usage and try again.”

Reason: this happens if you enter an invalid command combination of arguments or line switches with regsvr32.exe.

Error Message:
“This command is only valid if a Microsoft Visual Studio OLE Custom Control project is opened.”

Reason: this happens when you run Microsoft Visual Studio and call up regsvr32.exe but some modules are not available.

Error Message:
“The module “”%1” may not compatible with the version of Windows that you’re running. Check if the module is compatible with an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of regsvr32.exe.”

Reason: this usually occurs if you use regsvr32.exe 32 bit with a 64 bit DLL file.

Error Message:
“The module “”%1" was loaded but the call to %2 failed with error code %3.\n\nFor more information about this problem, search online using the error code as a search term.”

Reason: this happens if regsvr32.exe called a DLL module’s entry point and an error occurred. The error code will be included in the error message.

For the most part though, you don’t have to worry about errors when you try and learn how to register DLL. In fact, most of these files automatically register so you likely won’t have to do anything at all. If other errors do occur, you usually just need to reinstall the offending program.

David is a free lancer writer of http://www.mightyguide.net/ and currently he is sharing his experience on problems faced while registering the DLL.