Among the frequent questions of users, especially after they are faced with the fact that some of the DLLs are missing in Windows 10, Windows 11 or other versions of the system – how to register DLL in the corresponding version of the OS.
This manual details how to register DLLs in Windows x64 and x86 (32-bit) using regsvr32.exe (and briefly about regasm.exe), about possible nuances and problems that may arise in the process.
Registering DLLs in Windows 10, Windows 11, and earlier versions of the system
Further steps are described under the assumption that the DLL to be registered is already in the correct location: the C: \ Windows \ System32 folder, C: \ Windows \ SysWOW64 or, in some cases, individual program folders to which the corresponding library belongs, for example , for 1C – C: \ Program Files \ 1cv8 \ version_number \ bin (or Program Files x86 in case of a 32-bit version).
Before you start registering your library, keep the following points in mind:
- In x64 versions of Windows, 64-bit DLLs are stored in System32, and 32-bit DLLs are stored in SysWOW64 (some novice users have the opposite assumption based on folder names).
- DLL files x64 and x86 (32-bit) are different files. And if there is no direct indication of the bit depth at the file download location, then more often it is a 32-bit file (which does not prevent it from working in an x64 system), but this is not always the case.
- To register the DLL, the system tool regsvr32.exe is used, which is also available in two versions, which are located in the System32 and SysWOW64 folders (in the case of 64-bit systems). By default, the following steps start the x64 version.
- 32-bit programs and games (installed by default in Program Files x86 on 32-bit systems) need 32-bit DLLs to work, regardless of the bitness of Windows.
The registration process itself generally consists of the following steps:
- Press the Win + Rkeys on your keyboard (Win is the Windows logo key). Alternatively, you can right-click the Start button in Windows 11 or Windows 10 and select Run from the context menu.
- Enter the command regsvr32.exe path_to_file, for example, to register the DLL COMCNTR.DLL in 1C (for 64-bit), the command may look like this:
regsvr32.exe C: \ Program Files \ 1cv8 \ 8.3.19.1150 \ bin \ comcntr.dll
If the DLL is located in System32, the full path is not required, a simple file name is sufficient, as in the image below.
- Press Ok or Enter.
- If successful, you will receive a message like “Successful execution of DllRegisterServer in filename.dll” or “Successful execution of DllRegisterServer and DllInstall in filename.dll”.
Possible failure – error message “The dll module was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found. Please check that the file is the correct DLL or OCX file and try again. ” More information about the error is in the next section of the article.
Optional: regasm.exe from the .NET SDK is used to register classes from .NET Framework DLLs in COM and create the necessary registry entries, and the basic DLL register command looks the same as regsvr32.exe. More information on using regasm – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/tools/regasm-exe-assembly-registration-tool .
Why can’t register DLL
An error in registering with regsvr32 of the form “DllRegisterServer entry point was not found” indicates that this DLL does not support registration with the described method. You can try using a variant of the command:
regsvr32 / i / n path_to_file.dll
but most likely it will not help either.
For most home users, this problem occurs when registering DLL files for games and programs, often not fully licensed, which reported that the required DLL file was not found or was missing. Moreover, the DLLs themselves are usually downloaded from third-party sites (and most often have names starting with “vc”, “msvc” or “d3d”). The solution is usually simple – find out which set of components this DLL is part of and install those components using their own installer. For more details on the problem and solutions, see the instructions DllRegisterServer Entry Point Not Found – Causes and Possible Solutions .
