This guide will walk through you to process to open DLL File. Receiving notifications of errors due to missing or corrupted DLL files can be a challenge, especially when you don’t know how to provide solutions to these problems. DLL files are the most common file extensions on your personal computers running on the Windows operating system, they work in the background, therefore, most people don’t know about them till they come with their dreaded notification.
They are easy to be corrupted or deleted therefore you see them common on the internet. They are huge traffic generators due to this, so care must be taken because they are prone to malware which poses a greater risk to your computer.
What Is .DLL File Extension?
Dynamic Link Library (.DLL) file extension is unknown to users of Windows till they encounter the dialog boxes indicating their absence. Generally, these files are mostly found in C:\Windows\System32, and others not in there are found packaged with their applications. They are made of codes written using languages such as C and C++ and they use Windows to carry out many actions, however, they are unlike their counterparts EXE files that are directly opened by Windows. When you open DLL files directly, it encounters an error.
Taking an example to explain their uses, such as ascomdig32.dll whose name is Common Dialog Box Library, it is responsible for the dialog boxes encountered on performing any action on Windows, it instructs Windows what to do with respect to the size and other parameters of the dialog boxes to be shown on the monitor.
Most DLL files come with the Windows operating system, and they are freely modulated and used by developers of applications. Some developers, however, create theirs and pack them with their applications, these DLL files produced by the developers are in some ways linked to Windows or packages such as Microsoft .NET Framework or the C++ Redistributables. The use of these packages has an advantage in which when an update is done, applications using the DLL file automatically obtain the functions added.
How to Open DLL File
DLL files are not executable like their counterpart EXE files, therefore, they give errors when opened directly. To open DLL File which can be either to edit the code as regards to some functions or register them in the windows operating system registry several ways are employed such as;
Applications can be used to edit and change some codes in DLL files, this, however, requires a little bit of professionalism and must not be tried if there is no thorough understanding of the process, so as to reduce accidental deleting or corruption of the files. Applications commonly used to edit and change codes and data in DLL files are:
Microsoft Visual Studio
With this application, it is possible to edit DLL files and change several parameters such as images, size, and textual patterns. We suggest taking one backup file before you start the process to avoid the corruption of the DLL file.
If you don’t have Visual Studio downloaded, try the online version from here. However, to use online studio, you will need to sign up for Microsoft Azure free account.
It is a component of the visual studio when used in opening DLL files, it has an advantage of allowing greater freedom with the editing process, it allows the binary codes that make up the DLL files to be broken down and edited with ease. In this method too, we recommend keeping a backup file before you start editing the file.
Whenever you copy the DLL File into some folder, It can’t be used without registering it. Command prompt is majorly used to register DLL File into the Windows registry. The process is easy and does not require a high level of professionalism. However, this process is rare and not often need to use so make sure you are not taking any wrong step. To register DLL files using Command Prompt, you must be familiar with certain steps which are;
How to open the Command Prompt:
There are many ways to go about this…
- Go to Start Menu
- Search “Command Prompt” and Open it.
- Press Windows key + R
- The Run box will be launched. Type ” cmd “, hit the Enter and you will see command prompt on the screen.
Locating the DLL file:
Open the folder where the DLL file is stored. Once you are on the folder, hold Shift Key and press right-click, select the option “Open Command Window Here”.The option will open the command prompt already containing the location of the file.
Type regsvr32 dllfilename.dll and press Enter to complete the registration. In case, if you want to de-register DLL file, you need to add just -u. Ex. regsvr32 -u dllfilename.dll
Are All DLL Files Dangerous? How to Avoid Them?
Inbuilt DLL files that come with the system are not dangerous. However, if you have downloaded it from third-party sources, they can be included with malware and that can be dangerous to your computer. Such DLL Files with malware can lead to further infection of other DLL files.
How to Avoid Dangerous DLL Files
This is by getting DLL files that are malware-free and updated, such DLL files can be obtained from:
Windows Installation Media
The Windows installation media is good when opting for the complete reinstallation of windows files including malware-free and updated DLL files. It is not a good option for the individual installation of damaged or deleted DLL files. However, before reinstalling Windows, You can use SFC (System File Checker) to check and fix damaged or missing DLL files so that total reinstallation can be avoided.
Microsoft .NET Framework
While installing windows many versions of .NET frameworks can be installed, many applications utilized the DLL files present in these packages. Therefore, when there is a corruption of the framework it can be uninstalled and updated straight from windows official pages to avoid malware infection.
Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables
Multiple packages of the Visual C++ redistributables can be found after installation. These packages allow the DLL files code to be shared, corruption to these packages is hard to figure out, to purge the system from corrupted packages you can simply uninstall all of them and then reinstall all from Microsoft download center.
Contacting App Developers
Most applications are released with their own DLL files, if the missing file falls into this category, the clean and updated file can be requested from the application developers.
1. How do I Install DLL Files?
Simply copy the downloaded DLL files which must be stable, updated and malware-free into the directory C>Windows>System32 If you are using 32 bits computers.
For 64 bits computer, just copy it into the directory C>Windows>System64 and then register them using Command prompt. We have shown method above in this article to register DLL Files using Command prompt.
2. Can I delete DLL Files?
Yes, you can delete DLL files, however, deleting them can cause irregularities in the functioning of some applications that are sharing the DLL file.
3. Can I get a Virus from DLL File?
Yes, it is possible to get virus/malware on any file and a DLL file is not excluded.
4. What are DLL Files written In?
They are written using languages like C or C++, they can be easily written if you learn these two programming languages.
Even though most Windows users do not get to interact with the DLL files due to their background operation, absence or corruption of DLL files can be annoying especially when you don’t know about them. With little insight, dealing with changes in DLL files pertaining to errors can be easy. They can be deleted, edited and when missing care must be taken to get malware-free, stable and updated DLL files