Sometimes, when you try to run a program on Windows 7, an error message appears that a dll file is not found (for example unidrv.dll is missing, please reinstall the program) and the program does not run.
Error messages can be different (it depends on what language the program was written) for example “Component MSCOMCTL.OCX not correctly registered: file is missing or invalid” or “This application has failed to start because msvcr100.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem”, or “Runtime dll/ocx file error”. Also, the program compatibility assistant may appear saying that this program requires a missing component of Windows.
There are various methods to resolve the problem.
- First of all you can try to reinstall the program.
- If the reinstallation didn’t help, you need to look for required system files. If you don’t know where dll files are located in Windows 7, you will learn now. They are usually stored in the system folder C:\Windows\System32, but sometimes they may be in the folder of the specific program. If the dll files are present you will need to register them. If the required files are missing, you may find them in our database (fix4dll.com) by typing the file name in the search field in the right upper corner of the website. After that you just need to put dll file into the C:\Windows\System32 or in the program’s folder.
Now you will need to register a dll file. If you ever wondered how to register a dll file on Windows 7, now you will learn how to do it. So, the registration of .dll files is performed by using the registration server regsvr32.exe, which is a native windows program and it is located in the C:\Windows\System32\ directory.
There are few ways how to register a dll file in windows 7.
- Click the Start button and in the search field type “regsvr32 <file_name>” and hit Enter.
- Click the Start button and in the search field type “cmd”. In the list of the programs you will see cmd.exe program – it’s a native windows program. Right click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator (enter your administrator password if required). Now you will see a Window with Command Prompt, type “regsvr32 <file_name>” and hit the enter button.
- If you are using some file manager like Total Commander, you can register dll files with the help of Command Prompt of Total Commander.
If the registration of a dll file was successful, the RegSvr32 window with a message “DllRegisterServer in C:\Windows\System32\<file_name> succeeded”.
When you register a dll file on windows 7 you automatically create entry into the Windows System Registry. The corresponding parameter REG_DWORD with a value of 1 is created in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs] branch.
Use of the command regsvr32 with various parameters:
regsvr32 [/u] [/s] [/n] [/i] [:command_line]] <dll_file_name>
Parameters description:
[/u] – cancels the registration of dll file.
[/s] – silent mode – the message window will not appear.
[/i] – starts DLLInstall, transferring an optional parameter command_line, using with [/u] parameter will start DLLUninstall.
[/n] – does not start DLLRegisterServer. It may be used with [/i] parameter.
Hope now you know where dll files are located, how to open and register them. Also, a lot of users are having problems with installation of the drivers for old printers on Windows 7. So, if you don’t know where is located Unidrv.dl, just go to the C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ and check the printer folder, it should be there or you can simply download and instal this file from our website: http://fix4dll.com/unidrv_dll.
Sometimes you cannot register a dll file. It can happen because not all of the dll files are intended to be registered. In order to be registered a dll file should support DLLRegisterServer functions. Sometimes you may get error because the library is already registered in your system. However, sometimes it’s not necessary to register dll file, you can try to put a dll file (downloaded from our website fix4dll.com) into the same folder as the executable file (.exe) of the program that you are trying to launch.
I hope I helped you to understand what dll file is, where it should be and how to register it. Have a nice day.
