DllImport can't find dll even though dll is in same folder as executable

Question

I'm trying to use the llvm-fs project, which provides llvm bindings for F#. I have compiled the LLVM-3.1.dll file with --enable-shared and it now resides in same directory as my compiled executable (I checked with Environment.CurrentDirectory). The DllImport in llvm-fs looks like:

[<DllImport(
    "LLVM-3.1.dll",
    EntryPoint="LLVMModuleCreateWithName",
    CallingConvention=CallingConvention.Cdecl,
    CharSet=CharSet.Ansi)>]
extern void* (* LLVMModuleRef *) moduleCreateWithNameNative(string ModuleID)

Yet when I run my application it errors with:

Unable to load DLL 'LLVM-3.1.dll': The specified module could not be found.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)

How do I get the DLL to be loaded? For reference, here's the exact DLL I'm trying to load.

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 30 '12 at 07:41

22

This:

"The specified module could not be found"

can point to some library, which LLVM-3.1.dll depends from, not the LLVM-3.1.dll itself.

answered Aug 30 '12 at 07:41

Dennis

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just saved me hours – Anatoly Vasilyev Mar 21 '18 at 16:07
If you have the source code of the dll (in general case) make sure you compile it with `/MT` instead of `/MD` (`/MTd` instead of `/MDd` in case of debug build). This will use static linking of runtime libraries. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/md-mt-ld-use-run-time-library?view=vs-2019 – Nenad Jan 09 '20 at 11:54
Any hint how to pinpoint that some library ? Dependency Walker just freezes ( – Dfr Nov 17 '21 at 17:04

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 21 '13 at 16:49

12

When DLL or EXE fail to load as in this case Depends.exe is very handy - it display the complete EXE/DLL dependency tree, highlighting what cannot be loaded or it is missing.

edited Dec 21 '13 at 16:49

Simon Mourier

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answered Aug 30 '12 at 17:03

MiMo

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DllImport can't find dll even though dll is in same folder as executable

2 Answers2