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I made an application in vs2010 (.net 4.0). I published it, both using publisher and InstallShield LE.

But when I run application, I get error that a dll is not found. I know which dll is missing. This is a non-COM object and I can't add it to my project in vs2010. I am using a wrapper library which invokes this dll.

If I paste that dll in syswow64, my application works fine. But I want a cleaner way of doing it. I already had a look at Hans's answer here. But I have no clue what is side-by-side cache.

Adding path to environment variables works fine too.

I am not sure if updating registry and adding a path value will work or not. I would like to know if I can update registry for my application and direct the path where it searches for particular dlls.

Thanks.

Community
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Naresh
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  • Wrapper dll is not my personal code. Its a managed version of an unmanaged library. I have to paste the unmanaged dlls in the bin folder for debugger to work. – Naresh Oct 02 '13 at 09:25

2 Answers2

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Modifying the user's PATH variable is a very heavyweight solution, and you should avoid that. Likewise, do not put the DLL in the system directory. That belongs to the system and is private to you.

The recommended way to solve the problem is simply to put the DLL in the same directory as the executable. The directory in which the executable lives is searched first when the loaded tries to locate DLLs. It is the safest place to put your native DLLs.

If for some reason you cannot put the DLL in the executable directory, there are other options:

  • Call SetDllDirectory with the directory of your DLL before making your first p/invoke call. When that call returns, call SetDllDirectory passing NULL to restore the default DLL search order.
  • Make an explicit call to LoadLibrary with the full path of your DLL before making your first p/invoke call. Once the DLL has been loaded, future p/invoke calls will use the module that has been loaded.
David Heffernan
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If you know the DLL name in advance, there is a simple way.

You can simply use LoadLibrary to load the DLL from its known location (based on for example a configuration file entry).

As long as you successfully call LoadLibrary before any of the DLL methods are used, this will succeed as the DLL is already loaded.

This works because you can LoadLibrary with a full path, and once that is done, subsequent calls to LoadLibrary with just the filename will succeed immediately, since the library is already loaded.

Ben
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