Loadlibrary always return NULL

Question

HINSTANCE hinstLib=LoadLibrary("C:\\mydll.dll");

I have no idea why I always get 0 in return after running that line of code.

Actually I have also another COM dll namely mydllCOM.dll that I already registered successfully with regsvr32 command. I would like to use the above (mydll.dll) in my application but always fail at the line as mentioned.

The error code I got from GetLastError is 193 and I have no idea, why it is about the wrong type of dll

`193` is `ERROR_BAD_EXE_FORMAT`. Are you trying to load a 32-bit library into a 64-bit executable, or the other way around? — Frédéric Hamidi, Mar 27 '14 at 09:47

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 27 '14 at 23:13

14

The error code looks like it has the "wrong bitness", meaning you're probably mixing 32-bit and 64-bit executables/DLLs. The setting in the Project properties "Linker->Advanced->Target Machine" should be set to the same value in your DLL and in the executable loading that DLL.

edited Mar 27 '14 at 23:13

Frédéric Hamidi

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answered Mar 27 '14 at 10:12

okaerin

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score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '15 at 08:32

I had a similar problem but with a dll that wasn't mine. The solution was to change the Character set(i.e. Project properties->configuration Properties->general->Character set). The default was unicode and when I changed it to multi-Byte i managed to load the dll.

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 27 '14 at 10:16

1

You can't load 32bit DLLs into 64bit applications and vice versa.

You need to recompile your Application and Dll with the same Linker->Advanced->Target Machine setting.

edited Mar 27 '14 at 10:16

David Heffernan

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answered Mar 27 '14 at 10:03

Abhineet

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as Frederic stated it is only for managed languages/code. as for visual studio it targets by default x86 code – okaerin Mar 27 '14 at 10:07

Loadlibrary always return NULL

3 Answers3