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I'm trying to register a COM DLL file on Windows Server 2008 R2. Here are the steps I took:

  1. Run cmd as administrator
  2. c:\windows\system32\regsvr32.exe c:\tempdl\temp12.dll

When I execute that command I get this error:

The module temp12.dll failed to load. Make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debut it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files. The specified module could not be found.

I was able to register the same DLL file on Windows 2000.

I also tried

c:\windows\syswow64\regsvr32 "c:\tempdl\temp12.dll"

And I got this error:

the module c:\tempdl\temp12.dll was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0x80040154. For more information about this problem, search online using the error code as the search term

Peter Mortensen
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Broken Link
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8 Answers8

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That's the error you get when the DLL itself requires another COM server to be registered first or has a dependency on another DLL that's not available. The Regsvr32.exe tool does very little, it calls LoadLibrary() to load the DLL that's passed in the command line argument. Then GetProcAddress() to find the DllRegisterServer() entry point in the DLL. And calls it to leave it up to the COM server to register itself.

What that code does is fairly unguessable. The diagnostic you got is however pretty self-evident from the error code, for some reason this COM server needs another one to be registered first. The error message is crappy, it doesn't tell you what other server it needs. A sad side-effect of the way COM error handling works.

To troubleshoot this, use SysInternals' ProcMon tool. It shows you what registry keys Regsvr32.exe (actually: the COM server) is opening to find the server. Look for accesses to the CLSID key. That gives you a hint what {guid} it is looking for. That still doesn't quite tell you the server DLL, you should compare the trace with one you get from a machine that works. The InprocServer32 key has the DLL path.

Hans Passant
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  • I'm a normal user trying to debug a program that its authors don't answer me. I have download the Process Monitor, but I don't know how to follow your last paragraph. Can you explain to me how to solve this problem in a simple way? – Ooker Feb 23 '15 at 11:10
5

You might need to register this DLL using the 32 bit version of regsvr32.exe:

c:\windows\syswow64\regsvr32 c:\tempdl\temp12.dll

Kev
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    I tried that too and I get this error " the module c:\tempdl\temp12.dll was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0x80040154. For more information about this problem, search online using the error code as the search term" – Broken Link Dec 28 '10 at 23:21
  • Are you doing this from a command prompt with elevated permissions? – vcsjones Dec 28 '10 at 23:24
  • Yes I have the below script in a bat file and running it as admin.. the script like this since cmd starts at c:\windows\system32 cd.. cd syswow64 regsvr32 "c:\tempdl\temp12.dll" – Broken Link Dec 28 '10 at 23:25
  • I have 12 dlls to register and I'm able to register 3 of them in the above manner, for the rest.. it gives me the dllregisterserver fail error. – Broken Link Dec 28 '10 at 23:28
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    That the error you get when the DLL itself requires another COM server to be registered first. It is unguessable what DLL that might be, you could use SysInternals' ProcMon utility to see it searching for the CLSID key in the registry. Compare with a trace on a working machine. – Hans Passant Dec 29 '10 at 04:01
  • Maybe running inside [Dependency Walker](http://www.dependencywalker.com) on a working machine could also help track down the other DLL. – Ben Voigt Jan 04 '11 at 00:42
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    RE the answer itself, at least on Win7, regsvr32 is clever enough to call the other version of itself if the DLL's bitness does not match, so you should not have to worry about that. (Unless it's different on other OS versions.) – Leo Davidson Jan 04 '11 at 01:15
  • @Leo - I did know that (it does on Windows 2008R2), but you never know sometimes :) – Kev Jan 04 '11 at 01:44
  • I give my vote to @Hans Passant - The way I figured out is using process mon.. looked at the CLSID and it turned out that there is a dll called MSJava.dll and my dll is looking for it. Hans... Can you move your answer to comments? I want to give you the bounty points. :) – Broken Link Jan 05 '11 at 21:48
4

Error 0x80040154 is COM's REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG, which means "Class not registered". Basically, a COM class is not declared in the installation registry.

If you get this error when trying to register a DLL, it may be possible that the registration code for this DLL is trying to instantiate another COM server (DLL or EXE) which is missing or not registered on this installation.

If you don't have access to the original DLL source, I would suggest to use SysInternal's Process Monitor tool to track COM registry lookups (there use to be a more simple RegMon tool but it may not work any more).

You should put a filter on the working process (here: Regsvr32.exe) to only capture what's interesting. Then you should look for queries on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[a progid, a string] that fail (with the NAME_NOT_FOUND error for example), or queries on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\[a guid] that fail.

PS: Unfortunately, there may be many thing that seem to fail on a perfectly working Windows system, so you'll have to study all errors carefully. Good luck :-)

Community
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Simon Mourier
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Peter Mortensen
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TmTron
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I have found similar issue while registering my activeX (OCX) into windows server 2008 R2.To solve this i used http://www.chestysoft.com/dllregsvr/default.asp tool.There is some dependance problem with my ocx so I am getting "The module temp12.dll failed to load. Make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debut it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files. The specified module could not be found" error message. When you try to registered your OCX with this tool it will prompt message if the ocx is having dependency or you will get success message.I got message for mfc70.dll and msvcr70.dll dependency.so i paste these dll into system32 folder of C:\windows and its done.After that I register my ocx sucessfully.I used 32 bit version of chestysoft tool (dllregsvr.exe) on windows server 2008 R2 64bit machine.

nitin jain
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This is what has to occur.

You have to copy your DLL that you want to Register to: c:\windows\SysWOW64\

Then in the Run dialog, type this in: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\regsvr32.exe c:\windows\system32\YourDLL.dll

and you will get the message:

DllRegisterServer in c:\windows\system32\YourDLL.dll succeeded.

DevCompany
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  • This worked for us - we had the dll in the wrong folder, when we put it in SysWOW64, it registered no problem. Thanks! – Vidar Oct 31 '12 at 15:06
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    It might work for you, but you shouldn't really be copying your own DLLs into the system folders. – njplumridge Sep 02 '13 at 13:10
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You need the full path to the regsvr32 so %windir$\system32\regsvr32 <*.dll>

Juls
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You may need to install ATL if your COM objects use ATL, as described by this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/201191

These libraries will probably have to be supplied by developers to ensure the correct version.

vcsjones
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  • I have atl.dll in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and C:\Windows\System32, do I still need to do what they said in that article? – Broken Link Dec 28 '10 at 23:36
  • The dlls I'm trying to register in 2008 were built in 2000 and I don't even know if we have the source code. – Broken Link Dec 28 '10 at 23:37