Using Dependency Walker to Find Missing Dependencies

Regsvr32 error

I was notified that a little-used application within my organization had begun displaying an error instead of allowing the users to log in via Citrix.

ActiveX control error

This ActiveX control, which was integral to the operation of the application I was servicing, had come from a very old version of Crystal Reports. Apparently, someone had recently installed a full version of Crystal Reports on this server and it had deleted the older OCX file.

I found a copy of the OCX file, copied it to the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder (as it was a 32-bit control) and attempted to run Regsvr32 on it to register the file.

This was the result:

Regsvr32 error

Apparently the installation of Crystal Reports also deleted some files that the ActiveX control needed to be registered! Fortunately, I found a free program called Dependency Walker that can show missing dependencies on DLLs, OCXs, and some other file types.

Installation and running of the program is very straightforward. When running it on a copy of the OCX file on my desktop, this was the result:

Dependency Walker example

As you can see from the circled area, two dependencies were missing: crpe32.dll and olepro32.dll. Olepro32.dll did exist in the SysWOW64 folder, so I copied it to the desktop, when running again, only crpe32.dll was missing. This file did not exist in SysWOW64, but I found it in the Crystal Reports installation folder. By copying crpe32.dll to SysWOW64, I was able to register the OCX file there, and my application began working again!