Reference: Q0011
Article Last Modified on 28-May-2008
The information in this article applies to:
- XLL+ for Visual Studio 6 - 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1, 5.0
- XLL+ for Visual Studio .NET - 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1, 5.0
- XLL+ for Visual Studio 2005 - 5.0
- Excel - all versions
My XLL does not work on a user's machine; Excel shows an error message: "This file is not in a recognizable format".
Issue
I build an XLL and it runs on my development machine. When the XLL is copied to a user's machine, it fails to load, and Excel shows a dialog box, saying: "This file is not in a recognizable format".
Summary
- XLLs built using XLL+ require certain run-time dynamic link libraries (DLLs) to be present and available. All these DLLs are delivered to development machines when Visual Studio is installed. However, they may not be present on user machines.
- Check the list of DLLs that are required by your XLL. (See Run-time requirements below for details.)
- Ensure that each DLL is properly installed on the user machine.
- Check the Notes section on this page.
Run-time requirements
The table below lists all the DLLs required at run-time by XLLs built with various XLL+ libraries and DevStudio versions.
In addition, you can get a full list of the dependencies of a binary file by using the Dependency Walker tool, which is provided as part of Visual Studio 6, and which can also be found at http://www.dependencywalker.com/.
| Visual Studio | XLL+ Libraries | Build | Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| VS 6 | MFC | Debug | MFC42D.DLL MFCO42D.DLL MSVCP60D.DLL MSVCRT.DLL MSVCRTD.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 6 | MFC | Release | MFC42.DLL MSVCP60.DLL MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 6 | STL | Debug | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 6 | STL | Release | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2002 | MFC | Debug | MFC70D.DLL MSVCP60.DLL MSVCP70D.DLL MSVCRT.DLL MSVCR70D.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2002 | MFC | Release | MFC70.DLL MSVCP60.DLL MSVCP70.DLL MSVCR70.DLL MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2002 | STL | Debug | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2002 | STL | Release | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2003 | MFC | Debug | MFC71D.DLL MSVCP71D.DLL MSVCR71D.DLL MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2003 | MFC | Release | MFC71.DLL MSVCP71.DLL MSVCR71.DLL MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2003 | STL | Debug | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS.NET 2003 | STL | Release | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 2005 | MFC | Debug | MFC80D.DLL MSVCP80D.DLL MSVCR80D.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 2005 | MFC | Release | MFC80.DLL MSVCP80.DLL MSVCR80.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 2005 | STL | Debug | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
| VS 2005 | STL | Release | MSVCRT.DLL XLCALL32.DLL1 |
1 XLCALL32.DLL is installed as part of Excel. It it is usually located in the same directory as the executable file EXCEL.EXE.
Installing DLLs
All DLLs must be available to Excel at run-time. This means that they must be located either:
- In the windows system directory (e.g. C:\Windows\System32).
- In a directory listed in the current PATH environment variable.
- In the same directory as the executable file EXCEL.EXE (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10 etc).
- Installed in a sub-directory of [Windows]\WinSxS.
Notes
Note that a standard Visual Studio license does not allow you to redistribute the Debug builds of Microsoft's run-time libraries. You should only redistribute Release builds.
When distributing DLLs for XLLs built with Visual Studio 2005, you should use the Microsoft installation program: follow the instructions for "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86)" at URL http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE. You should ot install these files by hand.
For XLLs built using MFC and Visual Studio 2005, see also Visual C++ Deployment Examples (Microsoft).
If you wish to avoid any dependent files see Q0049: Build an MFC add-in which needs no runtime DLLs.
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