Installing a dll file

[steveh]

Morning all

I have purchased a USB microscope for one of my nephews for christmas and thought that I should set it up first so that I can explain how to use it but I have fallen at the first hurdle.

When I click on the .exe program it says that I have a missing dll file BDADLL.dll, this file is on the disc supplied. I have gone to my windows32 file and tried to drag the file over but it will not do it, I have tried to right click the dll to copy it but it does not give me a menu to select copy, I suspect that I will need to copy over other dll files as well because they are on the disc and not in my windows32 folder. Any ideas please on how to copy them over?

[steveh]

Morning all

I have purchased a USB microscope for one of my nephews for christmas and thought that I should set it up first so that I can explain how to use it but I have fallen at the first hurdle.

When I click on the .exe program it says that I have a missing dll file BDADLL.dll, this file is on the disc supplied. I have gone to my windows32 file and tried to drag the file over but it will not do it, I have tried to right click the dll to copy it but it does not give me a menu to select copy, I suspect that I will need to copy over other dll files as well because they are on the disc and not in my windows32 folder. Any ideas please on how to copy them over?

HI all

I have managed to copy the dll files now (for some reason using winzip I was unable to drag them but using 7 zip I could?)

I am now following some instructions that I found on the web which says that I should go to a command prompt and then type in regsvr32 dllname.dll but with each of the dll names that I try this for a get the screenshot below, any ideas on what I am doing wrong? BTW I am using Windows 7 if that makes any difference

[HansV]

Isn't there an install program on the disk? Or does it have an autorun option? That should take care of registering the DLLs etc.

[stuck]

I'm guessing here but from what you say about Winzip/7zip and Hans' question about an install program, it sounds like you might have double clicked on a .exe file but instead of that file being executed (and thus invoking the install routine which would put all the files in their right places) the .exe file has opened as a ZIP archive showing you all the files it contains. If so and you then double clicked on the .exe for the USB microscope, it would baulk because you would be trying to run the .exe from inside the archive and its .dlls would not be where it expects them to be.

Ken

[steveh]

I'm guessing here but from what you say about Winzip/7zip and Hans' question about an install program, it sounds like you might have double clicked on a .exe file but instead of that file being executed (and thus invoking the install routine which would put all the files in their right places) the .exe file has opened as a ZIP archive showing you all the files it contains. If so and you then double clicked on the .exe for the USB microscope, it would baulk because you would be trying to run the .exe from inside the archive and its .dlls would not be where it expects them to be.

Ken

Thank you Ken and Hans for your responses

I have unzipped the file and clicked the .exe file and this is the result that I get

[stuck]

I have unzipped the file and clicked the .exe file and this is the result that I get

That's my point and what Hans was hinting at, I don't think you should have to unzip the .exe.

I would expect to put the CD that comes with the hardware into the tray, close it and it would autorun a setup routine that would unpack the files / install the application to a location (C:\Program Files or what ever) and copy all the dlls (inc registering them) to where ever they should be.

If nothing autoruns then I would look for a file called something like setup.exe in the root folder of the CD and expect a double click on that file that to invoke the full install routine.

Ken

[John Gray]

Why would you unZIP a file if the suffix is .RAR?!

And rather more seriously, what operating system and bit-ness are you using? I'd be very surprised if your microscopic DLL (and other files) were not 32-bit.

[stuck]

Why would you unZIP a file if the suffix is .RAR?!

Ah, the pedant comes to the rescue. I didn't notice that the archive was a .rar. That might explain why winzip wouldn't work for Steve but 7zip did. I know for sure that zip can handle all sorts of 'zipped' file formats but I don't know what Winzip can handle, if anything, beyond .zip format.

However, I still suspect that is incidental and the real question remains, how come the software for the microscope didn't install (i.e. unpack the archive and place everything where it was supposed to)? I doubt 32 bit vs 64 bit is the answer as Steve implies the hardware works fine now that he's done everything manually.

Ken

[HansV]

Recent versions of WinZip (version 15.0 and higher) can open .rar files, but the more common older versions can't.

PS I got the impression that SteveH hadn't got things working yet.

[jonwallace]

Looking at Steve's screenshot, I suspect that he hasn't actually unzipped (or unrared) the rar file, just browsed it with the 7zip explorer.
Maybe if he tries (sorry, talking about you as if you aren't there...)

Maybe if you try extracting the files to their own folder, you'll have more success.

[steveh]

Looking at Steve's screenshot, I suspect that he hasn't actually unzipped (or unrared) the rar file, just browsed it with the 7zip explorer.
Maybe if he tries (sorry, talking about you as if you aren't there...)

Maybe if you try extracting the files to their own folder, you'll have more success.

Thanks all for the input

I ran the CD at home on Vista and it run without a problem, and works great. The setup book did say that when the microscope was plugged it you would get the new hardware found which I did not on Windows 7 but did on Vista. I checked with my sister and my nephew has XP on his PC so I will dig out an old laptop at the office to check it but I expect it to be OK.

Cheers all