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Asked: 2026-05-10T17:32:02+00:00

If you call LoadLibrary without a path (e.g., LoadLibrary(whatever.dll) , Windows will generally follow

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If you call LoadLibrary without a path (e.g., LoadLibrary('whatever.dll'), Windows will generally follow its standard search algorithm, the same one it uses to find EXEs.

My question is this: suppose that an application manifest specifies specifies a particular version of a system DLL, say, comctl32.dll 6.0. In that case, will LoadLibrary('comctl32.dll') go immediately to the correct side-by-side folder, or does it still perform some kind of search?

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1 Answer

  1. From Microsoft:

    Applications can control the location from which a DLL is loaded by specifying a full path, using DLL redirection, or by using a manifest. If none of these methods are used, the system searches for the DLL at load time as described in this topic.

    So yes, if a manifest is present, it will directly go to the SxS folder.

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