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Asked: 2026-05-11T10:55:57+00:00

Take a standard Windows application. It loads a DLL using LoadLibrary to call a

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Take a standard Windows application. It loads a DLL using LoadLibrary to call a function in it (we’ll call this DLL_A). That function loads another DLL (we’ll call it DLL_B). The application now unloads the DLL_A DLL using FreeLibrary as it no longer requires it.

The question is: Is DLL_B still in memory and loaded?

Is this something I can depend upon, or is it undocumented?

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  1. No. DLL_B will not be unloaded. The LoadLibrary() call made by DLL_A will increment the load count for DLL_B. Since there is no corresponding FreeLibrary() call for DLL_B, the refcount will not go to zero.

    From the LoadLibrary() docs:

    The system maintains a per-process reference count on all loaded modules. Calling LoadLibrary increments the reference count. Calling the FreeLibrary or FreeLibraryAndExitThread function decrements the reference count. The system unloads a module when its reference count reaches zero or when the process terminates (regardless of the reference count).

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