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FIX2738_v101028.ZIP

Software applications and components are increasingly dependent on shared system libraries that can be compromised by new installations, service packs and updates. Some automatic updates from software vendors could leave your system in a broken state without your knowledge.

The design of 64-bit Windows operating systems has led to confusion within the community. Shared system libraries and components (DLLs and OCXs) have historically been installed to the Windows “System32” folder. The introduction of 64-bit operating systems required a method of separating 64-bit and 32-bit components and so the Windows “SysWOW64” folder was established. However, counter intuitively, the 64-bit libraries and components are actually located in the “System32” folder and their 32-bit counterparts are in the “SysWOW64” folder!

This “reversal” of what would appear to be the intuitive answer has some application developers placing libraries and components into the wrong location or entering incorrect references to them into the system registry. To make matters worse, in the event that an application fails to properly detect whether it is installing to a 64-bit operating environment, the installation of 32-bit shared libraries and components may default to the historically referenced “System32” folder. As we now know, this is the 64-bit folder!

The resolution to this issue involves cleaning and repairing Windows registry entries to the libraries and components that are commonly affected by new installations and updates. This enables the application causing the issue to continue to function alongside other 64 and 32-bit software.

Our Fix2738 tool resolves the error on both 32 and 64-bit operating systems.