Microsoft KB Archive/197571

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INFO: Working with the AppInit_DLLs Registry Value

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Q197571

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

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SUMMARY
The AppInit_DLLs value is found in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows All of the DLLs specified in this value are loaded by each Windows-based application running within the current logon session.

MORE INFORMATION
The AppInit DLLs are loaded via LoadLibrary during the DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH of User32.dll. As a result, executables that don't link with User32.dll will not load the AppInit DLLs. There are very few executables that don't link with User32.dll.

Because of their early loading, only API functions exported from Kernel32.dll are safe to use within the initialization of the AppInit DLLs.

The AppInit_DLLs value has type REG_SZ. This value should specify a NULL- terminated string of DLLs, which is delimited by spaces or commas. Because spaces are used as delimiters, no long file names should be used. The system does not recognize semicolons as delimiters for these DLLs.

Only the first 32 characters of the AppInit_DLLs value are picked up by the system. Because of this 32-character limit, all of the AppInit DLLs should be located within the SYSTEM32 directory. This eliminates the need to include a path, thus allowing multiple DLLs to be specified.

Normally, only the Administrators group and the LocalSystem account have write access to the key containing the AppInit_DLLs value.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbDLL kbKernBase kbOSWinNT350 kbOSWinNT351 kbOSWinNT400 kbOSWin2000 kbRegistry

Issue type : kbinfo

Technology : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT351xsearch kbWinNT350xsearch kbWinNT400xsearch kbWinNTW350 kbWinNTW350xsearch kbWinNTW351xsearch kbWinNTW351 kbwin2000AdvServ kbwin2000AdvServSearch kbwin2000Serv kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400xsearch kbWinNTS400 kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS350 kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000Search kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Pro kbWinNTS351xsearch kbWinNTS350xsearch kbWinAdvServSearch