Microsoft KB Archive/242186

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INFO: Dependency Issues When Using LoadLibrary to Load Rasapi32.dll

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Q242186

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0

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SUMMARY
If you are writing a service with LoadLibrary on Rasapi32.dll to detect whether RAS is installed, then the service should wait until all other services have started.

MORE INFORMATION
Services can be dependent upon other services or drivers, which can be dependent upon others, and so on.

RasApi32.dll is implicitly dependent on RAS Services. A Windows NT service with LoadLibrary on Rasapi32.dll, makes the service dependent on RAS Services.

If you are using the service to detect whether RAS is installed at start up by calling LoadLibrary on Rasapi32.dll, don't make RAS Services as its dependency to start. If you make your service explicitly dependent on RAS Services, your service will not start if RAS is not installed.

The work around for this problem is to wait for all the system services to be running before starting your service.