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MS-Windows Troubleshooting


The ordinal NNNN could not be located in the dynamic link library MFC42.dll


Symptom:

When trying to run an executable a message box is displayed containing the following error message:

The ordinal NNNN could not be located in the dynamic link library MFC42.dll

The number (‘NNNN’) that appears in the message may vary.

Cause:

The version of the ‘MFC42.DLL’ file on the workstation is older than the version for which the executable was built for. (The workstation on which the application was compiled contained a later version of ‘MFC42.DLL’.

Remedy:

The solution is to locate a newer version of ‘MFC42.DLL’ (possibly from the machine that compiled the application) and to copy it to the ‘WINNT\SYSTEM32’ directory of the workstation attempting to run the application.

Windows will typically not normally permit a newer version of the file to be copied into the ‘WINNT\SYSTEM32’ directory because it reports that the file is in use. If this is the case then to replace the file with a new one:

  1. Start a new command session.

  2. Type the following:

cd WINNT\System32
rename MFC42.DLL MFC42.OLD
copy /r
<newer-version>\MFC42.DLL .

  1. Reboot the workstation.


These notes have been tested with Windows NT4.



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