SHELL.DLL
Resolution for the SHELL.DLL error
This error had not been seen before the start of June 2004 and this program was originally designed and released in the late 1990s. At the time of writing this help page, mid-October 2005, the problem seems to have completely disappeared.
Two theories about why this problem suddenly appeared are:
1. That it's due to a Trojan that's deleting/replacing the file, so that even if you replace it, it's deleted again.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en
&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=1d72001
c453ec%246e5dba00%24a501280a%40phx.
gbl&rnum=9&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D
shell.dll%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF
-8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg
or
2. Some spyware software is deleting it because it thinks the Shell.dll file is part of a trojan or malware program, so when you clean your computer of spyware, the software will delete this essential system file.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/
WinXP/Q_21041570.html
http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID21/14.html
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/
WinXP/Q_21039950.html
Some of the links above offer some solutions to the problem, but the most fail-safe way to fix your computer appears to be to reinstall Windows.
That said, we have been contacted by a customer who had this problem, who has successfully fixed it by copying the
Two theories about why this problem suddenly appeared are:
1. That it's due to a Trojan that's deleting/replacing the file, so that even if you replace it, it's deleted again.
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en
&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=1d72001
c453ec%246e5dba00%24a501280a%40phx.
gbl&rnum=9&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D
shell.dll%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF
-8%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg
or
2. Some spyware software is deleting it because it thinks the Shell.dll file is part of a trojan or malware program, so when you clean your computer of spyware, the software will delete this essential system file.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/
WinXP/Q_21041570.html
http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID21/14.html
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/
WinXP/Q_21039950.html
SHELL.DLL is not a file that our software alters. It's unrelated to our software and the fact that this Windows component has gone missing has nothing to do with our program. Unfortunately its absence means our program cannot run successfully. Some of the links above offer some solutions to the problem, but the most fail-safe way to fix your computer appears to be to reinstall Windows.
That said, we have been contacted by a customer who had this problem, who has successfully fixed it by copying the
SHELL.DLL file from C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, and another who used the sfc.exe (System File Checker) program to restore the missing file. The way to use sfc.exe is to put your Windows XP CD into your CD/DVD drive, then go to Start>Run and type sfc /scannow then press Enter. This will launch the sfc program to look for missing files and restore them from the Windows CD. The sfc program can take a while to get through your system so allow an hour or so.