FILE: ShareDLL.exe File Checks the Size of the SharedDLLs Registry Key (217165)

SUMMARY

ShareDLL.exe is a self-extracting executable file, which contains a tool (ShrDll.exe) that displays the amount of data in the SharedDLLs registry key and determines which entries in the SharedDLLs key point to files that have been moved or no longer exist.

Because registry keys in Windows 95 cannot be any larger than 64K, it is possible that applications will fail to install if they are writing too much to a registry key this is already practically full. SharedDLLs is the registry key where this is most likely to occur.

NOTE: This tool has not been formally tested. Microsoft does not provide technical support for the Shrdll.exe file.

MORE INFORMATION

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Sharedll.exe

Release Date: Mar-10-1999

For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

The self extracting file ShareDLL.exe contains the following files:


   FileName           Size
   --------------------------
 
   Shrdll.exe         34KB 
   Readme.txt          3KB

The Readme.txt file contains a copy of the text of this article.

You can use ShrDLL to examine the current size of the SharedDLLs key. ShrDLL.exe is a command-line tool that helps support professionals and their customers understand the state of the SharedDlls registry key. The size of this (and all other keys) is restricted to 64K on Windows 95. In general, you will run ShrDLL.exe using the /F command-line argument, which reports the size of:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls

If it looks like there is too little space remaining, you can run ShrDLL.exe without specifying any command-line arguments. This will find any entry that refers to non-existent or moved files. Entries like this might be left around after an uninstall operation if it was not fully successful in cleaning up.

The following is a list of the arguments accepted by ShrDLL:

C:\>shrdll.exe [/S] [/F] [/U] [/Y] [/N]

/S  Do not display size of key data.
/F  Do not report registry values pointing to missing files.
/U  Look for files with UNC paths in addition to local/mapped drive paths.
/Y  Delete registry values pointing to missing files (Yes to all).
/N  Do not delete registry values pointing to missing files (No to all).
/?  Show this usage statement.

The following is an example of ShrDLL output when you run it without specifying any command-line arguments:

Size of SharedDll regkey in bytes: 57872

File not found: c:\Deleteme\Delme2\EPCWIN.DLL
   Delete reg value? (Yes/No/All/nonE)

In general, you would select "Yes" for every such entry.