# Missing rundll32.exe. What to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619 "2006-06-13T22:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619/1 "2006-06-13T22:19:26Z")
Situation: My mother’s running Windows ME and has recently been unable to launch certain programs because the system “cannot find rundll32.exe”. Looks like work of a virus or trojan (apparently CoolWebShitter is known to trash this), as there is some other wierdness (can’t find “cmd.exe” either to launch a DOS prompt). The OS came preeinstalled, so I don’t have any disks to reinstall the file. After lots of Google, and reading [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=134972&highlight=rundll32) the three most cited options are [ol] [li]Reinstall from the disk - Like I said, I don’t have any disks[/li][li]“Dude!! ME sux ass!! Upgrade to XP/Linux” - Nice advice, but doesn’t really solve the current problem.[/li][li]Download the rundll32.exe file from the [merijn](http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/winfiles.html) site - Now we’re getting somewhere[/li][/ol] However… major problem with that download. Rundll32.exe is compressed as a zip file. When I try to uncompress the file, I can’t launch the uncompressor because (you guessed it) “rundll32.exe not found”. Any ideas of how to get around this hold-up? ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619/2 "2006-06-13T22:52:23Z")
Heh, I just downloaded the ME version, unzipped it and tried to send it to you but Gmail doesn’t allow sending of executables. 😉 [Here ya go.](http://home.comcast.net/~vincentgonzales/rundll32.exe) ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619/3 "2006-06-14T01:52:37Z")
> [@Demo](#): > > Heh, I just downloaded the ME version, unzipped it and tried to send it to you but Gmail doesn’t allow sending of executables. 😉 > > [Here ya go.](http://home.comcast.net/~vincentgonzales/rundll32.exe) FYI If you rename a .exe to anyling like .rename2exe you can then send through Gmail ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619/4 "2006-06-14T02:51:07Z")
> [@Demo](#): > > Heh, I just downloaded the ME version, unzipped it and tried to send it to you but Gmail doesn’t allow sending of executables. 😉 > > [Here ya go.](http://home.comcast.net/~vincentgonzales/rundll32.exe) That did the trick. Thanks a million! ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missing-rundll32-exe-what-to-do/360619/5 "2006-06-14T03:58:49Z")
> [@MannyL](#): > > FYI If you rename a .exe to anyling like .rename2exe you can then send through Gmail Ah sheesh, that would make sense. Duh. Thanks. And, you’re welcome CFoHG. 🙂