finding dll for “The specified module could not be found”

It is a simple “file not found” kind of error, but with the very awkward behavior that it doesn’t tell you what DLL could not be found. Which might be the C++ DLL but also any implicit DLL dependencies it might have. Like the runtime support DLLs, very commonly missed, you can deploy them with the vcredist installer. Or deploying the Debug build of the DLL, that can’t work.

Getting a decent diagnostic requires turning on loader snaps and a debugger. Invariably hard to do on a machine that doesn’t have tools installed. The SysInternals’ ProcMon utility is an excellent alternative, you’ll see the program searching for the DLL. Albeit that you’ll drown in the amount of trace data it generates. Work from the bottom of the trace backwards.

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