"Call to Undefined Dynalink" Message Appears Running Program

• Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.2, 4.3
• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, version 4.0
• Microsoft Project for Windows, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you start any of the products listed at the beginning of this article, you may receive one of the following error messages or problems:

   Program Error, Call to Undefined Dynalink

      -or-

   The server Program, source file, or item cannot be found. Make sure
   the Program is properly installed, and it has not been deleted,
   moved, or renamed.

      -or-

   This Program requires a newer version of Windows.

      -or-

   Sorry, PowerPoint cannot locate one of its components.

      -or-

   The mouse cursor changes into an hourglass, then changes back into an
   arrow and program does not start.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when a program attempts to access a dynamic link library (DLL) file that is outdated, is an incorrect version, is missing, or is damaged. When this occurs, the OLE Linking and Embedding files are mismatched or are the incorrect versions. Note that programs from third- party vendors may install different versions of some or all of these OLE files and replace the existing OLE files. When this occurs, the error messages listed in this article may appear.

This problem commonly occurs when the following OLE files are mismatched or are the incorrect versions:

   compobj.dll
   ole2.dll
   ole2.reg
   ole2conv.dll
   ole2disp.dll
   ole2nls.dll
   ole2prox.dll
   stdole.tlb
   storage.dll
   typelib.dll

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, replace the affected OLE files. To do this, use one of the methods in this section.

NOTE: The following methods do not correct every problem that causes the error messages to appear; however, they do correct common causes of the error messages.

Method 1: Reinstall the Program

The easiest way to replace the files listed in this article is to rename them, and then reinstall the program. To do this, use the following steps:

1. Quit all open programs and close any toolbars.

2. Rename the files that are listed in the "Cause" section.

   For more information about how to rename files in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or online Help.

3. Run the Setup program in maintenance mode for the program that you want to reinstall and click Reinstall when the dialog box appears. Note that this step requires that you have your installation disks or compact disc.

Method 2: Copy New Files from the System Backup Folder

NOTE: Use this method only if you use Microsoft Windows 95.

Microsoft Windows 95 stores backup copies of integral system DLL files in the Sysbckup folder. You can copy the OLE files from the system backup directory. To do this, use the following steps:

1. Quit all open programs and close any toolbars.

2. Rename the files that are listed in the "Cause" section.

   For more information about how to rename files in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or online Help.

3. Copy the files that are listed in the "Cause" section from the Windows\Sysbckup folder to the Windows\System folder.

   NOTE: The Sysbckup folder is a hidden folder. To see this folder, you must select "Show all files" in Windows Explorer. (In Windows Explorer, click Options on the View menu, click the View tab, click "Show all files" and click OK.)

Method 3: Install the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer

NOTE: Use this method only if you use Microsoft Office 4.2 or 4.3.

A quick way to reinstall the OLE files is to install the PowerPoint Viewer program that comes with Microsoft Office 4.2 or 4.3. When you run Setup, the PowerPoint Viewer also copies the files that are listed in the "Cause" section. To install the PowerPoint Viewer, use the following steps:

1. Quit all open programs and close any toolbars.

2. Rename the files that are listed in the "Cause" section.

   For more information about how to rename files in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or online Help.

3. If you are using a version of Microsoft Office that is on disks, insert the PowerPoint Viewer disk (usually the last disk) into the appropriate floppy disk drive and double-click Vsetup.exe to run it. If you are using a version of Microsoft Office 4.2 that is on a compact disc, run the Vsetup.exe file in the Setup.adm\Disk25 folder. If you are using Microsoft Office Professional, version 4.3, run the Vsetup.exe file in the Setup.adm\Disk31 folder.

   NOTE: The PowerPoint Viewer is not available when you perform a network installation of Microsoft Office. To use this method with a copy of Microsoft Office that you installed from a network, you must have Access to the PowerPoint Viewer disk or a Microsoft Office compact disc.

Method 4: Obtain Updated OLE Files

For information about obtaining updated OLE files, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q123087
   TITLE     : WW1116: OLE Version 2.03

Method 5: Decompress or Extract the OLE Files

This method involves manually decompressing or extracting the required OLE files from the original installation media. Use the extract utility (Extract.exe) or the decompression utility (Decomp.exe) that is included with the program to decompress the correct files to the Windows\System folder. For the versions of Office that come on disks, these utilities are normally located on disk 1. For the version of Office that comes on compact disc, the utilities are located in the Setup.Adm\Disk1 folder.

NOTE: The files for some versions of Office that comes on compact disc are not compressed. A compressed file uses an underscore character as the last character in the file name extension. For example, a compressed version of the Compobj.dll file is Compobj.dl_. If the file does not contain an underscore character, it is not compressed. If the files are not compressed, you can copy them directly from the compact disc to the Windows\System folder.

The following tables list the locations of the OLE files based on which version of each program you use. Below the tables are instructions for extracting the files to the local hard disk.

   Filename         Date       Size    Disk (3.5-inch)   Disk (5.25-inch)
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Microsoft Excel 5.0:

   Ole2conv.dll   12-14-93     57,328       7                9
   Ole2disp.dll   12-14-93     90,144       7                9
   Ole2nls.dll    12-14-93     99,200       7                9
   Compobj.dll    12-14-93    102,400       7                9
   Storage.dll    12-14-93    157,184       7                9

   Microsoft Excel 5.0c:

   Ole2conv.dll   09-01-94     57,328       1                2
   Ole2disp.dll   09-01-94     98,336       1                2
   Ole2nls.dll    09-01-94    147,568       1                1
   Compobj.dll    09-01-94    102,400       1                2
   Storage.dll    09-01-94    157,184       2                2

   Microsoft Project 4.0:

   Ole2conv.dll   03-24-94     57,328       2                3
   Ole2disp.dll   03-24-94     90,144       2                3
   Ole2nls.dll    03-24-94     99,200       2                3
   Compobj.dll    03-24-94    102,400       2                2
   Storage.dll    03-24-94    157,184       3                4

   Microsoft Word 6.0:

   Ole2conv.dll   04-14-93     57,328       1                1
   Ole2disp.dll   10-14-93     90,112       1                1
   Ole2nls.dll    10-14-93     99,184       1                1
   Compobj.dll    10-19-93    101,888       1                1
   Storage.dll    10-22-93    157,184       1                1

   Microsoft Word 6.0a:

   Ole2conv.dll   12-13-93     57,328       1                1
   Ole2disp.dll   12-13-93     90,144       1                1
   Ole2nls.dll    12-13-93     99,200       1                1
   Compobj.dll    12-13-93    102,400       1                1
   Storage.dll    12-13-93    157,184       1                1

   Microsoft Word 6.0c:

   Ole2conv.dll   08-09-94     57,328       1                3
   Ole2disp.dll   08-09-94     90,144       1                3
   Ole2nls.dll    08-09-94     99,200       1                3
   Compobj.dll    08-09-94    102,400       1                2
   Storage.dll    08-09-94    157,184       1                4

   Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0:

   Ole2conv.dll   02-01-94     57,328      12               14
   Ole2disp.dll   02-01-94     90,144      12               14
   Ole2nls.dll    02-01-94     99,200      12               14
   Compobj.dll    02-01-94    102,400      12               14
   Storage.dll    02-01-94    157,184      12               14

   Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0a:

   Ole2conv.dll   03-02-94     57,328      11               13
   Ole2disp.dll   03-02-94     90,144      11               13
   Ole2nls.dll    03-02-94     99,200      11               13
   Compobj.dll    03-02-94    102,400      11               13
   Storage.dll    03-02-94    157,184      11               13

   Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0c:

   Ole2conv.dll   06-03-94     57,328      11               13
   Ole2disp.dll   06-03-94     90,144      11               13
   Ole2nls.dll    06-03-94     99,200      11               13
   Compobj.dll    06-03-94    102,400      11               13
   Storage.dll    06-03-94    157,184      11               13

   Microsoft Office 4.2:

   Ole2conv.dll   01-31-94     57,328      25              30
   Ole2disp.dll   01-31-94     90,144      25              30
   Ole2nls.dll    01-31-94     99,200      25              30
   Compobj.dll    01-31-94    102,400      25              30
   Storage.dll    01-31-94    157,184      25              30

   Microsoft Office 4.3:

   Ole2conv.dll   03-30-94     57,328      31
   Ole2disp.dll   03-30-94     98,336      31
   Ole2nls.dll    03-30-94    147,440      31
   Compobj.dll    03-30-94    102,400      31
   Storage.dll    03-30-94    157,184      31

   Microsoft Office 4.2c (Non-DMF Disks):

   Ole2conv.dll   07-08-94     57,328      26              26
   Ole2disp.dll   07-08-94     90,144      26              26
   Ole2nls.dll    07-08-94    147,568      26              26
   Compobj.dll    07-08-94    102,400      26              26
   Storage.dll    07-08-94    157,184      26              26

   Microsoft Office 4.2c (DMF Disks):

   Ole2conv.dll   07-08-94     57,328      19
   Ole2disp.dll   07-08-94     90,144      19
   Ole2nls.dll    07-08-94    147,568      19
   Compobj.dll    07-08-94    102,400      19
   Storage.dll    07-08-94    157,184      19

   Microsoft Office 4.3c (Non-DMF Disks):

   Ole2conv.dll   10-05-94     57,328      32              32
   Ole2disp.dll   10-05-94     98,336      32              32
   Ole2nls.dll    10-05-94    147,568      32              32
   Compobj.dll    10-05-94    102,400      32              32
   Storage.dll    10-05-94    157,184      32              32

   Microsoft Office 4.3c (DMF Disks):

   Ole2conv.dll   10-05-94     57,328      23
   Ole2disp.dll   10-05-94     98,336      23
   Ole2nls.dll    10-05-94    147,568      23
   Compobj.dll    10-05-94    102,400      23
   Storage.dll    10-05-94    157,184      23

   Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0

   Filename       Date         Size       Version
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Ole2conv.dll   6-21-95      57,328         2.1.0.1
   Ole2disp.dll   6-21-95     163,408      2.3.3019.1
   Ole2nls.dll    6-21-95     124,512      2.3.3019.1
   Compobj.dll    6-21-95     109,056     2.3.125.142
   Storage.dll    6-21-95     157,696     2.3.125.140

1. Quit all open programs and close any toolbars.

2. Rename the files that are listed in the "Cause" section.

   For more information about how to rename files in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or online Help.

3. Copy Extract.exe to the root directory of the local hard disk, or to a folder that is located on the PATH statement of your Autoexec.bat file.

4. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type the following:

         extract /y <drive>:\<cabfile> /l <windows>\system <filename>
   

   where <drive> is the floppy disk drive that contains the Setup disk, <cabfile> is the .cab file that contains the OLE file you want to extract, <windows> is your Microsoft Windows directory (usually C:\Windows), and <filename> is the name of the file you want to extract.

   For example, to extract Compobj.dll from the Microsoft Excel 5.0c disk (3.5-inch), type the following:

         extract /y a:\excel7.cab /l c:\windows\system compobj.dll
   

   NOTE: Use the /y switch to overwrite the existing compressed file without being prompted.

1. Quit all open programs and close any toolbars.

2. Rename the files that are listed in the "Cause" section.

   For more information about how to rename files in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or online Help.

3. Copy Decomp.exe to the root directory of the local hard disk, or to a folder that is located on the PATH statement of your Autoexec.bat file.

4. Insert the Setup disk that contains the OLE files. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type the following:

         decomp <drive>:\<compressedname> <windows>\system\<filename>
   

   where <drive> is the floppy disk drive that contains the Setup disk, <compressedname> is the name of the compressed file, <windows> is your Microsoft Windows directory (usually C:\Windows), and <filename> is the name of the file after you decompress it.

   For example, to extract Compobj.dll from the Microsoft Excel 5.0c 3.5- inch disk, type the following:

         decomp a:\compobj.dl_ c:\windows\system\compobj.dll
   

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the error messages listed in this article, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q84795
   TITLE     : Windows 3.1 Err Msg: Call to Undefined Dynalink