"CTL3DV2.DLL Loaded Incorrectly" After Installing Excel

• Microsoft Office for Windows, version 4.0, 4.2
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0
• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a
• Microsoft System Information version 1.0
• Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.1
• Microsoft Access versions 1.1 and 2.0

SYMPTOMS

If you install Microsoft Excel after you install Microsoft Word for Windows, you may receive the following error message

   This application uses CTL3DV2.DLL which has not been correctly
   installed.

• You choose the System Info button in the About dialog box to run Microsoft System Information version 1.0.

  -or-

• You run the Grammar Checker in Microsoft Word for Windows.

CAUSE

This error may occur if you are running Windows over a network after you perform a workstation installation of Microsoft Excel version 5.0. Microsoft Excel installs version 2.04 of the CTL3DV2.DLL file (dated 12/14/93) in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory. This version of the CTL3DV2.DLL file cannot be correctly loaded over a network if the Windows program directory is mapped to the root of a drive letter. This error does not occur if CTL3DV2.DLL loads from your local hard drive.

This error does not occur if you are running version 2.05 of the CTL3DV2.DLL file (dated 10/14/93), which ships with other applications that supply Microsoft System Information, such as Word version 6.0 for Windows.

NOTE: The file size for both version 2.04 and 2.05 of CTL3DV2.DLL is the same (21648 bytes).

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel for Windows. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, decompress CTL3DV2.DLL version 2.05 from your Microsoft Word 6.0 or Microsoft Office disks and replace the Microsoft Excel 5.0 version of the CTL3DV2.DLL file in the \windows\system subdirectory. CTL3DV2.DLL is located on Disk 1 of both the Word 6.0 and Office version 4.0 for Windows disk sets.

Note that the file CTL3DV2.DLL should be located in the \windows\system subdirectory. This is the same directory on the local drive that CTL3D.DLL is located in.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, pages xvii-xviii "Microsoft Word Quick Results," version 6.0, pages 11-12