How do I find out which dlls an executable will load?

Question

If I have a Windows executable, how can I find out which dlls it will load?

I'm just talking about which ones that will be loaded statically, not ones it might load dynamically with something like LoadLibrary.

score 70 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 13 '21 at 12:28

70

dumpbin is a tool that comes with VC++.

To see what DLLs a program will import:

Open Visual Studio
Menu Item Tools | Visual Studio Command prompt
cd to folder containing executable
dumpbin /dependents whatever.exe

Dump of file whatever.exe

File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE

  Image has the following dependencies:

    AIOUSB.DLL
    sqlite3.dll
    wxmsw293u_core_vc_custom.dll
    wxbase293u_vc_custom.dll
    KERNEL32.dll
    ole32.dll
    OLEAUT32.dll
    MSVCP90.dll
    MSVCR90.dll

To see what functions (and DLLs) it will import, use

C:\> dumpbin /imports whatever.exe

edited Feb 13 '21 at 12:28

Pau Coma Ramirez

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answered Jan 24 '09 at 01:55

Graeme Perrow

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5

I believe it should be: dumpbin /dependents whatever.exe – Baiyan Huang Mar 19 '09 at 01:53
4

/dependents only shows you the DLLs. /imports shows you functions *and* DLLs. – Graeme Perrow Mar 19 '09 at 16:46
1

This is the best answer. Unfortunately this tool shows only DLLs loaded directly for the `.exe` not DLLs which the executable file depends on them indirectly. – SuB Nov 02 '16 at 05:02

score 38 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 13 '21 at 12:21

38

There are utilities that will do this for you.

In the past I've used the MS tool (depends.exe) that came with (I think) VB.:
VS2010 VS2012 VS2013 VS2015 Current

and there's this as well:
http://dependencywalker.com/

and probably others as well.

edited Feb 13 '21 at 12:21

Pau Coma Ramirez

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answered Jan 24 '09 at 00:12

gkrogers

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The "depends.exe" that's installed with Visual Studio/VB/... and the "depends.exe" that one can download from http://dependencywalker.com/ are exactly the same tool (only different versions). ;) – Paul Groke Jul 25 '11 at 22:01
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The link is dead. – ice1000 Nov 28 '19 at 09:57

LOKESH · Answer 3 · 2015-05-05T11:56:30.540

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Open the command prompt and then type below command

tasklist /m /fi "imagename eq netbeans.exe"

Type instead netbeans.exe whatever name your exe file name.

edited May 05 '15 at 11:56

answered Sep 08 '14 at 04:45

LOKESH

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i used this and its not giving me full list of dlls that its using, there are a bunch of crystalreports dlls that my exe is using but i dont see any mentioned in the list printed through that command. Any ideas? – user734028 Feb 14 '18 at 06:50
1

I think this needs the application to be running – Bitterblue Feb 03 '23 at 10:53

score 13 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 02 '16 at 08:37

13

Dependency Walker can help you determine which .dll will be loaded.

edited Nov 02 '16 at 08:37

SuB

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answered Jan 24 '09 at 00:12

David Segonds

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Nice GUI program. `Dependency Walker` try to find DLLs and their hierarchical dependencies. – SuB Nov 02 '16 at 04:59

score 12 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 12 '12 at 10:35

12

Just go to the command prompt and type tasklist /m, you will see the list of dll files used by specific program.

edited Mar 12 '12 at 10:35

Waynn Lue

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answered Mar 12 '12 at 08:30

Subek Shakya

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Yeah, this does what you say, however, if an executable start multiple processes, you will never find out from command line which process was started by the executables, hence you will not know all the dependent dll's of the executable. – Fazi Jul 19 '13 at 08:00
Doesn't load the paths. – Josué Zatarain Nov 05 '20 at 20:30

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered May 30 '12 at 15:13

3

Solution for Microsoft .Net:

foreach (AssemblyName a in Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom("SAMPLE.EXE").GetReferencedAssemblies()) 
{
    MessageBox.Show(a.Name); 
}

answered May 30 '12 at 15:13

htc

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This solution doesn't include the reference dlls that is required from it's children. – DotNet Programmer Feb 24 '21 at 16:44

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 24 '09 at 02:00

2

There is a handy tool called NDepend that will give you all DLL dependencies.

answered Jan 24 '09 at 02:00

FlySwat

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_`NDepend` is a static analysis tool for .NET managed code'_. So it works only for .Net applications. – SuB Nov 02 '16 at 20:19
You forgot to mention that it works as a vs extension. – Josué Zatarain Nov 05 '20 at 20:30
@SuB a C++ version of NDepend exists: https://www.cppdepend.com/ – Patrick from NDepend team Mar 21 '22 at 11:05

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 24 '09 at 00:20

1

progfr is simple and useful: [http://members.fortunecity.com/michaelmoser/tip11.htm]

answered Jan 24 '09 at 00:20

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 28 '21 at 12:41

Dependencies - An open-source modern Dependency Walker shows which DLLs a Windows executable will load and it works well in modern Windows 10.

It is a little less powerful than Dependency Walker, but the latter may or may not work in Windows 10 as it was last updated in 2006. (Newer versions of Dependency Walker were bundled with some versions of Windows Development Kit for Windows 10, but not any more.)

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 16 '20 at 15:59

Process Explorer Comes with SysInternals Suite https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sysinternals-suite

Benefits: allows to explore the process that is already running (I have not found a was to attach the dependency walker to the existing process)

How do I find out which dlls an executable will load?

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