MISSING FILE IPHLPAPI.DLL

[Bob Pickup]

When I start up my Sony Vaio with ME, I get a message saying missing file
IPHLPAPI.DLL. I have seen a thread here earlier which said look for two files
the same but I can only find one file like this under C/windows/system.
In restore there are no dates shown to restore to. I have just removed
Photoshop Elements 2 because of space on the drive but the message was there
before I took it off so uninstalling it wasn't the reason. I have also just
installed a web cam but again the problem was there before. Everything seems
to work fine. Can I restore it by going into safe mode/msconfig/extract file
or something like that as I know where the file is on the drive?
Regards Bob

[Mike M]

Bob,

It's pretty difficult to remove or lose the file iphlpapi.dll and there
should normally be just the one copy in the windows\system folder which is
protected against being deleted by Win Me's system file protection (SFP).

What other changes did you make to your system around the time that this
problem started to occur?

As it happens I do recall seeing an earlier post from PAT (Paul) where he
was reported a similar problem which was down to Adobe Acrobat 5 and
resolved by removing Acrobat and then reinstalling. Perhaps Photoshop
Elements 2 can cause similar problems? What happens if you use system
restore to roll your system back to the state it was in before
uninstalling Photoshop Elements 2?

The more usual cause of this problem though is installing AOL9 since AOL 9
uses a different version of iphlpapi.dll than is included with Win Me and
fails to install it correctly. You can check this for yourself where you
will find that AOL have put a version of iphlpapi.dll in the Program
Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\winme folder which differs from that in the
windows\system folder.

Since the copy of iphlpapi.dll in the windows\system folder is protected
from alteration or deletion by Win Me's System File Protection (SFP) it
cannot simply be replaced by the copy in the AOL folder. Whilst there are
ways of defeating SFP so that AOL's file can be added to the system folder
I personally feel this is a problem that needs to be remedied by AOL.

If your problem is a result of installing AOL 9 you may want to consider
using System Restore to solve this problem by rolling back your system to
before the problem started and dumping AOL 9 until AOL can get things
working correctly (just don't hold your breath) provided that that was not
more than a few days ago.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Bob Pickup > wrote:

> When I start up my Sony Vaio with ME, I get a message saying missing
> file IPHLPAPI.DLL. I have seen a thread here earlier which said look
> for two files the same but I can only find one file like this under
> C/windows/system.
> In restore there are no dates shown to restore to. I have just removed
> Photoshop Elements 2 because of space on the drive but the message
> was there before I took it off so uninstalling it wasn't the reason.
> I have also just installed a web cam but again the problem was there
> before. Everything seems to work fine. Can I restore it by going
> into safe mode/msconfig/extract file or something like that as I know
> where the file is on the drive?
> Regards Bob

[Bob Pickup]

Mike
I dont have AOL nor do I have a folder progs/common AOL.
The file was stated as missing before I uninstalled any software, its been
there a couple of weeks now. Restore says there are no previous dates to
restore to. The so called missing file is sat there in c/windows/system. Is
it not possible simply to show the pc where the file is located.
Bob

"Mike M" wrote:

> Bob,
>
> It's pretty difficult to remove or lose the file iphlpapi.dll and there
> should normally be just the one copy in the windows\system folder which is
> protected against being deleted by Win Me's system file protection (SFP).
>
> What other changes did you make to your system around the time that this
> problem started to occur?
>
> As it happens I do recall seeing an earlier post from PAT (Paul) where he
> was reported a similar problem which was down to Adobe Acrobat 5 and
> resolved by removing Acrobat and then reinstalling. Perhaps Photoshop
> Elements 2 can cause similar problems? What happens if you use system
> restore to roll your system back to the state it was in before
> uninstalling Photoshop Elements 2?
>
> The more usual cause of this problem though is installing AOL9 since AOL 9
> uses a different version of iphlpapi.dll than is included with Win Me and
> fails to install it correctly. You can check this for yourself where you
> will find that AOL have put a version of iphlpapi.dll in the Program
> Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\winme folder which differs from that in the
> windows\system folder.
>
> Since the copy of iphlpapi.dll in the windows\system folder is protected
> from alteration or deletion by Win Me's System File Protection (SFP) it
> cannot simply be replaced by the copy in the AOL folder. Whilst there are
> ways of defeating SFP so that AOL's file can be added to the system folder
> I personally feel this is a problem that needs to be remedied by AOL.
>
> If your problem is a result of installing AOL 9 you may want to consider
> using System Restore to solve this problem by rolling back your system to
> before the problem started and dumping AOL 9 until AOL can get things
> working correctly (just don't hold your breath) provided that that was not
> more than a few days ago.
> --
> Mike Maltby MS-MVP
>
>
>
> Bob Pickup > wrote:
>
> > When I start up my Sony Vaio with ME, I get a message saying missing
> > file IPHLPAPI.DLL. I have seen a thread here earlier which said look
> > for two files the same but I can only find one file like this under
> > C/windows/system.
> > In restore there are no dates shown to restore to. I have just removed
> > Photoshop Elements 2 because of space on the drive but the message
> > was there before I took it off so uninstalling it wasn't the reason.
> > I have also just installed a web cam but again the problem was there
> > before. Everything seems to work fine. Can I restore it by going
> > into safe mode/msconfig/extract file or something like that as I know
> > where the file is on the drive?
> > Regards Bob
>
>

[Mike M]

Bob,

If you don't have AOL installed it shouldn't really come as a surprise
that you don't have the folder progs/common AOL. :-)

The system knows where to find the file iphlpapi.dll. The problem is that
you have some (probably third party) application installed that is
looking for a possibly different version of iphlpapi.dll in a different
location. Such an application is typically one intended for use with
Win2K/XP rather than Win Me. What you need to do is try and recall what
changes you made to your system immediately prior to first seeing this
error message and then, if possible, reversing those changes.

Since you apparently have no system restore checkpoints you won't be able
to use system restore to back out from this problem. If you want to deal
with any problem you might have with system restore then you might want to
post details to a new thread. Meanwhile you might want to carry out the
following quick check, the results of which may help in resolving any
problem.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?

Cheers,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Bob Pickup > wrote:

> I dont have AOL nor do I have a folder progs/common AOL.
> The file was stated as missing before I uninstalled any software, its
> been there a couple of weeks now. Restore says there are no previous
> dates to restore to. The so called missing file is sat there in
> c/windows/system. Is it not possible simply to show the pc where the
> file is located.
> Bob

[PAT (Paul)]

Bob
I had a similar problem early dec/04. The actual error msg was:
"IPHLPAPI.DLL FILE cannot start, check the file to determine this problem".
You seems to say that the file was missing??
At the time I was working with my photos, sorting, moving, etc. and I
cant really remember why,but I needed Acrobat Reader 5, The error message
came after this...the next morning.
I did the usual routine, scandisk, defrag, along with 3 or 4 small
programs to get rid of spyware, etc. no dice.
Them I remembered that Reader 5 as well as Photoshop Elements 2 are both
Adobe programs. I Got rid of Reader 5 first, then Elements 2 and reinstalled
the two of them, and the error msg was not there...
I should have tried to isolate which of the two was the culprit, but I
think that one of them was using the file..etc. Anyway since both are from
Adobe, god knows (or maybe one of the MVP)...thats the best I can do.
Regards and good luck Bob, PAT




"Mike M" wrote:

> Bob,
>
> If you don't have AOL installed it shouldn't really come as a surprise
> that you don't have the folder progs/common AOL. :-)
>
> The system knows where to find the file iphlpapi.dll. The problem is that
> you have some (probably third party) application installed that is
> looking for a possibly different version of iphlpapi.dll in a different
> location. Such an application is typically one intended for use with
> Win2K/XP rather than Win Me. What you need to do is try and recall what
> changes you made to your system immediately prior to first seeing this
> error message and then, if possible, reversing those changes.
>
> Since you apparently have no system restore checkpoints you won't be able
> to use system restore to back out from this problem. If you want to deal
> with any problem you might have with system restore then you might want to
> post details to a new thread. Meanwhile you might want to carry out the
> following quick check, the results of which may help in resolving any
> problem.
> a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
> b) Create a manual checkpoint
> Could you create a checkpoint?
> c) Delete the shortcut
> d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
> Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
> e) Reboot your PC
> Was the checkpoint retained?
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Mike Maltby MS-MVP
>
>
>
> Bob Pickup > wrote:
>
> > I dont have AOL nor do I have a folder progs/common AOL.
> > The file was stated as missing before I uninstalled any software, its
> > been there a couple of weeks now. Restore says there are no previous
> > dates to restore to. The so called missing file is sat there in
> > c/windows/system. Is it not possible simply to show the pc where the
> > file is located.
> > Bob
>
>