The Search Path Used by Windows to Locate a DLL
Visual Studio 6.0
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa240996(v=vs.60).aspx | Overview | How Do I | FAQ | Details | Sample
With both implicit and explicit linking, Windows first searches the set of pre-installed DLLs such as the performance library (KERNEL32.DLL) and the security library (USER32.DLL). Windows then searches for the DLLs in the following sequence:
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The directory where the executable module for the current process is located.
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The current directory.
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The Windows system directory. The GetSystemDirectory function retrieves the path of this directory.
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The Windows directory. The GetWindowsDirectory function retrieves the path of this directory.
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The directories listed in the PATH environment variable.
Note that the LIBPATH environment variable is not used.
