Q198707: SMS: Dependency Walker for Win32 (Depends.exe)

Article: Q198707
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:2.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbtool
Last Modified: 19-MAY-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes the Depends.exe tool that is included with Microsoft
Visual Studio 6.0 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement 3 and
later. You can use this tool to assist in diagnosing problems with a particular
.dll or .exe file.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Dependency Walker for Win32 (Depends.exe) is a diagnostic tool that that you can
use to determine which 32-bit program files are required to run a particular
program or load a particular dynamic-link library (DLL). The Depends.exe
features include:

- The minimum set of files required to run a particular program or load a
  particular DLL.

- Why a certain module is being loaded with a particular program.

- The complete path for all the modules being loaded for a particular program.

- The base addresses of each module being loaded.

- The version of the file and/or computer type that it was created for.

Dependency Walker recursively scans all dependent modules required by a
particular program. During this scan it performs the following tasks:

- Detects missing files. These are files that are required as a dependency to
  another module. A symptom of this problem is the "The dynamic link library
  Bar.dll could not be found in the specified path..." error message.

- Detects invalid files. This includes files that are not Win32 compliant and
  files that are corrupted. A symptom of this problem is the "The program or
  DLL Bar.exe is not a valid Windows image" error message.

- Detects import/export mismatches. The tool verifies that all functions
  imported to a module are actually exported from the dependent modules. All
  unresolved import functions are flagged with an error message. A symptom of
  this problem is the "The procedure entry point Name could not be located in
  the dynamic link library Bar.dll" error message.

- Detects circular dependency errors. This is a very rare error, but it can
  occur with forwarded functions.

- Detects mismatched computer module types. This occurs if a module built for
  one type of computer tries to load a module built for a different type of
  computer.

You can run this tool from a command prompt or from within Windows.

The syntax of the command is: depends.exe

Additional query words: prodsms smstools

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Keywords          : kbtool 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS200
Version           : winnt:2.0
Issue type        : kbinfo

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