SetDllDirectoryA function (winbase.h)
Adds a directory to the search path used to locate DLLs for the application.
Syntax
BOOL SetDllDirectoryA(
[in, optional] LPCSTR lpPathName
);
Parameters
[in, optional] lpPathName
The directory to be added to the search path. If this parameter is an empty string (""), the call removes the current directory from the default DLL search order. If this parameter is NULL, the function restores the default search order.
Return value
If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.
If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.
Remarks
The SetDllDirectory function affects all subsequent calls to the LoadLibrary and LoadLibraryEx functions. It also effectively disables safe DLL search mode while the specified directory is in the search path.
Note
For Win32 processes that are not running a packaged or protected process, calling this function will also affect the DLL search order of the children processes started from the process that has called the function.
After calling SetDllDirectory, the standard DLL search path is:
- The directory from which the application loaded.
- The directory specified by the lpPathName parameter.
- The system directory. Use the GetSystemDirectory function to get the path of this directory. The name of this directory is System32.
- The 16-bit system directory. There is no function that obtains the path of this directory, but it is searched. The name of this directory is System.
- The Windows directory. Use the GetWindowsDirectory function to get the path of this directory.
- The directories that are listed in the PATH environment variable.
To revert to the standard search path used by LoadLibrary and LoadLibraryEx, call SetDllDirectory with NULL. This also restores safe DLL search mode based on the SafeDllSearchMode registry value.
To compile an application that uses this function, define _WIN32_WINNT as 0x0502 or later. For more information, see Using the Windows Headers.
Note
The winbase.h header defines SetDllDirectory as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.
Requirements
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum supported client | Windows Vista, Windows XP with SP1 [desktop apps only] |
| Minimum supported server | Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps only] |
| Target Platform | Windows |
| Header | winbase.h (include Windows.h) |
| Library | Kernel32.lib |
| DLL | Kernel32.dll |