Error Message When You Run Regsvr32.exe on 64-Bit Windows

While working on the server(Data Center) move recently, i faced one issue while running RegSvr32.exe on a 64-bit machine. The machine we are currently using is a 32-bit machine and the new machine that we are going to use is a 64-bit machine. So, long story short, i was trying to register a dll on 64 bit machine, which i thought will be the same way as 32-bit. Put the dll in C:\Windows\System32 and then run Regsvr32.exe and register the dll. BUT, this didn't work on the 64-bit machine.

I googled and found that 64-bit machine considers SYSTEM32 as a 64-bit dlls folder and SysWOW64 (new folder introduced in the 64-bit machine) considers as 32-bit dll folder. And each of these folder has its own regsvr32.exe. So, if you try using a 64-bit regsvr32.exe, it will give you an error "

Filename.dll is not an executable file and no registration helper is registered for this file type.

".

CAUSE: This is because on a 64-bit machine, the default behaviour is to use a 64-bit regsvr32.exe(Which is in System32).


RESOLUTION: To solve this problem, put your dll in the C:\Windows\SysWow64 fodler. Then got to your command window(This should be the one opened from the SysWow64 folder's cmd.exe), run the regsvr32.exe from the path "C:\Windows\SysWow64\" and it will work.