Dll Hell - or help?

[paul randall]

Hi,
Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to safely
remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm quite sure it
isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which occasionally fails with a
message like: The application failed to initialize because the window
station is shutting down. Right now, the title of this window is
"dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.

I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could find info
about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database could be found by
searching for 'dll hell'.

Today this search gives me a link to
http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
At the bottom of the page, it says:
To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By Product +
File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in the Language box.
That's exactly what I want -- to search by file only. The only problem is:
the web page HAS NO search box or language box. All I find is a link to
'get help now' which allows searches by product only. I haven't the
foggiest idea of what product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.

Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable database
where one can search by file name?

-Paul Randall

[bob i]

DWWin.exe is "Dr. Watson"

Paul Randall wrote:

> Hi,
> Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to safely
> remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm quite sure it
> isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which occasionally fails with a
> message like: The application failed to initialize because the window
> station is shutting down. Right now, the title of this window is
> "dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.
>
> I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could find info
> about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database could be found by
> searching for 'dll hell'.
>
> Today this search gives me a link to
> http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
> At the bottom of the page, it says:
> To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By Product +
> File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in the Language box.
> That's exactly what I want -- to search by file only. The only problem is:
> the web page HAS NO search box or language box. All I find is a link to
> 'get help now' which allows searches by product only. I haven't the
> foggiest idea of what product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.
>
> Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable database
> where one can search by file name?
>
> -Paul Randall
>
>

[heybub]

Paul Randall wrote:
> Hi,
> Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to
> safely remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm
> quite sure it isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which
> occasionally fails with a message like: The application failed to
> initialize because the window station is shutting down. Right now,
> the title of this window is "dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.
>
> I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could
> find info about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database
> could be found by searching for 'dll hell'.
>
> Today this search gives me a link to
> http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
> At the bottom of the page, it says:
> To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By
> Product + File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in
> the Language box. That's exactly what I want -- to search by file
> only. The only problem is: the web page HAS NO search box or
> language box. All I find is a link to 'get help now' which allows
> searches by product only. I haven't the foggiest idea of what
> product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.
> Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable
> database where one can search by file name?
>

I don't know about Microsoft, but Google does. "dwwin.exe" yields over
47,000 hits.

[alan edwards]

Try this instead:
DLL Help database: http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm



On Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:35:08 -0700, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, "Paul Randall" <paulr90@aol.com>
wrote:

>Hi,
>Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to safely
>remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm quite sure it
>isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which occasionally fails with a
>message like: The application failed to initialize because the window
>station is shutting down. Right now, the title of this window is
>"dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.
>
>I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could find info
>about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database could be found by
>searching for 'dll hell'.
>
>Today this search gives me a link to
>http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
>At the bottom of the page, it says:
>To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By Product +
>File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in the Language box.
>That's exactly what I want -- to search by file only. The only problem is:
>the web page HAS NO search box or language box. All I find is a link to
>'get help now' which allows searches by product only. I haven't the
>foggiest idea of what product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.
>
>Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable database
>where one can search by file name?
>
>-Paul Randall
>

[paul randall]

Yes! Thank you! That is the web page I was looking for.
Just for the heck of it, I searched for a number of strings I copied from
this page and pasted, one at a time, into the search box at
msdn.microsoft.com. I can't find any string on this page that Microsoft's
search will return a hit for this page. It seems like Microsoft doesn't
want this page to be found. I was able to find a few other web pages that
did link to this page. Why does Microsoft make it so hard to find this
page?

Do you know of any search engine/query that will return this page in the
first 10 hits? Even Google's advanced search, limiting the search to
support.microsoft.com, (with this search:
dll help database information site:support.microsoft.com)
does not return http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/.

-Paul Randall

"Alan Edwards" <edwards@southcom.com.au> wrote in message
news:fj3gr41bkilhqaacpam6ii43kluiqb4pgi@4ax.com...
> Try this instead:
> DLL Help database: http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/
>
> ...Alan
> --
> Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
> http://dts-l.com/index.htm
>
>
>
> On Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:35:08 -0700, in
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, "Paul Randall" <paulr90@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to safely
>>remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm quite sure it
>>isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which occasionally fails with a
>>message like: The application failed to initialize because the window
>>station is shutting down. Right now, the title of this window is
>>"dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.
>>
>>I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could find
>>info
>>about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database could be found by
>>searching for 'dll hell'.
>>
>>Today this search gives me a link to
>>http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
>>At the bottom of the page, it says:
>>To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By Product +
>>File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in the Language
>>box.
>>That's exactly what I want -- to search by file only. The only problem
>>is:
>>the web page HAS NO search box or language box. All I find is a link to
>>'get help now' which allows searches by product only. I haven't the
>>foggiest idea of what product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.
>>
>>Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable database
>>where one can search by file name?
>>
>>-Paul Randall
>>

[alan edwards]

Just bookmark the site and you won't have to search for it.
I had it bookmarked in 2002 as:
DLL Help database:
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedes ... llinfo.asp
(now updated)

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm



On Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:34:14 -0700, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, "Paul Randall" <paulr90@aol.com>
wrote:

>Yes! Thank you! That is the web page I was looking for.
>Just for the heck of it, I searched for a number of strings I copied from
>this page and pasted, one at a time, into the search box at
>msdn.microsoft.com. I can't find any string on this page that Microsoft's
>search will return a hit for this page. It seems like Microsoft doesn't
>want this page to be found. I was able to find a few other web pages that
>did link to this page. Why does Microsoft make it so hard to find this
>page?
>
>Do you know of any search engine/query that will return this page in the
>first 10 hits? Even Google's advanced search, limiting the search to
>support.microsoft.com, (with this search:
>dll help database information site:support.microsoft.com)
>does not return http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/.
>
>-Paul Randall
>
>"Alan Edwards" <edwards@southcom.com.au> wrote in message
>news:fj3gr41bkilhqaacpam6ii43kluiqb4pgi@4ax.com...
>> Try this instead:
>> DLL Help database: http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/
>>
>> ...Alan
>> --
>> Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
>> http://dts-l.com/index.htm
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:35:08 -0700, in
>> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, "Paul Randall" <paulr90@aol.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>Occasionally my other WXP computer has problems, like when I try to safely
>>>remove hardware, it says that the device is in use (when I'm quite sure it
>>>isn't). So I attempt a shutdown/restart which occasionally fails with a
>>>message like: The application failed to initialize because the window
>>>station is shutting down. Right now, the title of this window is
>>>"dwwin.exe - DLL Initialization Failed.
>>>
>>>I recall that MSDN once had a searchable database where one could find
>>>info
>>>about DLLs and some EXEs, and the link to this database could be found by
>>>searching for 'dll hell'.
>>>
>>>Today this search gives me a link to
>>>http://support.microsoft.com/%2fdllhelp%2f
>>>At the bottom of the page, it says:
>>>To search for a DLL, select By File Only, By Product Only, or By Product +
>>>File in the Search box. Select the appropriate language in the Language
>>>box.
>>>That's exactly what I want -- to search by file only. The only problem
>>>is:
>>>the web page HAS NO search box or language box. All I find is a link to
>>>'get help now' which allows searches by product only. I haven't the
>>>foggiest idea of what product DWWIN.exe might be associated with.
>>>
>>>Does anyone know if Microsoft still has a link to the searchable database
>>>where one can search by file name?
>>>
>>>-Paul Randall
>>>
>