How to Restore a Missing DirectX DLL File

Where to find and where to place DirectX files

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on February 13, 2023

What to Know

  • Search Microsoft's site for DirectX, select the newest Runtimes link, and click Download.
  • Open the DirectX installer and follow the prompts to extract all its files. It's best to make a custom folder for this.
  • Open the CAB file with the DLL file you want. Move the DLL to the desktop, then copy it to System32. Restart the PC.

This article explains how to extract a single DirectX DLL file from the DirectX installation package if you encounter an error message about a "missing" or "not found" DirectX DLL file. This information covers all Microsoft operating systems, including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

How to Restore a Missing DirectX DLL file

Restoring an individual missing DirectX DLL file is as easy as browsing through some folders and copying the file to wherever it needs to go.

  1. From Microsoft's website, select Search at the top of the page, and search for DirectX.

    Search for DirectX on Microsoft's website.

  2. Scroll through the search results and select Download DirectX End-User Runtimes (MM YY) for the latest release date.

    Select the Download DirectX End-User Runtimes (MM YY) link for the latest release date.

  3. Select Download.

    Select Download.

    The same DirectX installer works for all versions of Windows.

  4. Right-click your desktop and select New > Folder. Name the new folder something easy to remember like DirectX Files.

    Right-click on your desktop and select New > Folder.

  5. Open the DirectX installer you downloaded and select Yes to accept the license agreement.

    Open the DirectX installer and select Yes to accept the license agreement.

  6. Select Browse in the dialog box.

    Select Browse in the dialog box.

  7. Choose the folder you created in Step 4 and select OK.

    Choose the folder you created in step 4 and select OK.

  8. Select OK when you see the folder path in the text box. The DirectX installation program will extract all of its files to the folder.

    Select OK when you see the folder path in the text box.

  9. Open the folder you created earlier to find a large number of CAB files, a few DLL files, and one called dxsetup.exe.

    Open the folder you created in step 4 to find a large number of CAB files, a few DLL files, and a dxsetup.exe file.

    You can run dxsetup.exe to fully install DirectX and reinstall all DLL files.

  10. Locate the CAB file containing the DLL file you're looking for. For example, if you need the d3dx9_41.dll file, it can be found in CAB file Mar2009_d3dx9_41_x86. Double-click on the appropriate CAB file to open it.

    Locate the CAB file containing the DLL file and open it.

    There are two versions of most DirectX CAB files: a 32-bit and 64-bit version. Files for 32-bit systems end with _x86, and 64-bit system files end with _x64. You need to know which version of Windows you're running to know which file to use.

  11. Move the DLL file to your desktop.

    Move the .dll file to your desktop.

    Windows has built-in support for opening CAB files, but if another program opens it, look for an option to extract the file in the program's menu and extract it to your desktop.

  12. Copy the file to the System32 folder located in your Windows installation folder. It's here, on most computers:

    C:\Windows\System32
    Copy the DLL file to the System32 folder located in your Windows installation folder.

    If you received an error message that specified another location where the DLL file is missing from (for example, in the folder of a particular game or graphics application), copy the DLL file there instead.

  13. Delete any copies of the DLL file from your desktop, and delete the folder with the extracted DirectX files. Leaving DLL files on your desktop can create problems in some situations.

    Delete any copies of the DLL file from your desktop, and delete the folder with the extracted DirectX files.

  14. Restart your computer.

    Restart Windows.

After restarting, test to see if restoring the individual DLL file corrected the problem you were having. If you still get an error message, try reinstalling DirectX completely or troubleshoot for hardware-related DLL issues.

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