How do I find out which dlls an executable will load?

Question

If I have a Windows executable, how can I find out which dlls it will load?

I'm just talking about which ones that will be loaded statically, not ones it might load dynamically with something like LoadLibrary.

Answer 1

dumpbin is a tool that comes with VC++.

To see what DLLs a program will import:

• Open Visual Studio
• Menu Item Tools | Visual Studio Command prompt
• cd to folder containing executable
• dumpbin /dependents whatever.exe

Dump of file whatever.exe

File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE

  Image has the following dependencies:

    AIOUSB.DLL
    sqlite3.dll
    wxmsw293u_core_vc_custom.dll
    wxbase293u_vc_custom.dll
    KERNEL32.dll
    ole32.dll
    OLEAUT32.dll
    MSVCP90.dll
    MSVCR90.dll

To see what functions (and DLLs) it will import, use

C:\> dumpbin /imports whatever.exe

Answer 2

There are utilities that will do this for you.

In the past I've used the MS tool (depends.exe) that came with (I think) VB.:
VS2010 VS2012 VS2013 VS2015 Current

and there's this as well:
http://dependencywalker.com/

and probably others as well.

Answer 3

Open the command prompt and then type below command

tasklist /m /fi "imagename eq netbeans.exe"

Type instead netbeans.exe whatever name your exe file name.

Answer 4

Just go to the command prompt and type tasklist /m, you will see the list of dll files used by specific program.

Answer 5

Dependency Walker can help you determine which .dll will be loaded.

Answer 6

Solution for Microsoft .Net:

foreach (AssemblyName a in Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom("SAMPLE.EXE").GetReferencedAssemblies()) 
{
    MessageBox.Show(a.Name); 
}

Answer 7

progfr is simple and useful: [http://members.fortunecity.com/michaelmoser/tip11.htm]

Answer 8

There is a handy tool called NDepend that will give you all DLL dependencies.

Answer 9

Process Explorer Comes with SysInternals Suite https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sysinternals-suite

Benefits: allows to explore the process that is already running (I have not found a was to attach the dependency walker to the existing process)

Answer 10

Dependencies - An open-source modern Dependency Walker shows which DLLs a Windows executable will load and it works well in modern Windows 10.

It is a little less powerful than Dependency Walker, but the latter may or may not work in Windows 10 as it was last updated in 2006. (Newer versions of Dependency Walker were bundled with some versions of Windows Development Kit for Windows 10, but not any more.)