Frequently Asked Questions About Axdist.exe and Wintdist.exe

ID: Q198768

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article contains a list of commonly asked questions concerning the ActiveX Redistributables from the ActiveX SDK: Axdist.exe and Wintdist.exe.


MORE INFORMATION

What is Axdist.exe used for?

AXDIST was intended for redistributing the Internet Explorer 3.01 Urlmon.dll component and all of its dependencies. This includes Wininet.dll, so it is not necessary to redistribute Wintdist.exe along with Axdist.exe.

What is Wintdist.exe used for?

Wintdist.exe was intended for redistributing Internet Explorer 3.01 Wininet.dll component and all of its dependencies.

Asdist.exe and Wintdist.exe seem old. When will an update be released for Internet Explorer 4.0 or beyond?

There will be no further updates to Axdist.exe or Wintdist.exe. Currently the only safe and legal method for redistributing newer Internet Explorer components such as Urlmon.dll or Wininet.dll requires at least a minimal install of Internet Explorer on the system. Refer to the IEAK Web site for more information on redistributing Internet Explorer with your application.

What machines are guaranteed to have Urlmon.dll and Wininet.dll installed?

All current and future Microsoft Operating Systems will include Urlmon.dll and Wininet.dll.

The only supporting operating systems in use that may not have Urlmon.dll or Wininet.dll included are the older set of non-OEM installed Windows 95 machines that did not include Internet Explorer 3.0 and Windows NT 4.0 based machines that have not had Service Pack 3 installed.

Where can I download the last version of Axdist.exe or Wintdist.exe?

The Axdist.exe and Wintdist.exe redistributables are part of the old ActiveX SDK. The ActiveX SDK has been archived to the Tools & Samples gallery on the MSDN Online Web Workshop. The ActiveX SDK location is subject to change in the future.

I want to redistribute Oleaut32.dll, but Axdist.exe seems to have an old copy of this file. How do I get a newer copy?

Axdist.exe is not an appropriate redistributable of Oleaut32.dll, or any DLL other than Urlmon.dll.

As an operating system component that many third-party products use, redistributing Oleaut32.dll with your application in any form is not recommended as version changes could affect other applications installed by Microsoft or other third parties. It is best to rely on Operating System Service Packs to ensure that your customers have newer versions of Oleaut32.dll

If this is absolutely necessary for you, the Visual Basic Runtime Redistributable contains a more recent copy of Oleaut32.dll. This is available on the Visual Basic CD and from the Visual Basic Web site.

How do I redistribute Comctl21.dll?

Neither Axdist.exe nor Wintdist.exe redistribute Comctl21.dll. See previous question in this FAQ, with the exception that there is no officially supported redistribution package that currently contains Comctl21.dll except Windows Service Packs.

Axdist.exe seems to be changing registry entries or overwriting files even if I have newer versions. What's going on?

You must not run Axdist.exe on systems that already have Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher installed. Your setup application must test for the existence of Internet Explorer and only execute Axdist.exe on the system if Internet Explorer does not exist.

The simplest method for version testing for Internet Explorer is to check the DLL version resource for Shdocvw.dll in the Windows system directory. For additional information, refer to the "Licensing and Distribution" article on the MSDN Online Web Workshop.

Optionally, you can also test for the particular DLL you are interested in, Urlmon.dll or Wininet.dll. Axdist.exe will not overwrite newer files but it always updates certain registry entries.

I'm shipping an application that doesn't version test before executing Axdist.exe. What's going to happen?

Your users may experience a variety of unexplained errors when using Internet Explorer. The most common problem involves errors in hyperlinking components that manifest as error messages when attempting to use the "Open in New Window" command.
For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q180176 Open In New Window" Does Not Work in Internet Explorer

This article contains instructions for reversing the damage if a setup program accidentally executes Axdist.exe.

Things don't seem to work correctly in my application until I reboot. What's wrong?

If you execute Axdist.exe during your application setup, you must reboot the user's machine at the end of your setup process. Some of the registration process in Axdist.exe is not completed until the machine is restarted.

When running an Internationalized version of Axdist.exe on the appropriate language system, a system message is displayed that indicates a language/code-page conflict with Inloader.dll or other Axdist.exe files. What's wrong?

Do not run Axdist.exe on systems that already have Internet Explorer installed. See question #8 above.

What files are installed and what registry entries are made when Axdist.exe is executed?

You can extract the file contents of Axdist.exe using the following command line: 

AXDIST /c /t:<full path to extract files to>

The Axdist.inf file contains the installation instructions that Axdist.exe uses to install files and create registry entries.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q196221 HOWTO: Obtain List of Files Installed by Microsoft IExpress EXE

Can I take any files from an Internet Explorer installation or extract them from any Microsoft redistributables, including Axdist.exe and Wintdist.exe, and ship them separately with my application install?

Absolutely not. In addition to the lack of any legal license for doing this, you will cause serious application compatibility problems for your users.

How do I redistribute DLLs other than Urlmon.dll or Wininet.dll?

You should not use Axdist.exe or Wintdist.exe. See previous question in this FAQ above.

When will the 16-bit Axdist.exe or Wintdist.exe be released?

There are no current plans to release a 16-bit Axdist.exe or Wintdist.exe. See previous question above.


REFERENCES

For more information about the technologies discussed in this article, please refer to the documentation in the MSDN Online Web Workshop.

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbActiveX kbInternet kbSDKInet100 kbInetDev 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: March 27, 1999