RegSvr32

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computing: software: programming: Windows: ActiveX: RegSvr32

Reference

 * Microsoft:
 * How Regsvr32.exe Registers and Unregisters COM DLLs
 * How Regsvr32.exe Registers and Unregisters COM DLLs

Overview
RegSvr32.exe is the program used to manually register ActiveX DLLs in Windows. It is usually found in c:\windows\system, c:\windows\system32, or other related folders depending on the version of Windows. (It is not used to reg/unreg ActiveX EXEs; see ActiveX.)

Running RegSvr32 with no parameters causes a message box to pop up on the screen listing the available command-line options. The version for Windows 98 shows the following information (with clarifications added):

Usage: regsvr32    dllname
 * /u – unregister server (i.e. unregister the file dllname as an ActiveX server)
 * /s – silent; display no message boxes
 * /c – console output
 * /i – call dllinstall passing it an optional ; when used with /u, calls dlluninstall
 * /n – do not call DllRegisterServer; this option must be used only with /i

The basic commands, then, are:
 * regsvr32 dllname
 * regsvr32 /u dllname

''Note: I was not able to get these commands to work with Windows 98, although I used them frequently in Windows 95 (which I don't have currently available for testing), so I may have some detail wrong or there may be some prerequisite about which I have forgotten. Failing this, you can always use RegEdit to remove everything that refers to your ActiveX module – so it's a good idea to be sure that your module has a name unlikely to be part of any other data in the registry. Run RegClean afterwards, to be on the safe side. --Woozle 21:25, 29 January 2007 (EST)''

If you are doing a lot of installing or uninstalling of ActiveX modules on a particular system, it is a fairly simple matter to add those actions to your right-click menu :
 * In Windows Explorer, click on the Tools menu
 * Select Folder Options...
 * Select the File Types tab
 * If the "Application" type already exists and is non-editable, you can make it editable by running RegEdit and deleting the key "\\My Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\EditFlags". (If the "Application" type does not exist, create it, or look to see if .exe files are handled by a differently-named type. The name of the type will be whatever Explorer shows as the "Type" for .exe files.)
 * Add the action "register", with the command as "regsvr32.exe %1"
 * Add the action "unregister", with the command as "regsvr32.exe /u %1"