Cannot load rich edit control - yes I realize this is an old type of error

Hello,

I had a client try to use our windows installer and they are getting the " Cannot load rich edit control. " error.

I saw another thread on the forums from way back in 2004 but it doesn't really talk about how to fix it.

This is occurring on a Windows 10 machine.

Does a Setupbuilder created installer require RICHED32.DLL to run?

Any help appreciated.

Regards,
-Tim

Hi Tim,

IIRC, it might be caused by an incompatibility in the Windows core component when using Word to generate the .rtf.

See this:

http://www.lindersoft.com/forums/sho...dpad#post44843

But if it is only ONE customer, then it's a problem on his machine. The installer tries to load whatever Windows (core) RTF control is available on a machine. If none can be loaded (e.g. locked by an anti-virus product or caused by a damaged Windows install) then the installer displays this error message. The developer of the application can't fix or work-around it.

Friedrich

Yes I agree that it is a Windows problem but I try to help people if I can because they need to run our software and they are not technical enough to fix these things.
There are lots of websites that offer to provide a download of the specific missing control but I'm not sure they can be trusted not to install a virus.
Do you know of a site that can be trusted to get RICHED32.DLL?

Also the post you point to mentions a DIFFERENT dll than the one we are getting an error on. I can still try to remove the .rtf or regenerate or remove wordwrap etc.
but was just concerned that they were discussing a different dll.

-Tim

Also I just checked and the README.txt and EULSA.txt (our license agreement) are both plain text files and not RTF files.

So I'm baffled.

-Tim

Hi Tim,

as far as I know, the RICHED32.DLL component is a Windows core component and it's not allowed to redistribute it (and there are several OS specific versions available). What kind of OS does your customer have?

Friedrich

Hi Tim,

the plain ASCII text or RTF files are displayed in a standard Windows RichEdit text control. This is a standard (core) control in Windows.

The installer tries to load "RICHED32.DLL" first and if this fails (for whatever reason; e.g. user is running a Windows XP or older OS) it tries to load "RichEd20.DLL".

Both LoadLibrary actions fail on your customers machine.

Friedrich

BTW, if "riched32.dll" is missing then this is a very serious problem (IMO). This component is part of the Windows system and protected by Windows file protection.

I checked the SetupBuilder runtime source codes and even if you are NOT displaying any ASCII or RTF file in your installer, the runtime always loads the RICHED32.DLL component. So removing your text file would not help here.

Friedrich

The riched32.dll is on his machine in 4 places.
Trying to use reg server to register it fails each time with:

The module "riched32.dll" was loaded but the entry-point DllRegisterServer was not found. Make sure it is a valid DLL or OOCX file and then try again.

I have looked online but a lot of articles want to update the DLL and "Download it here" which I am very aware of. He was going to try to fix the TypeLib param in the registry as well as try an SFC scan.

Please ask your customer to check the code-signature (select the .dll and then right-click and Properties). Does the file have a valid signature from Microsoft? And what's the date of the DLL?

Perhaps it's a tampered file from a virus attack?

Friedrich

The DLL appears to be signed by Microsoft

Version: 10.0.19041.1

Date: 12/7/2019

Strange. Then perhaps a dependency file for that component is missing.

Friedrich