How do I execute a *.dll file [closed]

Answer 1

The following series of steps might be helpful:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. In the top-left corner, click "Organize"
3. select "Folder and Search Options"
4. Switch to the "View" tab
5. Scroll down and uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types"
6. Click OK
7. Now find the dll file
8. Right-click on it and select "Rename"
9. Change the extension(what comes after the last .) and change it to .exe

Answer 2

It should be mentioned that since it is entirely possible to run DLL's just as any other executable, it has long been considered a security issue. As such, there have been a number of security improvements and registry hacks (sorry no longer have ref-links) that prevents running DLL's from regular user space without extra privileges.

As a good example. I recall making these hacks, but since I no longer remember what exactly I did. I can no longer run any DLLs from normal user shell environment, even though starting various Win apps from GUI works just fine.

That said, one should definitely read "Dynamic-Link Library Security" and "Best Practices to Prevent DLL Hijacking".

Answer 3

DLLs are shared libraries which are used by other windows programs while EXEs are the files which are actually executed and are linked to DLL files so that they can use DLLs.
Both are of same format, PE(portable executable or format of machine code in windows in simple words).
In other words EXEs contain the entry point(main) and the DLLs contain the library functions.. You cannot execute a file which just contains library functions you can just use them via other programs.

But still there are programs like rundll32.exe which provides that entry point and some minimal framework required by DLL functions to be called.
The point that I want to make is, you can never execute a DLL file you can just use it's code by providing an entry point through an EXE or some other program.