IS it safe to delete wow64 dll's when autoruns says so?

I have Windows 8 64-bit.

I run Autoruns (latest version) and it states 3 DLLs which are not found:

Question

Is it safe to delete those entries with Autoruns?

Royi Namir

Posted 2013-10-01T11:26:19.950

Reputation: 4 568

Why do you want to delete required system files? wow64.dll allows you to run 32-bit software. – Ramhound – 2013-10-01T11:31:30.623

@Ramhound I dont want. autoruns want. it says they are not there – Royi Namir – 2013-10-01T11:33:25.827

You asked if its safe to delete those files, its not safe, the registry key might be pointing to the wrong location but thats another question. – Ramhound – 2013-10-01T11:38:26.650

Answers

That's a windows Black Magic (TM): http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/wow64dll-wow64cpudll-wow64windll-files-not-found/837ba758-ad0a-4bc3-b227-62046f7e198d?msgId=762f85e0-f11f-481b-a0e8-b92971acf422

Don't be concerned if autoruns reports these files as not found. Just ignore it. These three files are critical to (and invisible to) 32-bit processes running on a 64-bit processor.

For a little fun you can see this by launching both the native and x86 versions of Windows PowerShell, type the following in both. Somewhat surprisingly you'll get different results:
cd $env:windir\system32
dir wow*

kworr

Posted 2013-10-01T11:26:19.950

Reputation: 693

holly shi* , in powershell i do see those files. while in pure cmd - i don't. why is that ? – Royi Namir – 2013-10-02T06:13:39.687

1Because they are not there. The systems transparently 'shows' this files in desired location depending whether the app is 32-bit or 64-bit. – kworr – 2013-10-02T08:08:22.110

It is not safe to delete those dll files. Those listed files supports 32 bit applications running in 64 bit machine.Instead of deleting dll files try to register dll by typing
regsvr32 /s wow64win.dll in command propmt with administrator privillege

Renju Chandran chingath

Posted 2013-10-01T11:26:19.950

Reputation: 1 461

the files are not in file system ! – Royi Namir – 2013-10-01T12:52:18.547

Run a file system scan by typing SFC /SCANNOW in command propmt. also do a check for those dll in system32 folder by going to system 32 folder from a command line and then type dir wow* – Renju Chandran chingath – 2013-10-01T13:16:03.787