Quote from: Curt on March 03, 2015, 09:53 AM

Dependency Walker [DW] ... giving these error messages: (see attachment in previous post)

On stackoverflow a user listed the exact same DLLs (as shown in above screenshot), as being named by Dependency Walker as missing. He then installed three OCX files, and voila his problem was gone - even though DW still listed the many DLLs as "missing"! Maybe a coincidence. He never came back to name the OCX files.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17023419/win-7-64-bit-dll-problems

Quote from: Stack Overflow

dependency walker is telling me that the following DLLs are missing:

    API-MS-WIN-CORE-COM-L1-1-0.DLL
    API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-ERROR-L1-1-0.DLL
    API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-L1-1-0.DLL
    API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-ROBUFFER-L1-1-0.DLL
    API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-STRING-L1-1-0.DLL
    API-MS-WIN-SHCORE-SCALING-L1-1-0.DLL
    DCOMP.DLL
    GPSVC.DLL
    IESHIMS.DL

Did you check via Dir command if the files are there? If they are it could just be a matter that somehow they got unregistered.  If they are COM Dlls you may be able to put them back in use by running
regsvr32 DllName.dll
on each one.  Maybe copy and paste all the dll names into a batch or something along those lines.

The listed files are not installed. But should they be?

I have at least one copy of each on my Windows 8.0 Laptop

----------------------

Info:
This 64-bits laptop was given to me "pre-registered" with 32-bits Win 7 PRO installed, without any disc or available key.

I mean "registered" in the COM sense.  If you have COM DLL or OCX files the system doesn't know where to get them unless they are listed in the Registry.  Regsvr32.exe just loads the OCX or DLL and calls the required RegisterServer function.  This puts the entry in the Registry.  But if the files are missing I must assume the dependency checker is finding the call to access them in Firefox.  I forget most of the COM stuff I knew.  But I believe the program uses the Clsid to call QueryInterface to see if a particular COM component supports what it wants to do.  The clsid is looked up in the Registry to find the file to load.  Then the COM component answers it does or doesn't support the requested interface.

Edit:  Never mind.  The Nirsoft product key finder is only for Windows Office.

Edit2: I found this article.  Skip down to the part about the Magical Jellybean Key Finder.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/246040/how_to_find_your_windows_or_office_product_key.html

Edit3:  The first link to Magical Jellybean gets a 404 error.  But the second one works:
https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

The free one claims to find product keys for W7 and 8.

^ I tried..., but:




so I assumed this couldn't be it.

-----------
I have tested Google's browser; it too will launch, but not go anywhere.
-----------

I forgot to tell that Dependency Walker gave identical results each time I used it to launch Internet Explorer 11, PhotoFiltre Studio X, Sagelight Image Editor, Firefox 23, and Firefox 36. DW was unable to launch any of them, but except from Firefox version 36, they normally don't have any problems.

Quote from: MilesAhead on March 03, 2015, 09:16 PM

Quote from: Curt on March 03, 2015, 09:00 PM

The listed files are not installed. But should they be?

I have at least one copy of each on my Windows 8.0 Laptop

According to msdn "Windows API Sets" they are not designed to work on Windows 7.

Maybe 'something' is installed that makes DW confuse my Win 7 for a Win 8 / RT 2012 ?

Maybe the Laptop came with W8 and the owner did a "free downgrade" to W7.  Many people did.

Quote from: MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 03:02 PM

Maybe the Laptop came with W8 and the owner did a "free downgrade" to W7. Many people did.

I am scheduled to meet him in a week from now, so I will remember to ask him this. Thanks!

Have you tried the Product Key search utility?  If nothing else, if the hw is good you could do a complete wipe and install and at least have a running Laptop with a clean OS on it.

^ oh, yes, Thank you for the adware-installing jelly thing! hehe  

Sorry about that.  I just went by the blog.  On reading the NirSoft description again is does seem ProduKey will detect the Product Key for the OS for Vista and W7 but W8 is not mentioned.

I should have suggested running that Jelly thing under Toolwiz Time Freeze.  But I didn't think a blogger would link to such a utility without even mentioning it's adware.  Naive I guess.  

I wouldn't be surprised if the Registry was corrupted.  Just lots of things seem weird.  It might not hurt to try CCleaner's Registry cleaning option.  It makes a .reg file to restore changes before making deletions(provided you click OK when asked.)  So if the machine still boots you should be able to get back where you were.  But a whacky registry can definitely produce strange behavior.

If CCleaner shows about 10 screens worth of "issues" then a repair install may be a minimum.

If nothing else, if the hw is good you could do a complete wipe and install and at least have a running Laptop with a clean OS on it.

I'd not be so hasty to do this unless there is a recovery option available (alternatively, clone the existing drive and keep that or the source drive safe somewhere for future reference) -- if the OS that's on there is or "inherits" from an OEM install, there may be OEM-specific files that having access to later may make one's life easier.

I agree that determining the key via the likes of ProduKey as suggested is a good idea.

MS just pulled the W7 ISO images from Digital River too.

^ but now:

New ways to get free Windows-installation media
by Fred Langa on March 12, 2015 in Top Story

http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/new-ways-to-get-free-windows-installation-media/

Last August I lost my PC and was forced to take this old laptop into use. To my surprise it won't run Firefox, but only Internet Explorer! (...)

Today I am running all browser marques!
Q:
So, what was wrong?
A:
My NET Framework was broken!

Ehm... Internet browsers don't ask for NET Framework, in order to work? No, not as far as I know, they don't. Nevertheless, this is all I did to cure my laptop: I was looking in Revo Uninstaller Pro, and somehow managed to be aware that NET Framework was not listed. I knew that it was installed, so why wasn't it listed? I downloaded the newest version (4.5.2) and the installer asked if I wanted to remove or repair my Framework? - so obviously it was installed, as I thought it was - and therefore I clicked Repair: and Voilà! All sorts of Internet browsers are now running on my laptop!

Glad to hear you got it worked out -- maybe this will help someone else down the line