Imagine that you download a program or a software that you have been looking for and have been craving to work on for the longest period of time. When you finally get your hands on it and you launch the application after installing it, a dialogue box flashes an in-your-face kind of message with a sharp bell sound that reads “Msvcp140.dll is missing.” Sounds familiar?
This is one of the most annoying situations that most of us face at some point in time while running applications on our system. Unfortunately, not everyone is tech savvy enough to deal with the situation and such errors are enough to freak you out if it is not letting you launch a file that is important.
What is a Msvcp140.dll file?
Msvcp140.dll file is a type of DLL (Dynamic Link Library) file. These DLL files are found in systems that run on Windows Operating System. Microsoft has developed these files in order to provide system support. These files contain sets of programs and drivers that enable a program to launch and run smoothly, which makes it similar to the dot exe files.
You can learn more about Msvcp140.dll files here.
Why Do You Get the Msvcp140 Missing Error?
There might be several reasons why you get the error saying Msvcp140.dll is missing. This generally happens when the Msvcp140.dll file gets deleted, replaced, or corrupted. Usually, these files get corrupted because of malware and viruses that come from downloading third-party software.
The file is essentially a part of Microsoft Visual Studio component and is present in Sys32 or SysWOW64 folders, however, at times it can exist in the folders of the application that you have downloaded. It must be noted that these files are not present by default in versions Windows 7 and above.
However, if your applications need this file to be able to run, it will be installed automatically at the time when you will be installing the application itself. This means that you are not required to install the file separately as a general rule.
Unfortunately, the file can still get corrupted due to an attack from a malicious trojan or if you have downloaded a repack of the software where the said the Msvcp140.dll file is missing. In this case, you will have to download the file as a separate component on your own.
How to Fix the Msvcp140.dll Error
If your desired application is failing to run because of this error, the first step is to check if it the file has accidentally been deleted. For this purpose, you can open your Recycle Bin and check if the file is present there. If you find the Msvcp140.dll file in your Recycle Bin, simply restore the file and that should solve your problem.
If you are unable to find the missing files in your Recycle Bin and if you suspect corruption, it is recommended that you run a System File Checker (SFC) Scan. Running this scan helps to detect any kind corruption and malicious activity and restores the corrupted files.
If nothing else works, you will be required to download the file on your own. You can find many sites online that will have a complete list of DLL files available for download. You can download the file from online source and should be able to run your application smoothly.