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Why does the message ‘this file cannot be run in DOS mode’ appear when I open a .dll file in notepad?

Anonymous
2024-07-13T22:52:25+00:00

Hello guys and girls, I was tinkering around in a .dll file on notepad to change some setting on a game recently and I encountered an error. When I opened the .dll in notepad, i was met with weird jumbled letters and the sentence ‘This program cannot be run in DOS mode’. This message only happened after I’d opened and closed the game. Prior to opening the game, I was able to navigate the .dll file in notepad just fine.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Igor Leyko 110.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-07-13T23:28:29+00:00

    Hi Alexander,

    My name is Igor, it's a pleasure for me to help others and I'll try to help you.

    This is a standard text in the beginning of the executable files for Windows. So, one should see it when opening a file in Notepad.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-18T12:44:12+00:00

    That makes sense, but is there any way to get around that using notepad? I have the same issue. Thanks :)

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  3. Les Ferch 10,326 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-07-14T19:37:00+00:00

    DLL files are binary executables that are used by EXE files. If they are viewed in a text editor there will be a small amount of readable text (such as "This program cannot be run in DOS mode") but most of what will see will be unreadable bytes of data. Editing a DLL file with a text editor will corrupt it.

    If that DLL file was all readable text previously, then it wasn't really a DLL file. Be sure you have display of file extensions enabled so that you're sure about what file types you're actually looking at.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-08-20T05:02:00+00:00

    That makes sense, but is there any way to get around that using notepad? I have the same issue. Thanks :)

    What is the "issue"? What are you trying to do/fix?

    I'm having the same issue, though I'm trying to use an online DLL editor. How does one go about altering the contents of a dll file? I'm trying to tweak a dead mod for Kerbal space program and this is the only place that the bulk of the settings could be, i've looked through everything else. My problem is that like OP when i go to edit the file its "This file cannot be run in DOS mode" and a ton of garbled data.

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  5. Les Ferch 10,326 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-08-18T13:51:44+00:00

    That makes sense, but is there any way to get around that using notepad? I have the same issue. Thanks :)

    What is the "issue"? What are you trying to do/fix?

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