On Windows, you may get a rasadhlp.dll error with an error message like “rasadhlp.dll is either not designed to run on windows or it contains an error”. This error normally occurs when Internet Explorer is opened but may affect applications like Jing, RzrSynapse, Skype and other applications.
This error can be fixed when the corrupted rasadhlp.dll file is replaced with a working copy from a retail build of Windows or the one provided in this article or using the System File Checker (sfc) utility. This guide also works on Windows Vista through to Windows 10.
Method 1: Replacing with a Working Version of rasadhlp.dll
- Download rasadhlp.dll from here.
- Copy the rasadhlp.dll file to C:\Temp. If the Temp folder doesn’t exist on your system, you should create it. You may be asked to grant Admin privileges, which you should.
- Press the Start button and type “cmd”. Right-click on “Command Prompt” and click “Run as Administrator”. Accept the UAC prompt when the prompt comes up.
You can also do this on Windows 8 and above by pressing Windows + X and selecting “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
- Enter the following commands in the elevated command prompt:
takeown /f %windir%\System32\rasadhlp.dll
icacls %windir%\System32\rasadhlp.dll /grant administrators:F (“:F” is for Full access.)
copy c:\temp\rasadhlp.dll %windir%\system32\rasadhlp.dll
After this operation, rasadhlp.dll will be copied to the system32 folder. Try launching the applications which were producing the errors and check if they’ve stopped.
Method 2: Using the System File Checker Utility
The System File Checker (sfc) is a Windows tool that allows users to scan for corrupt Windows system files and then restore them with a cached copy. Here’s how to use the sfc utility to fix a corrupted rasadhlp.dll file.
- Open the Start menu and type ‘cmd’. Right click on the Command Prompt icon and click on ‘Run as Administrator’. Accept the UAC prompt when it comes up.
- In the command prompt, type the “sfc /scannow” and press enter.
Wait for the scan to successfully complete and perform a fix as well. If it’s successful, you’ll see the response ‘Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.’
If you are running Windows 10 follow steps on this link to run sfc scan on Windows 10.
