ATMLIB.dll error message

Question

Is there a fix for ATMLIB.dll error messages (not designed to run on Windows)?

Answer 1

I was able to fix this, and I posted about it on another forum post here
I had this issue ("Bad Image: C:\Windows\system32\ATMLIB.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error") with Adobe Reader X (10.1.12). I tried repairing, and then tried uninstalling and upgrading to Adobe Reader XI (11.0.9), but still had the same trouble. I compared the atmlib.dll files in both directories and noticed that the file in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 did not appear to have any file meta data (giving the appearance that it was corrupted), whereas the file in C:\Windows\system32 reflected a file version 5.1.2.238 and product version "5.1 Build 238". Now, it appears based on being installed to "C:\Program Files (x86)" that the version of Adobe Reader I was using was 32-bit. So, this tells me that while the error references the C:\Windows\system32 file path, it is likely actually the file in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 that is the problem (Windows-on-Windows emulation for 32-bit applications, 32-bit libraries actually reside in C:\Windows\SysWOW64, not C:\Windows\system32). I found the same file in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 with the same product and file version on another 64-bit Windows 7 workstation, and simply copied it to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 on the affected workstation, and that resolved the issue.
NOTE: To overwrite the file, I had to change file ownership to Administrators security group, otherwise it was immutable.