Hi Al,

To find out in what order VFP performs the search, I used free FileMon utility from http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml. Here's a relevant part of the log with my comments. ('h:\temp' is the directory where EXE was launched from).

-- VC++ runtime
-- Search Order: 
--     Application directory 
--     Windows system directory, 
--     any directories along Windows search path
H:\Temp\MSVCR70.dll	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
C:\WINNT\system32\MSVCR70.dll	SUCCESS	Attributes: A	


-- vfp8r.dll, gdiplus.dll
-- Search Order: 
--     Application directory 
--     Registry for vfp8r.dll
--     Windows system directory, 
H:\Temp\VFP8R.DLL	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VFP\vfp8r.dll	SUCCESS	Attributes: A	
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VFP\gdiplus.dll	SUCCESS	Attributes: A	

-- VFP8RENU.dll
-- Search Order: 
--     Application directory 
--     Windows system directory, 
--     any directories along Windows search path
--     Registry for vfp8r.dll or directory where vfp8r.dll is found

H:\Temp\VFP8RENU.dll	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
C:\WINNT\system32\VFP8RENU.dll	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
C:\WINNT\system\VFP8RENU.dll	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
C:\WINNT\VFP8RENU.dll	FILE NOT FOUND	Attributes: Error	
...
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VFP\VFP8RENU.DLL	SUCCESS	Attributes: A	

According to the log, application directory is always checked first. Your safe bet would be to put all runtime files there.

>In setting up our installation routine a question came up as to file locations and search paths. We're talking about files like vfp8r.dll and msvcr70.dll. We're trying to determine the best way to install files so that we don't stomp on another app using the files and they don't interfere with ours. In many cases, registering a file means merely providing a path to it in the registry. It looks like a file could be searched for in any of the following: the home folder of the app, the Windows system folder, a shared folder of some sort, querying the registry, or using the system PATH environment variable. In what order would a VFP app search these locations?
>