>>>only talks about dde, not ole automation nor ocx nor dll
>
>Are you sure it is an automation server?? This is not an automatic thing..

If it is an ActiveX control, you can get the location in Visual Basic's Components Dialog Box on the Project menu (if you have VB). The control should be on the list if it is registered, and will show a path. However, if you're getting an error saying the control isn't registered, then you'll need to find it, which as you've said is the problem in the first place.

What I think might be happening is that at one time the control was registered and installed on your system with a proper license (and therefore showing in VFP). At some point, the control might have been deleted, but the registry entry is still there, so VFP is still displaying the control in the toolbox.