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binkw32.dll was not found

A game that says binkw32.dll, bink2w64.dll, openal32.dll, physxloader.dll or xlive.dll is missing can’t find a file of a program it was built with: Bink video, OpenAL sound, NVIDIA’s PhysX or Microsoft’s Games for Windows – LIVE. Each has its own fix. Bink’s DLL comes inside the game, so verifying or reinstalling the game puts it back; OpenAL and PhysX have installers from their makers; Games for Windows – LIVE is retired: the game’s own setup installs it, and some publishers have updated their games to drop it.

Updated 29 October 2026 · Em português

The diver slotting a glowing film reel into an old computer while Ollie hands over a speaker and a gear

Which program your file belongs to

binkw32.dll, bink2w64.dll
Bink Video, the video codec of RAD Game Tools, now part of Epic Games. The game plays its videos with it, and ships its own copy.
openal32.dll
OpenAL, a library for 3D sound. Creative’s OpenAL installer puts it in Windows’ system folder.
physxloader.dll
The PhysX Loader, part of NVIDIA’s PhysX System Software, the runtime older PhysX games need.
xlive.dll
Games for Windows – LIVE, a Microsoft service for PC games that ran alongside the Xbox 360. Microsoft has retired it.

Find your file in the list, then go to its section below. Each maker has its own fix, and none of them is a lone DLL from a download site.

Bink: put back the game’s own copy

Bink’s makers say their DLLs can’t be swapped: a different version copied into a game is likely to crash it, and their RAD Video Tools don’t contain the DLL at all. The fix is the copy the game came with.

  1. If the game came from a store, use the store’s option to verify or repair its files. It downloads again whatever is missing or damaged.
  2. See whether your antivirus took the file: Windows Security › Protection history lists what Microsoft Defender removed or quarantined in the last two weeks. If you use another antivirus, Microsoft Defender is off, so look in that program instead.
  3. Otherwise uninstall the game, install it again from where you got it, and let its installer run to the end.

Still failing? Ask the game’s maker: RAD says it can’t support games, since it doesn’t have their source code.

The diver with a magnifying glass and Ollie looking over a controller

OpenAL: Creative’s installer

A game looks for OpenAL32.dll in its own folder first, then in Windows’ system folder, which is where Creative’s OpenAL installer puts it.

  1. Open the downloads page at openal.org and download the OpenAL 1.1 Windows Installer, a zip file from Creative.
  2. Unzip it and run oalinst.exe. Accept its licence agreement and let it finish.
  3. Start the game again: OpenAL32.dll is now in the folder it looks in next.

PhysX: NVIDIA’s PhysX System Software

physxloader.dll comes with NVIDIA’s PhysX System Software. NVIDIA’s graphics drivers bring it with them, and NVIDIA also offers it as a download of its own.

  1. Download NVIDIA PhysX System Software from nvidia.com (version 9.26.0703, from August 2026) and run it.
  2. If the game came out around the end of 2007 or earlier, install the NVIDIA PhysX Legacy System Software (9.13.0604) too. NVIDIA says games built on PhysX SDK versions before 2.7.1 need it beside the current package; its download page lists Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 32-bit 8.1, not Windows 10 or 11.
  3. Start the game again once the installers you ran have finished.
The diver and Ollie adjusting a brass gauge

xlive.dll: Games for Windows – LIVE

xlive.dll belongs to Games for Windows – LIVE, a Microsoft service for PC games that ran alongside the Xbox 360. Microsoft calls it retired and no longer supports it, though achievements, online status and gamertags still work.

Games that used it came with its installer, and their setup or their store installed the version the game shipped with. Some publishers have since updated their games to remove Games for Windows – LIVE, so first let the game’s store update it. Otherwise reinstall the game from its disc or its store and let its setup run to the end, though on Windows 10 the older version a game carries doesn’t always work. If the error stays, ask the game’s publisher.

Still not starting?

  • If the error names msvcp140.dll, vcruntime140.dll or msvcr100.dll, see MSVCP140.dll was not found.
  • If it names d3dx9_43.dll, xinput1_3.dll or another DirectX file, see d3dx9_43.dll is missing.
  • Don’t copy any of these files from a DLL site into the game’s folder. Bink’s makers warn that a different version of their DLL is likely to crash the game, and a lone file leaves out the rest of what its maker’s installer puts in place.
The diver tangled in cables among a crowd of error windows

Or let Water do it

Water is a game launcher for Windows that downloads over BitTorrent, which checks every piece, so the files a game comes with, its Bink DLL among them, arrive intact. Some installers it unpacks itself; the others it runs on a desktop of its own and answers for you, the OpenAL and PhysX installers they start included. After an install it also runs the runtimes a game lists for Steam, as Steam does the first time a game starts. You press Install, then Play.

Download for Windows How Water works
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