Method 1: Installing the Preferences.dll File to the Windows System Folder 

1. The file you will download is a compressed file with the ".zip" extension. You cannot directly install the ".zip" file. Because of this, first, double-click this file and open the file. You will see the file named "Preferences.dll" in the window that opens. Drag this file to the desktop with the left mouse button. This is the file you need.

   

2. Copy the "Preferences.dll" file you extracted and paste it into the "C:\Windows\System32" folder.

   

3. If you are using a 64 Bit operating system, copy the "Preferences.dll" file and paste it into the "C:\Windows\sysWOW64" as well.

   NOTE! On Windows operating systems with 64 Bit architecture, the dll file must be in both the "sysWOW64" folder as well as the "System32" folder. In other words, you must copy the "Preferences.dll" file into both folders.

   

4. In order to run the Command Line as an administrator, complete the following steps.

   NOTE! In this explanation, we ran the Command Line on Windows 10. If you are using one of the Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP operating systems, you can use the same methods to run the Command Line as an administrator. Even though the pictures are taken from Windows 10, the processes are similar.

   1. First, open the Start Menu and before clicking anywhere, type "cmd" but do not press Enter.
   2. When you see the "Command Line" option among the search results, hit the "CTRL" + "SHIFT" + "ENTER" keys on your keyboard.
   3. A window will pop up asking, "Do you want to run this process?". Confirm it by clicking to "Yes" button.

   

5. Paste the command below into the Command Line window that opens and hit the Enter key on your keyboard. This command will delete the Preferences.dll file's damaged registry (It will not delete the file you pasted into the System32 folder, but will delete the registry in Regedit. The file you pasted in the System32 folder will not be damaged in any way).

   %windir%\System32\regsvr32.exe /u Preferences.dll

   

6. If you have a 64 Bit operating system, after running the command above, you must run the command below. This command will clean the Preferences.dll file's damaged registry in 64 Bit as well (The cleaning process will be in the registries in the Registry Editor< only. In other words, the dll file you paste into the SysWoW64 folder will stay as it).

   %windir%\SysWoW64\regsvr32.exe /u Preferences.dll

   

7. In order to cleanly recreate the dll file's registry that we deleted, copy the command below and paste it into the Command Line and hit Enter.

   %windir%\System32\regsvr32.exe /i Preferences.dll

   

8. If the Windows version you use has 64 Bit architecture, after running the command above, you must run the command below. With this command, you will create a clean registry for the problematic registry of the Preferences.dll file that we deleted.

   %windir%\SysWoW64\regsvr32.exe /i Preferences.dll

   

9. If you did all the processes correctly, the missing dll file will have been installed. You may have made some mistakes when running the Command Line processes. Generally, these errors will not prevent the Preferences.dll file from being installed. In other words, the installation will be completed, but it may give an error due to some incompatibility issues. You can try running the program that was giving you this dll file error after restarting your computer. If you are still getting the dll file error when running the program, please try the 2nd method.

Method 2: Copying the Preferences.dll File to the Software File Folder 

1. In order to install the dll file, you need to find the file folder for the software that was giving you errors such as "Preferences.dll is missing", "Preferences.dll not found" or similar error messages. In order to do that, Right-click the software's shortcut and click the Properties item in the right-click menu that appears.

   

2. Click on the Open File Location button that is found in the Properties window that opens up and choose the folder where the application is installed.

   

3. Copy the Preferences.dll file into the folder we opened up.

   

4. That's all there is to the installation process. Run the software giving the dll error again. If the dll error is still continuing, completing the 3rd Method may help solve your problem.

Method 3: Uninstalling and Reinstalling the Software That Is Giving the Preferences.dll Error 

1. Open the Run window by pressing the "Windows" + "R" keys on your keyboard at the same time. Type in the command below into the Run window and push Enter to run it. This command will open the "Programs and Features" window.

   appwiz.cpl

   

2. The Programs and Features screen will come up. You can see all the softwares installed on your computer in the list on this screen. Find the software giving you the dll error in the list and right-click it. Click the "Uninstall" item in the right-click menu that appears and begin the uninstall process.

   

3. A window will open up asking whether to confirm or deny the uninstall process for the software. Confirm the process and wait for the uninstall process to finish. Restart your computer after the software has been uninstalled from your computer.

   

4. After restarting your computer, reinstall the software.
5. You may be able to solve the dll error you are experiencing by using this method. If the error messages are continuing despite all these processes, we may have a problem deriving from Windows. To solve dll errors deriving from Windows, you need to complete the 4th Method and the 5th Method in the list.

Method 4: Solving the Preferences.dll Problem by Using the Windows System File Checker (scf scannow) 

1. In order to run the Command Line as an administrator, complete the following steps.

   NOTE! In this explanation, we ran the Command Line on Windows 10. If you are using one of the Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP operating systems, you can use the same methods to run the Command Line as an administrator. Even though the pictures are taken from Windows 10, the processes are similar.

   1. First, open the Start Menu and before clicking anywhere, type "cmd" but do not press Enter.
   2. When you see the "Command Line" option among the search results, hit the "CTRL" + "SHIFT" + "ENTER" keys on your keyboard.
   3. A window will pop up asking, "Do you want to run this process?". Confirm it by clicking to "Yes" button.

   

2. Paste the command below into the Command Line that opens up and hit the Enter key.

   sfc /scannow

   

3. This process can take some time. You can follow its progress from the screen. Wait for it to finish and after it is finished try to run the software that was giving the dll error again.

Method 5: Getting Rid of Preferences.dll Errors by Updating the Windows Operating System 

Some softwares require updated dll files from the operating system. If your operating system is not updated, this requirement is not met and you will receive dll errors. Because of this, updating your operating system may solve the dll errors you are experiencing.

Most of the time, operating systems are automatically updated. However, in some situations, the automatic updates may not work. For situations like this, you may need to check for updates manually.

For every Windows version, the process of manually checking for updates is different. Because of this, we prepared a special guide for each Windows version. You can get our guides to manually check for updates based on the Windows version you use through the links below.

Guides to Manually Update the Windows Operating System 

1. Guide to Manually Update Windows 10
2. Guide to Manually Update Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
3. Guide to Manually Update Windows 7 and Windows Vista
4. Guide to Manually Update Windows XP