Method 1: Fixing the DLL Error by Copying the Preview.dll Library to the Windows System Directory 

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 library named "Preview.dll" in the window that opens. Drag this library to the desktop with the left mouse button. This is the library you need.

   

2. Copy the "Preview.dll" library file you extracted.
3. Paste the dynamic link library you copied into the "C:\Windows\System32" directory.

   

4. If your operating system has a 64 Bit architecture, copy the "Preview.dll" library and paste it also into the "C:\Windows\sysWOW64" directory.

   NOTE! On 64 Bit systems, the dynamic link library must be in both the "sysWOW64" directory as well as the "System32" directory. In other words, you must copy the "Preview.dll" library into both directories.

   

5. In order to complete this step, you must run the Command Prompt as administrator. In order to do this, all you have to do is follow the steps below.

   NOTE! We ran the Command Prompt using Windows 10. If you are using Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP, you can use the same method to run the Command Prompt as administrator.

   1. Open the Start Menu and before clicking anywhere, type "cmd" on your keyboard. This process will enable you to run a search through the Start Menu. We also typed in "cmd" to bring up the Command Prompt.
   2. Right-click the "Command Prompt" search result that comes up and click the Run as administrator" option.

   

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

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

   

7. If you are using a Windows version that has 64 Bit architecture, after running the above command, you need to run the command below. With this command, we will clean the problematic Preview.dll registry for 64 Bit (The cleaning process only involves the registries in Regedit. In other words, the dynamic link library you pasted into the SysWoW64 will not be damaged).

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

   

8. We need to make a clean registry for the dll library's registry that we deleted from Regedit (Windows Registry Editor). In order to accomplish this, copy and paste the command below into the Command Line and press Enter key.

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

   

9. If you are using a Windows with 64 Bit architecture, after running the previous command, you need to run the command below. By running this command, we will have created a clean registry for the Preview.dll library (We deleted the damaged registry with the previous command).

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

   

10. 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 Preview.dll library 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 Preview.dll Library to the Program Installation Directory 

1. First, you need to find the installation directory for the program you are receiving the "Preview.dll not found", "Preview.dll is missing" or other similar dll errors. In order to do this, right-click on the shortcut for the program and click the Properties option from the options that come up.

   

2. Open the program's installation directory by clicking on the Open File Location button in the Properties window that comes up.

   

3. Copy the Preview.dll library.
4. Paste the dynamic link library you copied into the program's installation directory that we just opened.

   

5. When the dynamic link library is moved to the program installation directory, it means that the process is completed. Check to see if the issue was fixed by running the program giving the error message again. If you are still receiving the error message, you can complete the 3rd Method as an alternative.

Method 3: Uninstalling and Reinstalling the Program That Is Giving the Preview.dll Error 

1. Press the "Windows" + "R" keys at the same time to open the Run tool. Paste the command below into the text field titled "Open" in the Run window that opens and press the Enter key on your keyboard. This command will open the "Programs and Features" tool.

   appwiz.cpl

   

2. On the Programs and Features screen that will come up, you will see the list of programs on your computer. Find the program that gives you the dll error and with your mouse right-click it. The right-click menu will open. Click the "Uninstall" option in this menu to start the uninstall process.

   

3. You will see a "Do you want to uninstall this program?" confirmation window. Confirm the process and wait for the program to be completely uninstalled. The uninstall process can take some time. This time will change according to your computer's performance and the size of the program. After the program is uninstalled, restart your computer.

   

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

Method 4: Fixing the Preview.dll Issue by Using the Windows System File Checker (scf scannow) 

1. In order to complete this step, you must run the Command Prompt as administrator. In order to do this, all you have to do is follow the steps below.

   NOTE! We ran the Command Prompt using Windows 10. If you are using Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP, you can use the same method to run the Command Prompt as administrator.

   1. Open the Start Menu and before clicking anywhere, type "cmd" on your keyboard. This process will enable you to run a search through the Start Menu. We also typed in "cmd" to bring up the Command Prompt.
   2. Right-click the "Command Prompt" search result that comes up and click the Run as administrator" option.

   

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 program that was giving the dll error again.

Method 5: Fixing the Preview.dll Error by Manually Updating Windows 

Most of the time, programs have been programmed to use the most recent dynamic link libraries. If your operating system is not updated, these files cannot be provided and dll errors appear. So, we will try to fix the dll errors by updating the operating system.

Since the methods to update Windows versions are different from each other, we found it appropriate to prepare a separate article for each Windows version. You can get our update article that relates to your operating system version by using the links below.

Windows Update Guides 

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