shareddir.dat is considered a type of Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file. Dynamic Link Library files, like shareddir.dat, are essentially a "guide book" that stores information and instructions for executable (EXE) files - like emule.exe - to follow. These files were created so that multiple programs (eg. eMule) could share the same shareddir.dat file, saving valuable memory allocation, therefore making your computer run more efficiently.
Unfortunately, what makes DLL files so convenient and efficient, also makes them extremely vulnerable to problems. If something happens to a shared DAT file, either it goes missing or gets corrupted in some way, it can generate a "runtime" error message. Runtime is pretty self-explanatory; it means that these errors are triggered when shareddir.dat is attempted to be loaded either when eMule is starting up, or in some cases already running. Some of the most common shareddir.dat errors include:
- Access Violation at address - shareddir.dat.
- shareddir.dat could not be found.
- Cannot find C:\Users\Tester\AppData\Local\eMule\config\shareddir.dat.
- Cannot register shareddir.dat.
- Cannot start eMule. A required component is missing: shareddir.dat. Please install eMule again.
- Failed to load shareddir.dat.
- The application has failed to start because shareddir.dat was not found.
- The file shareddir.dat is missing or corrupt.
- This application failed to start because shareddir.dat was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Your shareddir.dat file could be missing due to accidental deletion, uninstalled as a shared file of another program (shared with eMule), or deleted by a malware infection. Furthermore, shareddir.dat file corruption could be caused from a power outage when loading eMule, system crash while loading shareddir.dat, bad sectors on your storage media (usually your primary hard drive), or quite commonly, a malware infection. Thus, it's critical to make sure your anti-virus is kept up-to-date and scanning regularly.