aelaunch.dll is considered a type of Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file. Dynamic Link Library files, like aelaunch.dll, are essentially a "guide book" that stores information and instructions for executable (EXE) files - like dpnsvr.exe - to follow. These files were created so that multiple programs (eg. Microsoft Age of Empires) could share the same aelaunch.dll 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 DLL 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 aelaunch.dll is attempted to be loaded either when Microsoft Age of Empires is starting up, or in some cases already running. Some of the most common aelaunch.dll errors include:
- Access Violation at address - aelaunch.dll.
- aelaunch.dll could not be found.
- Cannot find C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires\aelaunch.dll.
- Cannot register aelaunch.dll.
- Cannot start Microsoft Age of Empires. A required component is missing: aelaunch.dll. Please install Microsoft Age of Empires again.
- Failed to load aelaunch.dll.
- The application has failed to start because aelaunch.dll was not found.
- The file aelaunch.dll is missing or corrupt.
- This application failed to start because aelaunch.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Your aelaunch.dll file could be missing due to accidental deletion, uninstalled as a shared file of another program (shared with Microsoft Age of Empires), or deleted by a malware infection. Furthermore, aelaunch.dll file corruption could be caused from a power outage when loading Microsoft Age of Empires, system crash while loading aelaunch.dll, 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.