startupres.dll is considered a type of Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file. Dynamic Link Library files, like startupres.dll, are essentially a "guide book" that stores information and instructions for executable (EXE) files - like MpSigStub.exe - to follow. These files were created so that multiple programs (eg. Windows Live Essentials 2012) could share the same startupres.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 startupres.dll is attempted to be loaded either when Windows Live Essentials 2012 is starting up, or in some cases already running. Some of the most common startupres.dll errors include:
- Access Violation at address - startupres.dll.
- startupres.dll could not be found.
- Cannot find C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Installer\startupres.dll.
- Cannot register startupres.dll.
- Cannot start Windows Live Essentials 2012. A required component is missing: startupres.dll. Please install Windows Live Essentials 2012 again.
- Failed to load startupres.dll.
- The application has failed to start because startupres.dll was not found.
- The file startupres.dll is missing or corrupt.
- This application failed to start because startupres.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Your startupres.dll file could be missing due to accidental deletion, uninstalled as a shared file of another program (shared with Windows Live Essentials 2012), or deleted by a malware infection. Furthermore, startupres.dll file corruption could be caused from a power outage when loading Windows Live Essentials 2012, system crash while loading startupres.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.