Application Manifests & Windows XP

Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft created extensive changes to the Windows Manager and Shell Common Controls. These changes included a whole new set of controls that could be used with programs to provide a fresh look and to provide additional Theme support. Older programs would continue to use the older Shell Common Controls library (comctl32.dll), while newer programs would use the new Shell Common Controls library (uxctrl.dll). By having two separate libraries instead of updating the existing Shell Common Controls library, compatibility issues with older programs were completely bypassed.[1].

To determine whether programs would use the new library was accomplished through a new PE Resource type called a Manifest. This Manifest Resource - in its original form - contained a list of DLL's and other resources that would be used with the executable. This allowed easier control over dependencies by specifying which versions of a DLL would be used with the program - specifically which Shell Common Controls library. So, newer programs, which included a specific Manifest Resource, would use the uxctrl.dll; and older ones, which did not have a Manifest Resource, would continue to use comctl32.dll.

This created the concept of Side-by-side Assemblies - a new feature in Windows XP - where multiple versions of a DLL could be installed on a machine, and depending on the Manifest Resource within the binary only a specific version of that DLL would be used by the program. For several reasons Microsoft has shifted away from supporting side-by-side assemblies - at least in C/C++ runtime libraries - in favor of including the version of the appended to the file name.[2]

XP Styles

• Microsoft Download - Windows 2000/XP User Interface Guidelines
• The Old New Thing - The history of the Windows XP common controls
• MSDN Library - Using Windows XP Visual Styles With Controls on Windows Forms

Side-By-Side Assemblies

• MSDN Library - Side-by-side Assemblies
• MSDN Library - Dynamic-Link Library Search Order
• Wikipedia - Side-by-side Assembly
• MSDN Library - Using Side-by-Side Assemblies as a Resource
• MSDN Library - Enabling an Assembly in an Application Hosting a DLL, Extension, or Control Panel
• MSDN Library - Enabling an Assembly in an Application Without Extensions
• MSDN Library - Per-application Configuration on Windows Server 2003
• MSDN Library - Per-application Configuration on Windows XP
• MSDN Library - Troubleshooting C/C++ Isolated Applications and Side-by-side Assemblies
• MSDN Library - Concepts of Isolated Applications and Side-by-side Assemblies
• Microsoft Support - A new CWDIllegalInDllSearch registry entry is available to control the DLL search path algorithm
• Microsoft Support - Some third-party applications that use external manifest files stop working after you install Windows server 2003 Service Pack 1
• MSDN Library - Dynamic-Link Library Redirection
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained - DLLs and resource ID 2 manifests