There are many types of DLL files in the system which is very important for most applications to run efficiently. When these files go missing or are moved to another directory, it creates several problems in the system.
Recently it had come to our notice that many windows users are facing an issue where they are getting an error message that says “The program can’t start because libcef.dll file is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem” when they attempted to launch an application.
This is most probably because the file libcef.dll went missing or got deleted by the user unknowingly. There is also another possibility of this file getting corrupted or some of the system files being corrupted.
Don’t worry if you are having this same problem with your system. In this article, we have gathered a bunch of fixes which will assist the users in fixing it.
Workaround – Try disabling the Anti-Virus software and see if this resolves the issue. If it fixes the issue, then you can exclude the System32 folder if it is a 32-bit system or SysWOW64 folder if it is a 64-bit system and the bin folder of the Steam app from the Anti-virus software installed on your system.
If this does not solve the issue, please enable the anti-virus software on the system again from protecting your system from malware and viruses.
Fix 1 – Download and register the libcef.dll file on the system
The main obvious reason behind this error message is that the libcef.dll file itself is missing from the required directory in the system. So we are explaining in this method how the user can download the libcef.dll file from the reliable, safe and secured source from the internet and place it in the right directory and register it. This will definitely be going to resolve this issue.
Steps to Download the libcef.dll file from the reliable source
Step 1: Open any of the web browser apps on your system and open a new tab.
Step 2: Copy-paste this URL below in the address bar and press Enter key.
https://www.dll-files.com/libcef.dll.html
Step 3: The different versions of the libcef.dll file are listed in the order of the version, which means the most latest version is the first on the list.
Step 4: Click the Download button first from the list to start downloading the libcef.dll zip file if you are having a 32-bit processor in your system.
NOTE – If you are having 64-bit processor system, then you need to select the second libcef.dll entry from the list as shown below.
Step 5: After downloading the zip file is over, extract it all by right-clicking on the zip file and clicking on Extract All… option from its context menu.
Step 6: Then click Extract in the next window to start extracting all the files.
Step 7: After extracting, open the folder and copy the libcef.dll file to the desktop for your convenience.
Step 8: To proceed further, you need to know whether your system is a 32-bit or 64-bit processor.
Step 9: Type msinfo32 in the Run box (Win+R keys) and press Enter.
Step 10: Now in the System Information window, check the System Type value as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 11: This will show whether the system is 64-bit or 32-bit.
Case 1: How to replace the libcef.dll if you have a 64-bit system
Step 1: Press the Win+R keys together on the keyboard which opens the run box.
Step 2: Type C:\Windows\SysWOW64 in it and press Enter key to open the SysWOW64 folder in the system.
Step 3: Now go to desktop (Win+D keys) and copy the libcef.dll file that you had copied earlier in this method after extracting the zip file.
Step 4: After copying the libcef.dll file, go back to the SysWOW64 folder and paste it there.
Step 5: Once you are done with pasting the file, press the Win+R keys together once again to open the Run box.
Step 6: Type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift +Enter keys together and accept the UAC that gets prompted on the screen by clicking Yes.
Step 7: In the command prompt window, type cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and press Enter.
Step 8: Next type regsvr32 libcef.dll and hit Enter key.
Step 9: This will register the libcef.dll file in the SysWOW64 folder on your system.
Step 10: After this, close the command prompt window and restart the system.
Hopefully, this should fix the issue.
Case 2: How to replace the libcef.dll if you have a 32-bit system
Step 1: Open the File Explorer by pressing the Win+E keys together on the keyboard.
Step 2: Copy-paste the below line in the address bar and press Enter to reach the System32 folder.
C:\Windows\System32
Step 3: Once you reach the System32 folder, copy the libcef.dll file from the desktop and paste it here into the System32 folder.
Step 4: Now you can close the System32 folder.
Step 5: Open the elevated command prompt window on your system by pressing the Win+R keys.
Step 6: Then type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together.
Step 7: Accept the UAC prompt to continue.
Step 8: Type regsvr32 libcef.dll in it and hit Enter key. (NOTE: No need to navigate to the System32 folder, since the elevated command prompt opens in the System32 folder by default.)
Step 9: Once it gets registered, you need to close the command prompt window.
Step 10: Now restart the system once and check if the problem gets resolved.
NOTE – If you are getting this error while launching any game application from the Steam app, then copy the libcef.dll file from the desktop and paste it to the bin folder of the Steam app located at C:\Program Files\Steam\bin.
Fix 2 – Perform SFC Scan and DISM Restore Health
When all the corrupted system files that are present in the system are replaced with fresh ones, most issues that are occurring in the system are fixed. So we recommend our users to scan the system for any corrupted files and replace them using the System File Checker tool and then restore the system health using the DISM tool as explained below.
Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys together to open the Run box.
Step 2: Type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together.
Step 3: This will open the elevated command prompt window after you accept the UAC prompt on the screen.
Step 4: Type the below line in the command prompt and press Enter key.
sfc /scannow
Step 5: Once it is done executing the command, restore the system health by executing the below line as shown in the screenshot.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Step 6: After it is done, close the command prompt window.
Fix 3 – Restore your Windows System
If some settings have been changed for some unknown reasons, which is actually this issue on the system, then you might have to restore your windows system to the last point where the system was working very much fine. We suggest our users restore their windows system only if none of the methods explained above work for you.