Add-on for IE8 only visible when I debug it from Visual Studio

Question

I am following the C++ example for creating a BHO for Internet Explorer 8 here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb250489.aspx

I managed to compile and debug the extension without a problem (I use Visual Studio 2010). If IE was started from the debugger I can see all my addons in IE when I click "Tools" -> "Manage Add-Ons". However, when I start IE8 directly (by double-clicking its icon) - I do not see the addons. I am 100% sure that I have registered the addons with regsvr32.exe . I even tried to run IE8 "as administator", but nothing changed.

Why are my addons disappearing when I start IE8 without using the debugger ?

Answer 1

If you have a 64bit system, chances are that under the debugger you are running a 32bit IE while from the desktop you launch 64bit IE. Then, if you ran regsvr32.exe from the SysWOW64 directory it would make sense that only the 32bit IE sees the add-on.

To overcome this you need to:

• Make a 64bit version of your solution, creating a 64bit build configuration in Visual Studio is quite clearly explained here
• Register the produced dll with the regsvr32 from C:\Windows\System32 not C:\Windows\SysWOW64