The Mysterious ZeroByte.dll

ByCarlos Granier

Trying to open a presentation with Powerpoint 2007 Beta under Windows Vista Beta 2 throws this mysterious error:

Bad Image | C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\XLATORS\ZEROBYTE.DLL is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support.

Googling for “zerobyte.dll” returns absolutely ZERO results, which is even more mysterious than this error message. Opening the same file using Powerpoint 2007 Beta under Windows XP Media Center result in no errors, and the file opens up fine.

ZEROBYTE.DLL is stored in the XLATORS folder on both machines and is exactly 0 bytes long.

If you know what this file does or what’s causing this error, please jump into the comments and let me know. Thanks.

13 Comments

  1. Yo, I get the same error, but I’m using Office 2007 on WinXP. Any luck with this?

  2. No, I ended up uninstalling Vista and installing XP from scratch. Haven’t seen the problem since then.

  3. Yo, I get the same error, but I’m using Office 2007 on WinXP. Any luck with this?

  4. No, I ended up uninstalling Vista and installing XP from scratch. Haven’t seen the problem since then.

  7. I had this same error running Vista Build 5384 and Office 2007 Beta.

    Got a friend to open it on an XP SP2 machine running Office 2003 Sp1 and it opened as normal – with one exception.

    Powerpoint 2003 popped up a window saying “this was saved in a different version of Powerpoint – Converting file” etc.

    He saved it as a “Powerpoint 97 – 2003” format and i was able to open it.

    Looks like the BETA of office doesnt have all the Text Converters that it needs. Final release should be fine.

  8. I had this same error running Vista Build 5384 and Office 2007 Beta.

    Got a friend to open it on an XP SP2 machine running Office 2003 Sp1 and it opened as normal – with one exception.

    Powerpoint 2003 popped up a window saying “this was saved in a different version of Powerpoint – Converting file” etc.

    He saved it as a “Powerpoint 97 – 2003” format and i was able to open it.

    Looks like the BETA of office doesnt have all the Text Converters that it needs. Final release should be fine.

  9. Same error here. Running Win Xp x64 edition with Office 2007 w/ B2TR.

    The last thing I did on my system was install Visual Studio 2005.

  10. Same error here. Running Win Xp x64 edition with Office 2007 w/ B2TR.

    The last thing I did on my system was install Visual Studio 2005.

  11. i can find or i don't think i have Powerpoint 2007 beta on my vista…

  12. i can find or i don't think i have Powerpoint 2007 beta on my vista…

  13. i can find or i don't think i have Powerpoint 2007 beta on my vista…

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