Error: AutodeskInstallNow.exe Entry Point Not Found + zlib.dll + Procmon

Let me start by saying that Process Monitor [Procmon.exe] is my best friend because I have used it many times to solve various issues.

In this scenario, the problem was that as soon as you try to run Setup.exe from the install media of our software, the error was:

AutodeskInstallNow.exe - Entry Point Not Found
The procedure entry point inflateEnd could not be located in the dynamic link library zlib.dll

Using Process Monitor, we were able to find out on the problematic computer that the zlib.dll that it was using was in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\zlib.dll directory.

I did a quick search on a my computer [Setup.exe worked perfectly] and I noticed that I didn't have that file in that location.

I checked for the zlib.dll in the install media of AutoCAD 2014 and it existed.

I also did a search on the zlib.dll file and I found out that it is used for compression.

A Dynamic Linked Library [dll] file can be placed in multiple locations and Windows will look for it in various paths set in the environment.

For this computer, the dll was in the SysWOW64 directory and it was probably from an previous install of some other 3rd party software. When you run a Setup.exe of an Autodesk product, Windows will look for dll files in various locations and it found it in SysWOW64 first. In this case, the zlib.dll file that was there and the one that Autodesk was looking for was not the same version and therefore an error came up.

The solution is to rename the zlib.dll file. For example:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\zlib.dll

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\zlib.bak

Once the file is renamed, Setup.exe will then look for the zlib.dll file in the media which is the correct version.

Thanks to Matt Urany for confirming this hypothesis was indeed true.

Reference:

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/12/autocad-family-setupexe-bad-image-pdhdll-is-either-not-designed-to-run-on-windows-or-contains-an-err.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/03/the-joy-of-malware-autocad-2013.html