visual c++ cross platform problem

I wrote a program in Visual studio that uses a GUI with a browse function to pick out a file for another process. The program was written on a windows 2000 machine, and everything works as intended. The problem I'm having is when it is run on a Windows NT 4 machine, the browse function only returns folders.

I found the reason for this, at least I think I have; according to the help files online in the MSDN library, the browse structure uses Shell32.dll to operate. In order to browse for files, the computer must have at least version 4.71 of Shell32.dll, and NT 4 only has version 4.0. We tried updating the NT machine to the latest service pack, but it didn't update that file. After some more research, I found that when internet explorer 4.0 (possibly, might be a different version) is installed, it also updates this file, but that's the only way that they mention. My boss also tried to just copy the .dll from my windows 2000 machine and paste it over his own, but shell32.dll is apparently always in use, so he couldn't.

The problem with that is I don't want to have the 6 people that need to use this program go through all the irritation of downgrading IE, then upgrading back to where they were. It seems non-sensical to me that they would make it so difficult to update this file. Does anyone know of a way around this, without forcing everyone to upgrade to windows 2000?

 

As long as updating shell32 won't break anything, you need to check out KB Q181345 for the technique to slide a new file in. There is also a tool in the Resource Kit to replace files in use at the next boot, see KB Q184408