Rthdcpl.exe - Illegal System DLL Relocation

Contributed by MickeyMouse April 4, 2007  
Tagged: Windows

Recent security updates to XP SP2 break the Realtek HD Audio Control Panel. People will see errors displayed when it attempts to start. Here is the fix…

Patching the most recent XP .ANI exploit breaks the commonly used Realtek Control Panel. The program will not start and frequently an error like this is seen:

Rthdcpl.exe - Illegal System DLL Relocation

The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

The Realtek HD Audio Control panel can just be uninstalled.

If you like its features, first try updating your Realtek drivers. This fixes the issue in most cases.

You can also use this hotfix from microsoft.