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How to download and install DirectX

Article ID: 179113 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q179113

Summary

Install the latest version of DirectX

Microsoft DirectX is included as an integral part in Windows operating systems. You can update DirectX by applying the latest service pack or other updates through Windows Update

(http://update.microsoft.com)

.

The following table lists the latest DirectX version that you can install on an operating system. To check your DirectX version, see Which version of DirectX is installed

(http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/which-version-directx#which-version-directx=windows-7)

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DirectX version	Supported operating systems
DirectX 11.2	Windows 8.1 Preview, Windows RT 8.1 Preview, and Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview
DirectX 11.1	Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012 Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 together with update 2670838 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670838/ ) installed
DirectX 11.0	Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Server 2008 SP2 together with update 971644 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971644/ ) or 971512 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971512/ ) installed
DirectX 10.1	Windows Vista SP1 or later, and Windows Server 2008 or later
DirectX 10.0	Windows Vista
DirectX 9.0C	Windows XP SP2 or later Windows XP x64 Edition SP1 or later, and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later

Manual installation

You can also manually download and apply the following update package that updates DirectX to the latest version.

On Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1:
- Platform Update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (KB2670838)
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36805)
On Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2:
- Update for Windows Vista (KB971512)
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3274)
- Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB971512)
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21608)
- Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB971512)
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4390)
- Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB971512)
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12870)

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Some applications and games require DirectX 9. However, your computer includes a more recent version of DirectX. If you install and then run an application or game that requires DirectX 9, you might receive an error message such as "The program can't start because d3dx9_35.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

To resolve this issue, go to the following Microsoft website to install DirectX End-User Runtime:

DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer

(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=159853)

Note When you run this package, no change is made to your version of DirectX, Direct3D 9, Direct3D 10.x, Direct3D 11.x, DirectInput, DirectSound, DirectPlay, DirectShow, or DirectMusic.

List of file failures that the DirectX End-User Runtime package fixes

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If you experience issues in which an application fails because any of the following files are missing, you may be able to resolve the failure by running the DirectX run-time package:

D3DX9_24.DLL through D3DX9_43.DLL
D3DX10.DLL through D3DX10_43.DLL
D3DCompiler_33.DLL through D3DCompiler_43.DLL
D3DX11_42.DLL
D3DX11_43.DLL
D3DCSX_42.DLL
D3DCSX_43.DLL
XACTENGINE2_0.DLL through XACTENGINE2_9.DLL
XACTENGINE3_0.DLL through XACTENGINE3_7.DLL
XAUDIO2_0.DLL
XAUDIO2_1.DLL
XAUDIO2_2.DLL
XAUDIO2_3.DLL
XAUDIO2_4.DLL
XAUDIO2_5.DLL
XAUDIO2_6.DLL
XAUDIO2_7.DLL
XAPOFX1_0.DLL through XAPOFX1_5.DLL
X3DAUDIO1_0.DLL through X3DAUDIO1_7.DLL
XINPUT1_1.DLL
XINPUT1_2.DLL
XINPUT1_3.DLL

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References

For home users:

DirectX: Frequently asked questions
(http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/directx-faq)

For developers:

Where is the DirectX SDK?
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee663275.aspx)
Where is the DirectX SDK (2013 Edition)
(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2013/07/01/where-is-the-directx-sdk-2013-edition.aspx)
(MSDN Blog)
Not So Direct Setup
(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2010/09/08/not-so-direct-setup.aspx)
(MSDN Blog)
Direct3D 11 Deployment for Game Developers
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee416644.aspx)

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