Most of the time, this issue is caused by a problem with Microsoft DirectX. While d3dx9_27.dll is just tiny part of the many files of DirectX, it’s known to cause quite a lot of error messages (especially with fairly old applications and games). Besides the “The program can’t start because d3dx9_27.dll is missing” error, users have reported problems with the d3dx9_27.dll file packaged in different error messages. Here’s a list with the most popular occurrences:
“The file d3dx9_27.dll is missing” “Cannot find d3dx9_27.dll”“The dynamic link library d3dx9_27.dll could not be found in the specified path [PATH]”“Error initializing the application because the file d3dx9_27.dll was not found”“The application failed to start because d3dx9_27.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem”“D3DX9_27.DLL is missing. Replace D3DX9_27.DLL and try again”
Most of the time, these errors are encountered right after the user tries to open a video game or another piece of software that uses some type of graphical feature. The d3dx9_27.dll is part of DirectX 9 suite. Typically every software that needs this file should include it in the installation package, but in reality, not all developers do this. Even more, d3dx9_27.dll is part of an optional update of the DirectX 9 suite. Over the years, DirectX 9 has been regularly updated with performance tweaks and updates to ensure the best compatibility with the newest games. Because DirectX 9 is not part of the most recent Windows operating systems, some users will not have this particular file installed on their PC. This is even more frequent on Windows 10 because DirectX 9 is replaced with DirectX 12 – a newer version that doesn’t contain a lot of files that were included with DirectX 9 (including the d3dx9_27.dll). Errors related to the d3dx9_27.dll are typically reported in relation to outdated or fairly old applications that weren’t designed to run on DirectX 10 and above. If you receive the “The program can’t start because d3dx9_27.dll is missing” error (or a similar one) when opening a game or a different application, the methods below might help. Below you have a collection of methods that other users have used to get past errors associated with the d3dx9_27.dll file. Please follow each potential fix in order until you discover a method that resolves the problem in your particular situation.
Method 1: Install the missing d3dx9_27.dll via DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer
Since the newer DirectX version won’t contain most of the libraries for DirectX 9 and earlier (which include the d3dx9_27.dll file), you need to install the missing redist package yourself in order to resolve the issue. There are several different ways that you can do this, but the most simple approach would be to use the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: In the event that you got a message saying that you already have the latest version of DirectX, move down to Method 2.
Method 2: Install d3dx9_27.dll via DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
Some users have reported that following Method 1 resulted in a message saying that their DirectX version was already the latest. Turns out that this issue regularly occurs on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 computers and it happens because the installer sees that the operating system uses DirectX 12 (or DirectX 11) without checking the optional DirectX files (which are our interest). Luckily, you can easily go around this minor inconvenient by downloading the DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010) version instead. This will contain most optional DirectX files that are regularly needed, including the d3dx9_27.dll file. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
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