XML Tools for Notepad++: libXML and/or libXSLT missing

Question

I installed XML Tools 2.4.11 using Plugin Manager, however the only thing showing up in menu is How to install item and clicking on it I get a message:

Unable to load libXML and/or libXSLT.

Please install external DLLs into NPP root directory (same directory than Notepad++.exe) or in "%appdata%\Notepad++" folder and restart NPP.

These libraries are available in the subfolder "ext_libs" of xmltools zip archive.

If I look into my Notepad++ folder, I can clearly see there's both libxml2-2.dll and libxslt-1.dll. I tried replacing them with an older version bundled with XML Tools from 2016, but I'm getting the same error.

I have 32-bit version of Notepad++ on 64-bit Windows. Here's my debug info:

Notepad++ v7.5.9   (32-bit)
Build time : Oct 14 2018 - 15:02:52
Path : C:\Program Files(x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows 10 (64-bit)
Plugins : NppExport.dll DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppTextFX.dll NppXmlTreeviewPlugin.dll PluginManager.dll Tidy2.dll XMLTools.dll

Not sure what to do here to make this work.

Solution 1

I tried some of the answers that Mr. Hooper linked, and also did not have success. After a whole lot of see-if-this-fix-works, I ended up completely uninstalling without saving any settings, grabbed the absolute latest installer (7.6.2 - 32bit), and installed it. Then, using the built-in Plugins Admin, I installed XML Tools, and it worked!

It should be noted that Notepad++ 7.5.8 (32 bit) with XML Tools 2.4.9 (manually installed) DID work as well. I still don't have an answer as to what's causing the problem, which is the frustrating part, but I THINK it might have something to do with an update process vs. uninstall and reinstall.

Solution 2

I had an issue with XML Tools failing to install via the Plugins Admin even when reinstalling the latest version of NPP (currently 7.7.1).

It turned out that a corporate firewall was blocking the Plugins Admin from accessing the repository. Unfortunately, there is no notification in the UI for this which is causing a very frustrating experience of nothing happening.

It took me a while and some Googling to figure out how to manually install the latest version of XML Tools (2.4.11) with Notepad++ higher than v7.6:

• please download xmltools manually from here: https://github.com/morbac/xmltools/releases/download/2.4.11.0/Xml.Tools.2.4.11.0.x86.Unicode.zip

• extract Xml.Tools.2.4.11.0.x86.Unicode.zip anywhere to a temporary
  location

• create a folder XMLTools inside of Detination Folder*

• copy the files XMLTools.dll and change.log as well as the whole folder libs from the extracted Xml.Tools.2.4.11.0.x86.Unicode folder to: {Detination Folder*}\XMLTools

• restart notepad++ (only necessary if it was opened while copying the xmltools plugin to it’s folder destination)

Destination Folder:

• %ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\plugins\ (32 bit OS)
• %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\ (64 bit OS, 32 bit Npp)
• %ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\plugins\ (64 bit OS, 64 bit Npp)

Source: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16983/xml-tools/11

Solution 3

Try with new default plugin manager

I still had the OLD plugin manager inside NPPx86.

A while back there was a bit of drama in the NPP project and the old plugin manager got kicked out of NPP in version 7.5 on 2017-08-16. (Archived here.)

So, back then, if you wanted to have any plugin manager at all then you had to manually insert the old plugin manager into NPP yourself. And that's what I did.

But now NPP seems to bring its own NEW plugin manager.

So I uninstalled NPP, deleted %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Notepad++ and deleted %appdata%\Notepad++. And then did a reinstall using "Notepad++ Installer 32-bit x86" (npp.7.6.6.Installer.exe).

Then via Plugins | Plugins Admin...

I was successfully able to install XML Tools.

So fresh install did the trick for me. (But if you're hesitant you might first try to throw out the old plugin manager manually somehow before you reinstall.)

Solution 4

It looks like there is a compatibility issue with the XML Tools Plugin and 7.6+ Notepad++ versions.

Basically, you have two options:

• If you are still on NPP 7.5 you can manually install the XML tools (2.4.9.x Unicode) from SF here and avoid auto-updates of the plugins until you are ready to move

• or you start fresh now with NPP 7.6+ and use the new built-in Plugin Admin as suggested by the other answers using XML Tools 2.4.11+ (it seems there is no 2.4.10).

You can find some interesting pointers related to this case in this NPP community thread.

View more solutions

Comments

[Brian Hooper]

The answers here and here might fix the problem (presumably they have helped some people as they are upvoted, but I tried all this and it still didn't work).

[lovrodoe]

Well that fixed it. I guess there was something off with my installation. I don't know why I had 32-bit version to begin with. I also didn't have Plugins Admin, I had to manually install Plugin Manager. Installed Notepad++ with default settings and everything magically works.

[Jay Cummins]

Thanks! This worked for me too (7.6.6 32-bit). What were you going to write after "Here's a little background for the"? Left everyone hanging!

[StackzOfZtuff]

@jay: Oh right. Sorry. I first wanted to add the link to the drama there. But then i just made it an inline link instead. :)

[Ory Zaidenvorm]

See my answer about a third option (installing manually with NPP 7.6+)