Applications don't load from the working directory first by default.
But they do load from the working directory by default [0] and until XP SP2 they put it before system32 in the search order [1] by default.
[0] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic...
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic...
The first link shows it loads from the folder of the application before the working directory even when the safe default is disabled.
But they do load from the working directory by default [0] and until XP SP2 they put it before system32 in the search order [1] by default.
[0] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic...
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic...
The first link shows it loads from the folder of the application before the working directory even when the safe default is disabled.