more complicated than you may think. If you are using a MFC extension DLL then you will need to link the resources of your DLL into the clients resource chain. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclib/html/_MFCNOTES_TN033.asp[^] If you are using a bog standard DLL you need to switch the context to that of the DLL using a call to AFX_MANAGE_STATE(AfxGetStaticModuleState()); before constructing the dialog class. I do this by having a manager class do all the dialog construction/domodal e.t.c. from within the DLL so I can make the manage state call. This will lead to all sorts of other issues if your dialog is modeless though. Not the view of my employer

You can not use Windows NT in a 'real-time' environment because it is not possible to be completely deterministic. You would have a hard time getting it past the FDA anyway as how would you go about validating it? There is 'Embedded NT' which is a real time NT that allows you to completely build the kernal to only use those things you require. If you are determined to use the NT API this would probably be the best compromise. The best solution would be to embed it. Such a task does not really require an O.S. Not the view of my employer