The Relative Path property determines the path that is registered for this COM server. The default setting “No” registers the fully qualified path to the file under its class ID. Then, when any client application instantiates an object from this class, the system always points to the registered COM server.

On the other hand, selecting “Yes” for this property registers only the name of the file without any path. Doing so allows you to install “side-by-side” components, meaning that the operating system will use the copy of the COM server in the current directory and that other applications can maintain separate copies of the file in their respective folders.

If the path is relative and the file is not in the system's path, the operating system will not be able to find the class when a client attempts to create an object outside of the server's current directory.