diff --git a/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake b/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
index 56c422da4f..b3669931d3 100644
--- a/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
+++ b/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
@@ -1015,6 +1015,14 @@ if (onnxruntime_USE_QNN)
         ${QNN_LIB_FILES}
         $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${build_output_target}>/onnxruntime/capi/
   )
+  if (EXISTS "${onnxruntime_QNN_HOME}/Qualcomm AI Hub Proprietary License.pdf")
+    add_custom_command(
+      TARGET onnxruntime_pybind11_state POST_BUILD
+      COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy
+          "${onnxruntime_QNN_HOME}/Qualcomm AI Hub Proprietary License.pdf"
+          $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:${build_output_target}>/onnxruntime/
+    )
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 endif()
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/qnn/builder/qnn_backend_manager.cc b/onnxruntime/core/providers/qnn/builder/qnn_backend_manager.cc
index f322a27da2..67aabaec23 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/qnn/builder/qnn_backend_manager.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/qnn/builder/qnn_backend_manager.cc
@@ -1286,8 +1286,24 @@ void* QnnBackendManager::LoadLib(const char* file_name, int flags, std::string&
     return nullptr;
   }
 
-  // search from system lib path first
-  HMODULE mod = LoadLibraryExA(file_name, nullptr, LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH);
+  HMODULE mod;
+  auto file_path = std::filesystem::path(file_name);
+  if (!file_path.is_absolute()) {
+    // construct an absolute path from ORT runtime path + file_name and check whether it exists.
+    auto pathstring = Env::Default().GetRuntimePath() + ToPathString(file_name);
+    auto absolute_path = pathstring.c_str();
+    if (std::filesystem::exists(std::filesystem::path(absolute_path))) {
+      // load library from absolute path and search for dependencies there.
+      mod = LoadLibraryExW(absolute_path, nullptr, LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH);
+    } else {
+      // use default dll search order for file_name.
+      mod = LoadLibraryExA(file_name, nullptr, 0);
+    }
+  } else {
+    // file_name represents an absolute path.
+    // load library from absolute path and search for dependencies there.
+    mod = LoadLibraryExA(file_name, nullptr, LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH);
+  }
   if (!mod) {
     error_msg = "load library failed";
     return nullptr;
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7f597d15c6..a70c6211e3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -332,6 +332,20 @@ else:
     libs.extend(["onnxruntime_providers_vitisai.dll"])
     # DirectML Libs
     libs.extend(["DirectML.dll"])
+    # QNN V68/V73 dependencies
+    qnn_deps = [
+        "QnnCpu.dll",
+        "QnnHtp.dll",
+        "QnnSaver.dll",
+        "QnnSystem.dll",
+        "QnnHtpPrepare.dll",
+        "QnnHtpV73Stub.dll",
+        "libQnnHtpV73Skel.so",
+        "libqnnhtpv73.cat",
+        "QnnHtpV68Stub.dll",
+        "libQnnHtpV68Skel.so",
+    ]
+    libs.extend(qnn_deps)
     if nightly_build:
         libs.extend(["onnxruntime_pywrapper.dll"])
 
@@ -376,8 +390,8 @@ else:
 examples_names = ["mul_1.onnx", "logreg_iris.onnx", "sigmoid.onnx"]
 examples = [path.join("datasets", x) for x in examples_names]
 
-# Extra files such as EULA and ThirdPartyNotices
-extra = ["LICENSE", "ThirdPartyNotices.txt", "Privacy.md"]
+# Extra files such as EULA and ThirdPartyNotices (and Qualcomm License, only for QNN release packages)
+extra = ["LICENSE", "ThirdPartyNotices.txt", "Privacy.md", "Qualcomm AI Hub Proprietary License.pdf"]
 
 # Description
 readme_file = "docs/python/ReadMeOV.rst" if is_openvino else "docs/python/README.rst"