Walkthrough: Deploying a Visual C++ Application By Using the Visual C++ Redistributable Package
This step-by-step article describes how to use the Visual C++ Redistributable Package to deploy a Visual C++ application.
Prerequisites
You must have these components to complete this walkthrough:
A computer that has Visual Studio installed.
An additional computer that does not have the Visual C++ libraries.
To use the Visual C++ Redistributable Package to deploy an application
Create and build an MFC application by following the first three steps in Walkthrough: Deploying a Visual C++ Application By Using a Setup Project.
Create a file, name it setup.bat, and add the following commands to it. Change MyMFCApplication to the name of your project.
@echo off
vcredist_x86.exe
mkdir "C:\Program Files\MyMFCApplication"
copy MyMFCApplication.exe "C:\Program Files\MyMFCApplication"Create a self-extracting setup file:
At a command prompt or in the Run window, run iexpress.exe.
Select Create new Self Extraction Directive file and then choose the Next button.
Select Extract files and run an installation command and then choose Next.
In the text box, enter the name of your MFC application and then choose Next.
On the Confirmation prompt page, select No Prompt and then choose Next.
On the License agreement page, select Do not display a license and then choose Next.
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On the Packaged files page, add the following files and then choose Next.
Your MFC application (.exe file).
vcredist_x86.exe. This file is located in \Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\vcredist_x86\.
The setup.bat file that you created in the earlier step.
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On the Install Program to Launch page, in the Install Program text box, enter the following command line and then choose Next.
cmd.exe /c "setup.bat"
On the Show window page, select Default and then choose Next.
On the Finished message page, select No message and then choose Next.
On the Package Name and Options page, enter a name for your self-extracting setup file, select the Store files using Long File Name inside Package option, and then choose Next. The end of the file name must be Setup.exe—for example, MyMFCApplicationSetup.exe.
On the Configure restart page, select No restart and then choose Next.
On the Save Self Extraction Directive page, select Save Self Extraction Directive (SED) file and then choose Next.
On the Create package page, choose Next.
Test the self-extracting setup file on the other computer, which does not have the Visual C++ libraries:
On the other computer, download a copy of the setup file, and then install it by running it and following the steps that it provides.
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Run the MFC application.
The self-extracting setup file installs the MFC application that is in the folder that you specified in step 2. The application runs successfully because the Visual C++ Redistributable Package installer is included in the self-extracting setup file.
Important
To determine which version of the runtime is installed, the installer checks the registry key \HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\VC\Runtimes\[platform]. If the currently installed version is newer than the version that the installer is attempting to install, the installer returns success without installing the older version and leaves an additional entry on the installed programs page in the Control Panel.
Redistributing Visual C++ Files
Visual Studio 2015Other VersionsWhen you deploy an application, you must also deploy the files that are required to support it. If any of these files are provided by Microsoft, check whether you are permitted to redistribute them. To review the Microsoft Software License Terms, see License.htm in the directory where Visual Studio is installed, or on the Visual Studio installation media. To view the "REDIST list" that is referenced in the "Distributable Code" section of the Microsoft Software License Terms for certain editions of Visual Studio, see Distributable Code for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 SDK on the Microsoft website. For more information about redistributable files, see Determining Which DLLs to Redistribute and Deployment Examples.
To deploy redistributable Visual C++ files, you can use the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages (VCRedist_x86.exe, VCRedist_x64.exe, or VCRedist_arm.exe) that are included in Visual Studio. These files can be found under your Visual Studio installation directory in Program Files [(x86)]\Microsoft Visual Studio version\VC\redist\locale\. Another option is to use redistributable merge modules (.msm files), which can be found in Program Files [(x86)]\Common Files\Merge Modules\. It's also possible to directly install redistributable Visual C++ DLLs in the application local folder, which is the folder that contains your executable application file. For servicing reasons, we do not recommend that you use this installation location.
The Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install and register all Visual C++ libraries. If you use one, you must set it to run on the target system as a prerequisite to the installation of your application. We recommend that you use these packages for your deployments because they enable automatic updating of the Visual C++ libraries. For an example about how to use these packages, see Walkthrough: Deploying a Visual C++ Application By Using the Visual C++ Redistributable Package.
Each Visual C++ Redistributable Package checks for the existence of a more recent version on the machine. If a more recent version is found, the package is not installed. Starting in Visual Studio 2015, redistributable packages display an error message stating that setup failed. If a package is run by using the /quiet flag, no error message is displayed. In either case, an error is logged by the Microsoft installer, and an error result is returned to the caller. Starting in Visual Studio 2015 packages, you can check a registry value to find out if a more recent version is installed. The currently installed version is stored as a REG_SZ value in the Version key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE[\Wow6432Node]\Microsoft\DevDiv\vc\Servicing\14.0\RuntimeMinimum. You don't need to install your redistributable package if the currently installed version is more recent.
If you use a merge module that contains a Visual C++ DLL, you must include it in the Windows Installer package (or similar installation package) that you are using to deploy the application. For more information, see Redistributing Components By Using Merge Modules. For an example, see Walkthrough: Deploying a Visual C++ Application By Using a Setup Project, which also shows how to use InstallShield Limited Edition to create an installation package.
Potential Run-Time Errors
If a Visual C++ library DLL is not reachable and Windows cannot load it for your application, this message may be displayed: This application has failed to start because MSVCR<version number>.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
To resolve this kind of error, make sure that your application builds correctly and that Visual C++ libraries are correctly deployed on the target system. For more information, see Understanding the Dependencies of a Visual C++ Application.
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