Visual C++ Redistributable Files

[Ina Dottery]

TheVisual C++ Redistributable installs Microsoft C and C++ (MSVC) runtime libraries. Many applications built using Microsoft C and C++ tools require these libraries. If your app uses those libraries, a Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package must be installed on the target system before you install your app. The Redistributable package architecture must match your app's target architecture. The Redistributable version must be at least as recent as the MSVC build toolset used to build your app. We recommend you use the latest Redistributable available for your version of Visual Studio, with some exceptions noted later in this article.

Unlike older versions of Visual Studio, which have infrequent redist updates, the version number isn't listed in the following table for Visual Studio 2015-2022 because the redist is updated frequently. To find the version number of the latest redist, download the redist you're interested in using one of the following links. Then, look at its properties using Windows File Explorer. In the Details pane, the File version contains the version of the redist.

Some of the downloads that are mentioned in this article are currently available on my.visualstudio.com. Log in using a Visual Studio Subscription account so that you can access the download links. If you're asked for credentials, use your existing Visual Studio subscription account. Or, create a free account by choosing the No account? Create one! link.

Visual Studio versions since Visual Studio 2015 share the same Redistributable files. For example, any apps built by the Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, or 2022 toolsets can use the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. However, the version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installed on the machine must be the same or higher than the version of the Visual C++ toolset used to create your application. For more information about which version of the Redistributable to install, see Determining which DLLs to redistribute. For more information about binary compatibility, see C++ binary compatibility between Visual Studio versions.

These links download the latest available en-US Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages for Visual Studio 2013.You can download other versions and languages from Update for Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable Package or from my.visualstudio.com.

These links download the latest available en-US Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages for Visual Studio 2012 Update 4. You can download other versions and languages from Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2012 Update 4 or from my.visualstudio.com.

Do note that %VCINSTALLDIR% only works in the Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt. That should be located under the Visual Studio XXXX folder in your start menu or it can be launched directly from inside visual studio. You can then enter

The easiest way to locate the redistributable files is by using environment variables set in a developer command prompt. In Visual Studio 2022, the redistributable files are in the %VCINSTALLDIR%Redist\MSVC\v143 folder. In the latest version of Visual Studio 2019, you'll find the redistributable files in the %VCINSTALLDIR%Redist\MSVC\v142 folder. In both Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2019, they're also found in %VCToolsRedistDir%. In Visual Studio 2015, these files can be found in %VCINSTALLDIR%redist, where is the locale of the redistributable packages.

%VCINSTALLDIR% is set by the command prompts of all Visual Studio version, but the value will differ between Visual Studio variants. You can install multiple versions of Visual Studio side by side on the same computer.

After a few web searches I gathered these files were parts of the Visual C++ redistributable for Visual Studio 2015. Many sites advised me to download and install the said Visual C++ redistributable, which I did. But the problem persists. So, I uninstalled 5.4 and went back and installed 5.3.5.

Every time I install a game, or even OpenOffice, part of the installation routine is installing yet another Visual C++ 2005/2008 redistributable, right next to the 10 others I already have on my system.

Visual C++ redistributables are components shipped by app developers who use Visual C++ to write their software. By using Microsoft's well-tested and widely used code inside their apps, developers save their development cost by avoid writing commonly-used code (e.g. sin and cos math functions and handling of common user interface elements like textbox or button). Due to fragmentation in the runtime versions used by the app developers, you would see a long list of Visual C++ redistributables if you install a lot of apps. Uninstalling one Visual C++ redistributable could save you a few megabytes of disk space, but you risk breaking some apps in doing so.

Because programmers rely on Microsoft to keep the Visual C++ runtime up to date, Microsoft releases security update for the redistributables, but due to programmer demands, Visual C++ redistributables do not supersede each other and old versions are kept for compatibility. Some apps are very specific about the version of the Visual C++ dlls they require to make sure the app runs exactly as published. Their authors hold on updating to the latest runtime until they tested their app's compatibility with the new runtime. It is one way to prevent a few thousands calls from angry customers after Microsoft releases an update to the redistributable. Most apps, however, bind to the latest edition of the same major version, as it is the default behavior and the benefit from immediate and effortless security updates outweighs risks in breaking changes delivered by redistributable updates.

You can probably find the app installing a redistributable by looking for an app with the same install date as the redistributable, but there is no telling how many other apps with a later install date are depending on the same redistributable. The amount of time you spend on finding the exact dependency would most likely not worth the few megabytes you may save by uninstalling the redistributables.

The reason is that they are not same thing. First you need to understand that every version of MSVC++ ships with its own version of runtime libraries. There are also 32 and 64 bit versions. Also, there are service packs bring updated versions of runtime libraries.

There are many versions of the C++ redistributable files, unless you know precisely which program will use the file, remove even one a and every program that used it will disable permanently unless re-installed.

Those who have many programs installed will have many versions of them. Microsoft allows it to be redistributed, so rather than invent new code each time, a developer can just pop one of those in for you.

I know it is aggrivating to see many of them there (I have 21 of them), but leave them alone, your programs will shut down if you remove them. It would also be nice if program developers also labeled them for the individual program, but if they did you would have hundreds more. Right now programs piggyback off them, which enables programs to use coding from both old and new.

In the first instance, as that should already help, can she please reinstall SketchUp itself? If that does not do the trick, and I know this is a bit cumbersome, but could you then also remove the existing redistributable files and make sure to re-install them again through the following installer here which you shall also please run as administrator if possible.

Many applications require redistributable Visual C++ runtime library packages to function correctly. These packages are frequently installed separately from the applications they support, enabling multiple applications to use the package with only a single installation. These Visual C++ redistributable and runtime packages are mostly installed for standard libraries that many applications use.[3]

There are several different version numbers to consider when working with Visual C or C++. The oldest and most original of these is the compiler version number, which has been monotonically increased since the early Microsoft C compiler days. This is the version returned by running the command cl.exe on its own without any options. By taking two digits after the decimal and dropping the decimal point, this also becomes the value of the C pre-processor macro: _MSC_VER, and the CMake variable: MSVC_VERSION. A longer version of the C macro is _MSC_FULL_VER to make more finely-grained distinctions between builds of the compiler. An example of _MSC_VER is "1933" to represent version 19.33 of the Microsoft C/C++ compiler, and of _MSC_FULL_VER is "193331630". You should use the >= operator to test the value of _MSC_VER or _MSC_FULL_VER instead of equality.

The Visual product version, such as "17.3.4", designates the version of Visual Studio with which version 19.33 of the compiler was packaged. Then there is the Microsoft Visual C/C++ Runtime Library version, e.g. "14.3". From this, one can deduce also the toolset version, which can be obtained by taking the first three digits of the runtime library version and dropping the decimal, e.g. "143". It includes the Visual C/C++ runtime library, as well as compilers, linkers, assemblers, other build tools, and matching libraries and header files. The following is a (scrapeable) table of the known correlated version numbers.

The Visual C++ compiler ABI have historically changed between major compiler releases.[54] This is especially the case for STL containers, where container sizes have varied a lot between compiler releases.[55] Microsoft therefore recommends against using C++ interfaces at module boundaries when one wants to enable client code compiled using a different compiler version. Instead of C++, Microsoft recommends using C[56] or COM[57] interfaces, which are designed to have a stable ABI between compiler releases.

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