Visual C++ Redistributable Install Location

[Priamo Gregory]

Donote 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.

When 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're permitted to redistribute them. You'll find a link to the Visual Studio license terms in the IDE. Use the License terms link in the About Microsoft Visual Studio dialog box. Or, download the relevant EULAs and licenses from the Visual Studio License Directory.

To view the "REDIST list" that's referenced in the "Distributable Code" section of the Visual Studio 2022 Microsoft Software License Terms, see Distributable code files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2022

To view the "REDIST list" that's referenced in the "Distributable Code" section of the Visual Studio 2019 Microsoft Software License Terms, see Distributable Code Files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2019

To view the "REDIST list" that's referenced in the "Distributable Code" section of the Visual Studio 2017 Microsoft Software License Terms, see Distributable Code Files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017.

To view the "REDIST list" that's referenced in the "Distributable Code" section of the Visual Studio 2015 Microsoft Software License Terms, see Distributable Code Files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015.

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.

The Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install and register all Visual C++ libraries. If you use one, run it as a prerequisite on the target system before you install 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 won't get installed. In Visual Studio 2015 or later, 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. In Visual Studio 2015 and later, you can avoid this error by checking the registry to find out if a more recent version is installed. The current installed version number is stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\VC\Runtimes\x86 key. The version number is 14.0 for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 because the latest Redistributable is binary compatible with previous versions back to 2015. The key is arm64, x86, or x64 depending on the installed vcredist versions for the platform. (You need to check under the Wow6432Node subkey only if you're using Regedit to view the version of the installed x86 package on an x64 platform.) The version number is stored in the REG_SZ string value Version and also in the set of Major, Minor, Bld, and Rbld REG_DWORD values. To avoid an error at install time, you must skip installation of the Redistributable package if the currently installed version is more recent.

The Visual C++ Redistributable supports several command-line options. The /?, /h, or /help options display a pop-up dialog that lists the available options. You may specify /install to install, /repair to repair, or /uninstall to uninstall the Redistributable. The /layout option copies the complete contents of the Redistributable in the current directory. By default, the Redistributable installs its contents and prompts the user for information and whether to restart after installation. You can specify the /passive option, which displays progress, but doesn't otherwise require user interaction. You can also specify a /quiet option, which doesn't display any UI or require any user interaction. The /norestart option suppresses any attempts to restart. By default, a log file is created in %TEMP%. You can use /log filename.txt to log to a specific file.

Merge modules (.msm files) for Visual C++ Redistributable files are deprecated. We don't recommend you use them for application deployment. Instead, we recommend central deployment of the Visual C++ Redistributable package. Central deployment by a Redistributable package makes it possible for Microsoft to service runtime library files independently. And, an uninstall of your app can't affect other applications that also use central deployment. When you use a Redistributable package for central deployment, you aren't responsible for tracking and maintaining the runtime libraries. Otherwise, an update to the runtime library files requires you to update and redeploy your .msi installer. Your app could be vulnerable to bugs or security issues until you do.

Redistributable merge modules must be included in the Windows Installer package (or similar installation package) that you use to deploy your application. For more information, see Redistributing by using merge modules. For an example see Walkthrough: Deploying a Visual C++ application by using a setup project.

It's also possible to directly install the Redistributable DLLs in the application local folder. The application local folder is the folder that contains your executable application file. For servicing reasons, we don't recommend you use this installation location.

If Windows can't find one of the Redistributable library DLLs required by your application, it may display a message similar to: "This application has failed to start because library.dll was not found. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem."

To resolve this kind of error, make sure your application installer builds correctly. Verify that the Redistributable libraries get deployed correctly on the target system. For more information, see Understanding the Dependencies of a Visual C++ Application.

We were using InstallShield 2015 SP2 MSI project which creates .MSI installer package on release build. Since our application was using Visual Studio 2008 for development, we included the required "Merge Modules" available in "Application Data->Redistributabes" section in the MSI project. The installer package creation and the built packages were working fine on the target platform (e.g. Windows 7 and Windows 10).

We have recently ported our application to use the latest version of Visual Studio 2022. We have also upgraded the InstallShield projects from version 2015 SP2 to 2023 R1, which includes several new features and improvements.

Microsoft has deprecated the use of merge modules for Visual C++ Redistributable files in Visual Studio 2019 and later. This is because merge modules cannot be updated by Windows Update, which means that applications that use merge modules may not be able to take advantage of security or bug fixes that are released for the redistributable files.

Instead, Microsoft recommends using central deployment of the Visual C++ Redistributable package. Central deployment installs the redistributable files in the %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\ folder for use by all applications and users.

What are the best practices to install "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 Redistributable Package (x64/x86)" runtime with our .MSI project. Can it be installed as merge module? If so, where can I find the merge module for this from Microsoft Official link?

My understanding is that Microsoft does not provide a merge module for this specific redistributable, only a prerequisite. Hence, you would need to decide whether to use a prerequisite, because that is the only option that we are aware of.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks!

I found the "C++ 2022 Redistributable MSMs" runtime package for the merge modules in the Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 setup installer package under the "Compilers, build tools, and runtimes" in "Individual components" section. When I downloaded and installed the merge module runtime package, the merge modules were installed into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\VC\Redist\MSVC\v143\MergeModules" folder.

I copied these merge modules into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2023\Modules\i386" folder, which is where all the merge modules are found. When I opened the InstallShield project file, it was able to include the required x86 and x64 VC 2022 runtime merge modules in InstallShield 2023 R1 project in "Redistributables" section.

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