Why installing vcredist_x86.exe doesn't fix SideBySide error when I develop an EXE on one machine and run it on another one?

Question

Issue

I wrote a C++ project called 'Foo' using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Verison 8.0.50727.762 (SP.050727-7600) on Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3. I built the project into Foo.exe. Then, I copied the file Foo.exe to a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2. When I tried to run it, it failed with this error,

C:\foo.exe
The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect.
Reinstalling the application may fix the problem.

In Event Viewer > System, three events were logged.

Event ID: 32; Source: SideBySide

Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.CRT could not be found and Last Error was
The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC80.CRT.
Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

Generate Activation Context failed for C:\foo\Foo.exe.
Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable didn't fix it

1. Downloaded vcredist_x86.exe from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3387
2. Installed it. The installer created a folder called C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd.

The version of this software as found from 'Add or Remove Programs' was '8.0.50727.42'.

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe, I got the same errors I described above.

Installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable didn't fix it

1. Downloaded vcredist_x86.exe from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5638
2. Installed it. The installer created a folder called: C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700.

The version of this software as found from 'Add or Remove Programs' was '8.0.56336'.

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe, I got the same errors I described above.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from the same machine (where I'm running the EXE) didn't fix it.

1. I copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll and msvcr80.dll from C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd to C:\foo.
2. Next, I copied C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd.manifest to C:\foo and renamed it to Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest.

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.42"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

When I tried running C:\foo\foo.exe this time, it didn't work. I repeated this thing again with the DLLs in C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700 and the corresponding manifest file. It didn't help as well. I got the same error.

In both cases, I got the following errors in Event Viewer > System.

Event ID: 34; Source: SideBySide

Component identity found in manifest does not match the identity of the component requested

Event ID: 58; Source: SideBySide

Syntax error in manifest or policy file "C:\foo\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.MANIFEST" on line 4.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

Generate Activation Context failed for C:\foo\Foo.exe. Reference error message: The manifest file contains one or more syntax errors.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from the Windows XP machine (where I built the EXE) didn't fix it.

1. I copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll and msvcr80.dll from C:\winnt\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700 of Windows XP machine (where I developed and built foo.exe) to C:\foo of Windows Server 2003 (where I am trying to run foo.exe).
2. Next, I copied C:\winnt\winsxs\Manifests\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700.manifest to C:\foo and renamed it to Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest.

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.762"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe now I got the same errors mentioned in the previous section.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from Visual Studio folder fixed it.

1. Copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll, msvcr80.dll and Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest from C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT of Windows XP machine (where I developed and built foo.exe) to C:\foo of Windows Server 2003 machine (where I am trying to run it).

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.6195"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

This time I could run C:\foo\foo.exe without any issues.

Question

I was expecting that installing 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable' (vcredist_x86.exe) as described in the second approach would fix it. But it didn't. Copying the DLLs and manifest files from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT folder of the development machine fixed it. Why was it so?

Build options

In case, it helps you to answer my question. Here is the compiler and linker options I picked up from Visual Studio project properties:

Configuration properties > C/C++ > Command Line:

/O2 /GL /D "_MBCS" /FD /EHsc /MD /Fo"Release\\" /Fd"Release\vc80.pdb" /W3 /nologo /c /Wp64 /Zi /TP /errorReport:prompt

Configuration properties > Linker > Command Line:

/OUT:"C:\MixedBag\Release\Foo.exe" /NOLOGO /MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"Release\Foo.exe.intermediate.manifest" /DEBUG /PDB:"c:\MixedBag\release\Foo.pdb" /OPT:REF /OPT:ICF /LTCG /MACHINE:X86 /ERRORREPORT:PROMPT kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib

Answer 1

I'll answer my own question. Comments to the question by Hans Passant and Luke helped.

I downloaded Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package MFC Security Update and installed it on the system where I was trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe. The EXE ran fine after this.

The installer placed the CRT DLLs in C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_x-ww_44262b86. So, yes, 8.0.50727.6195 was the version of the CRT DLLs I was looking for as Hans Passant rightly said.

The easiest way to figure this version was by looking at the manifest file generated by Visual Studio while building my project on the development system. Mine was located at C:\Foo\Release\Foo.exe.intermediate.manifest. It had a tag like this:

<assemblyIdentity type='win32' name='Microsoft.VC80.CRT' version='8.0.50727.6195'
                  processorArchitecture='x86'
                  publicKeyToken='1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b' />

So, this is a clue that I needed 8.0.50727.6195 version of the DLLs. The rest was a matter of searching for the right vcredist_x86.exe which happened to be in the URL I have mentioned in the second paragraph. The page in that URL contains a link to KB2538242 which shows the version numbers of the DLLs that would be installed by the installer.

Note: As Elie has mentioned in a different answer to this question, since this is a 32-bit application, it is necessary to install vcredist_x86.exe (not vcredist_x64.exe) on the system where this application is supposed to be run irrespective of whether that system is a 32-bit Windows system or a 64-bit Windows system. Once again, the .manifest file provides this clue in the processorArchitecture attribute.