Vista Runtime Problem

[tomp]

A user is getting an error on a runtime I developed and they just installed (first attempt to run it) on Vista:

"Side by side configuration is incorrect. See the application event log"

Can someone help me understand what might be causing that? I'm not getting that message on my machines - either XP or Vista."

I was able to talk through the event log with the user. Here's what she gave me:

Microsoft.VC80.MFC.processorArchitecture = "x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win3 2",version="8.0.50727.762" could not be found.

please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

login name application source sidebyside 4/21 event id 33 task category none level error keywords classic user na computer sandbay1

Did not yet run sxstrace. Probably would be hard to translate over the phone.

I have a 'trial' version of the same runtime. Had her install that as well. Same problem.

Help!

[CoffeeFiend]

Does she have the the MS VC++ 2005 redist installed?

It basically says it can't find some of the DLLs (msvc*80.dll) it needs to run -- and a particular version of it, which should be located in WinSxS assembly store.

Long story short, you should bundle it in your installer to avoid this.

[tomp]

I'm going to check one thing before bundling this in my installer.

I had another user once get a false positive from their antivirus software on one of the dll's in the runtime. I believe they got a different error, but can't remember. Turning off the antivirus software allowed the install to complete successfully.

I've sent email to the user to turn off any antivirus software and try to re-install (it's late here - to late to call and suggest). If that doesn't do it, I'll try bundling the package in the install.

I'll post the result tomorrow.

[tomp]

She turned off her antivirus software (CA Antivirus- she said she set it to 'snooze') and reinstalled with the same result. Both my and her machines are x86.

I still suspect that antivirus software is somehow the culprit, but dealing with a relatively naive user who is a couple hundred miles away it's hard to confirm what is really happening.

The platform I'm using bundles the MS VC++ 2005 redist software in it's runtime, so I'm not sure what reinstalling it will do - unless the install somehow disabled it.

Since the event log identified something to do with Microsoft.V80....., I'm taking one more shot: The platform has 3 'Microsoft.V80...' folders in it's runtime. I 'zipped' them up, emailed them to her, and am talking her through replacing those placed by the installer. If it is antivirus related, hopefully a zipped email attachment will sneak it by any detection.

The saga continues

[tomp]

Does she have the the MS VC++ 2005 redist installed?

It basically says it can't find some of the DLLs (msvc*80.dll) it needs to run -- and a particular version of it, which should be located in WinSxS assembly store.

Long story short, you should bundle it in your installer to avoid this.

The user downloaded the Visual c++ 2008 redistributable and installed it on advice from a forum dedicated to the platform being used. Did not resolve the problem. Same error message - side by side configuration problem. I've run out of ideas.

I don't know how these things work - since the application runtimes include Visual c++ (as I understand), where does the runtime go to get the copy of the code to use? Does it look first for it in the runtime? If so, and it's there, but somehow disabled, the downloaded copy wouldn't have any effect, would it?. Or would looking for it in the runtime be the last resort?

Hope that makes sense.

[tomp]

She turned off her antivirus software (CA Antivirus- she said she set it to 'snooze') and reinstalled with the same result. Both my and her machines are x86.

I still suspect that antivirus software is somehow the culprit, but dealing with a relatively naive user who is a couple hundred miles away it's hard to confirm what is really happening.

The platform I'm using bundles the MS VC++ 2005 redist software in it's runtime, so I'm not sure what reinstalling it will do - unless the install somehow disabled it.

Since the event log identified something to do with Microsoft.V80....., I'm taking one more shot: The platform has 3 'Microsoft.V80...' folders in it's runtime. I 'zipped' them up, emailed them to her, and am talking her through replacing those placed by the installer. If it is antivirus related, hopefully a zipped email attachment will sneak it by any detection.

The saga continues

[Mr Snrub]

Get them to download the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) package direct from microsoft.com and see if it fixes the problem.

(The 2008 package has a different version of the runtimes so will not help.)

Quick Details

File Name: vcredist_x86.exe

Version: 8.0.50727.762

Date Published: 8/27/2007

Language: English

Download Size: 2.6 MB

I ran into a similar problem this week with a very Win32 console app I built in Visual Studio 2008 - because of 1 call to MessageBox() I had to install the Visual C++ 2008 runtime on the target (W2K3 or W2K8) machine in order to run the single .EXE.

If I had built with Visual Studio 2005 then I guess I would have needed the Visual C++ 2005 runtimes, as your user does.