Is there a way to deploy a Qt desktop application that is compiled using MSVC in such a way that it will be "portable" (just run exe from a folder, not install anything, not even install VC_redist)?
Of course, it is possible to use it if Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is installed on target computer, but is it possible to make it run without installing it (eg. by putting some dll from vcredist to application's folder)?
Just as you commented, you can use windeployqt to add Qt-related DLLs and resources. As for other required DLLs, you could use Dependencies to find them and MANUALLY copy them into your application folder, including MSVC DLLs.
PS: I know manually copy those DLLs is low efficient and fallible. This is why I ask Is there any way to search and copy all the DLL dependencies?, but I haven't found a tool smart enough to do this chore automatically. You might try those tools mentioned in the comments, like NDepend, though.
If you build/link your application statically, you will only have 1 .exe without DLL. The second way is to build your app with shared libraries and at runtime your app will search those DLL in PATH and in the current directory so you just need to put all your needed DLL in this folder. How do you manage your Qt library ?
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I also want the code I developed for Linux to work on Windows. I wrote simple Hello world code for this. I was able to create the .exe file with minGW using Cmake. When I run the .exe file directly on Windows, I got the error "libstdc++-6.dll not found" even though it exists on my computer. When I deleted the contents of the /build folder in Windows and built it with Cmake, the newly created .exe file worked. When I compile directly with minGW without using Cmake, the .exe worked without problems.
Is it a mistake to transfer the .exe file with its source codes to the Windows environment and expect it to work directly? I want to understand the logic of this concept properly.
If you use libraries that are not part of Windows itself, you will generally need to distribute the DLLs for those libraries in the same directory as the EXE in order for your EXE to work on another computer.
Alternatively, many cross-compilers support a -static argument that you can pass at link time in order to statically link these libraries into your executable. I favor that approach, but the licensing requirements for it are stricter.
(Make sure you follow the license terms for any software you redistribute that isn't your own, open source or otherwise.)
I made a Qt Application in Visual Studio and it works when I run it in the program. However then I build the solution and try to run the executable errors pop up that certain .dll files are not found(QtWidgets.dll, QtCore.dll,QtCored.dll etc.). How can I fix this?
To make your application ready for deployment, you can use windeployqt.
It is a commandline program that comes with Qt and collects all the required dependencies of your executable. Go to your QTDIR/bin/ folder and run this command
windeployqt <path-to-app-binary.exe>
It will scan your binary and copy everything that is needed next to it. For further details, have a look at the documentation.
Well, you have two options:
If you want to distribute your application, you have to copy the required DLLs to the folder where your executable is. You can do this either by copying them manually or you write a script for this. The DLLs are in the binary folder of your Qt installation, e.g.
Qt\5.12.2\mingw73_64\bin
Add the above mentioned folder to your system PATH variable, then the DLLs should be found by your application.
I created a simple notepad file using Qt.
The program does run when in Qt creator.
However, when I navigate to the debug folder, the created executable file does not run without DLLs.
I've read online that this is can happen and all that is required is that the respective DLLs be copied to the location of the exe file. However... the error messages identify DLLs that my machine does not have.
I get and error message for the following DLL files.
Qt5Cored.dll, Qt5Widgetsd.dll, QtPrintSupportd.dll
I do not have the DLLs above. I do however have the dll files below. Which do not have the added 'd' before the extension.
Qt5Core.dll, Qt5Widgets.dll, QtPrintSupport.dll
Any help provided would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
First i can't think of any reason you would want to copy (preparing for an installer) the dependencies for the debug build of your application, the debug is not a build that you want to deploy, use the release build for deployment.
Now, that being said, you definitely have the dll's, otherwise your debug build won't run from Qt Creator, you are just not looking in the right path for those dlls.
The path where you find the dll is something like: C:\Qt\5.12.3\msvc2017_64\bin
notice that there can be many Qt versions installed and for different targets (example android), so the right way to find the dlls is: QT_INSTALL_PATH / QT_VERSION / COMPILER_VERSION _ARCHITECTURE / bin, so the sample path i provided is Qt version 5.12.3 build with Visual Studio 2017's compiler and it is a 64 bit build. In that path you will find the right dlls: Qt5Core.dll (the release build), Qt5Cored.dll (debug) and so on for all the Qt modules.
Side note: you most likely looked into the folder where Qt Creator .exe is located, there you will find only the Qt dlls that are needed for Qt Creator to work, you are not supposed to use those dlls to deploy your application (those might be built with a different compiler than what you are using and even cause crashes for your application, because of incompatible abi)
When running my Visual Studio C++ application debug version through VS2010 by Project Only > ProjectName the generated exe runs well. However when I generate a release version and go to the folder where the exe is created I get the following error:
The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click Ok to close the application
The files in the folder is only the exe file whereas my project uses various boost libraries.
Is it possible that its giving this message because of the missing boost dlls ? Is there a way to make the compiler paste all the necessary dlls in the exe folder.
Is there any way to launch the release version from VS2010 like we have for the debug version as in Debug >> Start new instance
I hate when that happens. It could be the fact that its missing the bloost DLL's: the easiest way to fix this is to add the folder to the Path environment variable. Sadly enough, we don't have enough information from your post to confirm that this is the problem. Common other problems include: you are linking to libraries that were built for a different architecture/are using a different runtime library, you are missing other 3rd party dlls, the .lib file you used in the linker is pointing to a different version of the code than the dll you are pointing to...the list goes on.
As for copying the dlls at runtime, you can do this using the custom build events [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e85wte0k%28v=vs.80%29.aspx]. Just write a batch script that copies the dlls as a "Post Build Event" and you should be good to go, but I'd suggest the Path way first.
I have been using Qt creator to make applications using the Qt libraries. I can run these applications by just clicking the play button, but I want to learn how to make applications run just by double clicking on a .exe. So how can I do this?
If you have built a 'release' version of your program, copy it and the following DLL's from qt\bin to a directory:
QtCore4.dll, QtGui4.dll and mingwm10.dll (if you are compiling with gcc and minGW).
If you are running a 'debug' build, you will need the debug versions of the Qt DLLs. They have the same name but with a 'd' at the end of the name.
There may be other Qt DLLs you will have to copy depending on Qt modules you are using in your program.
You can find out more from this page (Qt docs website) Deploying Qt Applications
I'm assuming you are running windows since you mention an .exe file extension. Look in the debug and/or release subdirectories of your project to find the produced binary. You can double-click on it to run the application. However, there are several DLL's that will be required. So, make sure they are in your PATH or copy them in the same directory. Dependency Walker is useful for finding out what you need.