My C(++) program, written and compiled using Visual C(++)/Visual Studio, runs fine on my own machine, but refuses to run on another machine. The error message I get is "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem."
If you write a C++ program, it links dynamically to the C Runtime Library, or CRT for short. This library contains your printf, your malloc, your strtok, etcetera. The library is contained in the file called MSVCR80.DLL. This file is not by default installed on a Windows system, hence the application cannot run.
The solution? Either install the DLL on the target machine through VCREDIST.EXE (the Visual C++ Redistributable Package), or link to the CRT statically (plug the actual code for the used functions straight into your EXE).
Distributing and installing VCREDIST along with a simple application is a pain in the arse, so I went for the second option: static linking. It's really easy: go to your project's properties, unfold C/C++, click Code Generation, and set the Runtime Library to one of the non-DLL options. That's all there is to it.
The problem here is a missing DLL dependency, such as the CRT (C Runtime Library). A good tool for diagnosing this sort of problem is Dependency Walker (depends.exe), which you can find here:
http://www.dependencywalker.com/
You would run this program on the computer that generates the error message you posted, and use it to open the exe that's generating this error. Dependency Walker will quickly and graphically indicate any DLLs that are required but not available on the machine.
Chances are high that you miss the runtime libraries of Visual Studio (CRT amongst others), you can either get rid of those dependencies (link statically) or install the VC redist packages on the target computer.
Depending on the Visual C++ version you use, you have to install different packages :
Visual C++ 2005
Visual C++ 2005 SP1
Visual C++ 2008
Warning : those packages only contain release versions of the libraries, if you want to be able to distribute debug builds of your application you'll have to take care of the required DLL yourself.
It is much the simplest to link to the runtime statically.
c++ -> Code Generation -> Runtime Library and select "multi-threaded /MT"
However, this does make your executable a couple hundred KByte larger. This might be a problem if you are installing a large number of small programs, since each will be burdened by its very own copy of the runtime. The answer is to create an installer.
New project -> "setup and deployment" -> "setup project"
Load the output from your application projects ( defined using the DLL version of the runtime ) into the installer project and build it. The dependency on the runtime DLL will be noticed, included in the installer package, and neatly and unobtrusively installed in the correct place on the target machine.
The correct VC Redist package for you is part of your Visual Studio installation. For VC 8, you can find it here:
\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\vcredist_x86
POSSIBLE SOLUTION........
EDIT: (removed most of my post)
Long story short, I was having similar problems, getting the "Application Configuration Incorrect" messages, etc etc.
Depends.exe was only finding ieshims.dll and wer.dll as possible issues, but this is not the problem.
I ended up using the Multithreaded (/mt) compile option.
What HAS worked though, as a workable solution, is making an installer with InstallShield.
I've selected several merge modules in installshield builder and this seems to have fixed my problem. The modules selected were:
VC++ 9.0 CRT, VC++ 9.0 DEBUG CRT, and the CRT WinSXS MSM merge module.
I'm pretty sure its the WinSXS merge module that has fixed it.
DEBUG CRT: I noticed somewhere that (no matter how hard I tried, and obviously failed thus far), my Release version still depended on the DEBUG CRT. If this is still the case, the InstallShield merge module has now placed the DEBUG CRT folder in my WinSXS folder :) Being somewhat of a novice with VC++ I assume that this would normally be used to distribute debug versions of your programs to other people. To test if this is what fixed my problem I removed the DEBUG CRT folder from the WinSXS folder and the application still worked. (Unless something is still running in the background etc etc - I'm not that into it)
Anyway, this has got things working for me on an XP SP3 fully updated machine, and also on a VMWare XP SP3 machine with the bare bones (.net 3.5 and VC++ 2008 RTM basically) - and also on a mate's XP machine where it previously wasn't working.
So give these things a try, you might have some luck.
First thing you must use
#define _BIND_TO_CURRENT_VCLIBS_VERSION 1
or add _BIND_TO_CURRENT_VCLIBS_VERSION=1 to the preprocessor directives.
The problem is related to binding and the manifest types, you can find more http://www.nuonsoft.com/blog/2008/10/29/binding-to-the-most-recent-visual-studio-libraries/
By doing this your application will run with a larger range of runtime libraries versions.
Often times this error is the result of attempting to run the debug version of an application that uses .NET. Since the .NET redistributable package doesn't include the debug versions of the dlls that are installed with Visual Studio, your application will often get this error when running it on any other machine that doesn't have Visual Studio installed. If you haven't already, try building a release version of your application and see if that works.
Note also - that if you change to static runtime, you will have to do the same for MFC if your app uses MFC. Those settings are in properties->Configuration/General
I ran into this problem and was able to fix it very simply.
Visual studio gives you the option (on by default) to build a manifest for each build.
The manifest was put in the release folder, but it was a different release folder than the exe.
Even when using the setup utilities it was not packaged.
You should look for a file names something like myprogram.exe.indermediate.manifest
If this is in the same folder as the exe (and you have all the dlls) it should run
Related
I'm building a pure Win32 program (no clr or any assembly) by VC 2012 (VC 2012 (VC11) as my compiler). It uses boost 1.58, wxWidget 3.0.2 series,gsl 1.8, jsoncpp, Open CV 2.4.10, etc... The development box is running Win7 64bits. I would like it to be a single executable and is able to run on both Win 7 32/64 so I built all of the above packages as libs myself by the same VC 2012. (thanks for cmake)...
It works fine on development box but not on a clean one that only installed VC redistribution packages. I got the error message box ask me to use the sxstrace and the message in event log has side-by-side error like below and I also tried the sxstrace and got similar error.
"D:\Release\xxxx.exe" 的啟用內容產生失敗。 找不到依存組合 Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8"。 請使用 sxstrace.exe 進行詳細的診斷。
I've been searching around. All and answers simply says I should use all release build for all libs. Yes, it's true if I didn't I couldn't have the single executable at first place. It won't be able to link. (I learned it by made lots of mistakes) I've tried both MD or MT build for my program (not mix them together. They are separated test.). Either of the mode works. The same error remains. I've also installed over lots of VC2008 9.0.21022, -.30729.17, -30729.4148, -30729.6161, VC 2010 10.0.40219, VC 2012 11.0.61030 (x86/x64)
I really don't understand. It's pure win32 release build made by VC 2012. How come it requires VC90 debug dll?
I'll really appreciated if someone can give me more precise advice about how to resolve or even determine where and what goes wrong with the code or the lib I build.
I will suggest that you use the following tool: Dependency walker.
By loading your executable on your PC (where it works) you should find out all the DLLs it uses and so discover any hidden dependencies in the (medium sized) library list on which your project depends (and in turn their dependencies).
This should help you point out DLLs that you have on your PC but not on freshly installed machines.
A pure Win32 release build should not depend on DEBUG CRT dlls, that's for sure. The only project setting to control that is basically that MT/MD ("Runtime Library") setting. You want MT.
I would guess that you have the Debug CRT dll referenced somewhere in the source code (e.g. one of the libraries requires it to be linked in for whatever reason, maybe because there is #define DEBUG or something, thus overriding project settings.
You could try searching #pragma comment(lib, ...bla-bla-bla...) in the source code.
It's resolved by myself. The project is about migrating a big legacy project. So there's a very small lib built by VC90 without source code. So be a detail person is the key to do this kind of job.
How to remove msvc dlls (example: msvcr100.dll) dependency to run qt appliation?
I've developed a qt application which runs just fine in dveloper machine but unable to run on any other machine gives error message "program can't start because MSVCR100.dll is missing from your computer". I can solve this error by copying that file in the application folder but I dont want to copy, instead I want to link statically or some other way to remove that dependency.
Thanks in advance
The issue is that you are probably trying to run an application on a machine which has a different Visual Studio (MSVC) version installed than the version that was used for building your application itself.
Generally, the correct solution is to install the corresponding Visual Studio redistributable package on the target machine. It is not a "workaround" or "hack" because if you wish to use an application built with different runtime libraries, etc, then it is expected. Here you can read a bit more about it:
Redistributing Visual C++ Files
Yes, it is a bit unfortunate, and apparently MS has not managed to make it the most ideal, but after all, it is simple enough to circumvent. Note that the target machine would not only have issues with your application, but in general with any distributed in a similar fashion.
The other way to solve the issue is to build the application with the same environment that is installed on the target machine, but this can easily go haywire if you need to supply the application to several machines with versatile setup. Now, I would say this is the "hackish" approach.
You will need to grab the redistributable for this particular problem from here:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x64)
Even if you went down for statically hacking this around somehow, you would need to deal with nasty consequences when using your application with DLLs and static libraries, etc.
As far as I know, you can't link statically to Visual Studio Redistributable. Any application built with Visual Studio Compiler needs the corresponding msvcXXX.dll to run. Installers containing all dll for each specific version of MSVC are available here: http://search.microsoft.com/en-us/DownloadResults.aspx?q=redistributable
If you want avoid errors for your users when you distribute your application, you have some solution. A commonly used is to install the right redistributable package before installing your application on the user machine. Often used tools (NSIS, Inno Setup, etc.) have options to run other executable in the process. And each Microsoft redist package can be run silently (without any window display to user).
Note: This problem is absolutely not related to qt. It comes directly from the compiler you choose.
I created a client server application in C++ using Visual Studio.
Now I want to run the client EXE file on another computer (which doesn't have Visual Studio installed),
but when I try run the EXE file, it gives the following error message:
This application has failed to start because the application
configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this
problem.
How can I run the EXE file without installing anything on the computer?
Applications built with Visual Studio depend on Visual C++ Redistibutable (VCRedist). When the program is being linked dynamically, then your binaries will need
MSVCR**.dll (Microsoft C Runtime Library).
On MSDN, there is a nice article called Redistributing Visual C++ Files (for Visual Studio 2008), that states that there are Potential run-time errors in case that required Visual C++ library is not installed:
you may get one of the following error messages depending on the version of Windows on which you try to run your application:
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135).
This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling application may fix this problem.
The system cannot execute the specified program.
Basically you have two options:
The simplest possible solution is to change the dynamic linking of runtime libraries to static linking. Go to project properties and under C/C++ → Code Generation you will find Runtime Library option. You need to change it from Multi-threaded DLL (/MD) to Multi-threaded (/MT).
Another possible solution is to make sure that the right version of Microsoft VC++ Redistributable Package is installed on the target machine.
But your application might depend on other DLL files as well. In case you want to find out what are the dependencies of your program, there is a great utility called Dependency Walker that will help you in this and many other situations :)
Background:
C++ applications need run-time assemblies (DLL files) to run in any Windows computer.
Normally these run-time assemblies are located at C:\Windows\Winsxs directory.
All the Windows operating systems by default comes with several run time assemblies.
But if your application is developed in a newer version of the run-time assembly environment, the target computer also needs the same version of the run time to exist there.
When you're installing Visual Studio, most newer versions of the run-time assemblies comes to your computer.
Solution:
Finally by anyway the target computer should have the exact run time assemblies. There are a few ways to do this (for more details search each in Google).
Statically link run-time assemblies with your application (troublesome for large application).
Install the C++ redistribution environment on the target computer (the easiest way).
Creating a setup project to deploy the run-time on the target computer when installing the application (not bad).
For deploying run-time assemblies as private assemblies (professional), see here for more details
Conditions:
You must not use .NET framework in your application.
You must not use the common language run-time support for your application
I deployed my program in release instead of debug, and the EXE file now works on the other computer.
I haven't seen that specific error before. Usually it's an error around a missing DLL (Windows redistributable). Assuming there isn't actually a problem with the configuration, you have two choices:
Change the compile mode from Multithreaded DLL to Multithreaded. This can be done from the C++ section of project properties under code generation. In multithreaded mode your binary will be statically linked against the Windows redistributable. This is probably what you want.
Install the Windows redistributable on the target machine. This probably isn't OK, because you state that you don't want to install anything on the target machine.
A warning about option 1: Different versions of Windows have different versions of the redistributable. It's possible to encounter a highly specialized environment in which a statically linked program will not behave as expected.
It look like you're missing some DLL files. Be sure to copy appropriate DLL files along with EXE file.
I am running Visual Studio 2019 and I found a very helpful configuration property to address the problem of moving a simple application to another computer without an installation package.
Open the project Property Pages.
Choose which configurations this change should apply to, I used “All Configurations”.
In the left-hand window click to expand the top node called “Configuration Properties”.
Click on "Advanced". In the right-hand window look for the property called “Copy C++ Runtime to OutDir” and set that to “yes”.
Click OK to close the Properties window.
Rebuild your project. All the necessary dlls will be copied to the project’s output directory. Copy your exe and all dlls to another computer. The exe should find everything it needs to run.
When I try to open released .exe file (which I wrote in Visual Studio 2008) in VMWare Workstation 6.5 with Windows Server 2008 32bit OS, got "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect." error all time even if the code is;
#include <stdio.h>
int main ()
{
printf ("HELLO\n");
return 0;
}
Is anyone faced that king of problem or does know how to cope with it?
You probably forgot to deploy the runtime support DLLs or copied the Debug build of your program. For a small program like this without DLLs that export C++ classes or pointers it is better to link the static version of the CRT. Project + Properties, C/C++, Code Generation, /MTd. Repeat for the Release configuration, now choose /MT.
It has nothing to do with VMWare -- it has to do with not having the correct side-by-side assemblies for the C runtime installed. You need to know which ones you require, and then install the runtime. You can also control it with a manifest.
There is some info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-by-side_assembly
One easy way (for C/C++ programs) to get around this is to change to linking to the C-runtime statically. Go to your project properties, then Code Generation, and choose static linking for the C Runtime. Then you won't have a dependency on the runtime dlls. All libraries you might be using need to be linked this way for it to work.
I generally get this error if the C/C++ runtime that the program was built with was not installed in the VM. You can download the CRT for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 at Microsoft's website. Make sure to download the correct version of the CRT based on the versions of Visual Studio used to build the app.
After compiling a simple C++ project using Visual Studio 2008 on vista, everything runs fine on the original vista machine and other vista computers. However, moving it over to an XP box results in an error message: "The application failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect".
What do I have to do so my compiled EXE works on XP and Vista? I had this same problem a few months ago, and just fiddling with some settings on the project fixed it, but I don't remember which ones I changed.
You need to install the Visual Studios 2008 runtime on the target computer:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9b2da534-3e03-4391-8a4d-074b9f2bc1bf&displaylang=en
Alternatively, you could also link the run time statically, in the project properties window go to:
c++ -> Code Generation -> Runtime
Library and select "multi-threaded
/MT"
You need to install the runtime redistributable files onto the machine you are trying to run the app on.
The redistributable for 2008 is here.
The redistributable for 2005 is here.
They can be installed side-by-side, in case you need both.
You probably need to distribute the VC runtime with your application. There are a variety of ways to do this. This article from the Microsoft Visual C++ Team best explains the different ways to distribute these dependencies if you are using Visual Studio 2005 or 2008.
As stated in the article, though you can download the Redistributable installer package and simply launch that on the client machine, that is almost always not the optimal option. There are usually better ways to include the required DLLs such as including the merge module if you are distributing via Windows Setup or App-Local copy if you just want to distribute a zipped folder.
Another option is to statically link against the runtime libraries, instead of distributing them with your application. This option is only suitable for standalone EXEs that do not load other DLLs. You also cannot do this with DLLs that are loaded by other applications.
It is much the simplest to link to the runtime statically.
c++ -> Code Generation -> Runtime Library and select "multi-threaded /MT"
However, this does make your executable a couple hundred KByte larger. This might be a problem if you are installing a large number of small programs, since each will be burdened by its very own copy of the runtime. The answer is to create an installer.
New project -> "setup and deployment" -> "setup project"
Load the output from your application projects ( defined using the DLL version of the runtime ) into the installer project and build it. The dependency on the runtime DLL will be noticed, included in the installer package, and neatly and unobtrusively installed in the correct place on the target machine.
Visual studio 2005 actually has two
The one for the original release
and the one for SP1