When I launch .exe it gives error MSVCP120.dll is missing. How do I add statically link to project. Is it in Linker? Do I need to give path to MSVCP120.dll?
In general, you should not use static CRT linking as it creates a number of potential problems, security risks, and servicing concerns. You can require the VC++ REDIST package to be run (which requires admin rights) to install the 'system' version, you can use the VC++ MSM modules with your own MSI installer, or you can just use side-by-side deployment and put the DLLs in the same folder as your EXE.
See Redistributing Visual C++ Files
You can use static linking for Win32 desktop apps, but there's only a few places where such use is warranted (namely pre-installation utilities). The CRT settings are the same as other Visual Studio editions as part of the compilation as a command-line switch or a setting in the IDE under Project Properties / C/C++ / Code Generation to either "Multi-threaded (/MT)" or "Multi-threaded debug (/MTd)"
You cannot use static linking for Windows Store apps, Windows phone 8.x, or Xbox One apps.
Related
I have a fairly large project in Visual Studio 2010
I can build the project in both Debug and Release mode, copy the generated exe file along with a custom dll I need for a function in the program to another computer, and the exe file works without any problems
I am trying to make an installer for this project in Visual Studio 2010, following the instructions here: https://www.technical-recipes.com/2011/how-to-create-an-installer-in-microsoft-visual-studio/
I do not get any errors while building the installer, and I get a setup.exe and an msi file as a result, but if I install my program in another computer (not by development machine), when I try to run my program after installation I get a missing api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll error
How do I debug this problem? Since I can simply copy my Release or Debug build to the computer and make it work, doesn't it mean all the dll files my program is dependent on already exists in the other computer? And if this already works, why isn't the installer version working? How do I make sure that everything I need for this program is included in the installer?
My project in MFC dialog based and uses one third party library, for which I have both .lib and .dll file available. I need to do this in Visual Studio 2010. My development machine is Windows 10 64 bit Home edition version 1909. The installer I currently create installs my program in Program Files (x86) folder.
Static Linking MFC: It appears this issue was solved by making sure to statically link to MFC libraries. In the VC++ project: enable the setting: "include MFC in a static library". This enables static linking of MFC components, eliminating the dependency on shared dlls.
This is a common "missing runtime error" - there are generic check lists below which include this as one source for application launch problems.
Warning: Generally static linking should be avoided in order to benefit from security updates to shared dll files via other update mechanisms.
Short Version: In Visual Studio Installer Projects, check if the Visual C++ Runtime is available in the Prerequisites list.
See this answer, here is a quick screen shot:
Tools: If your project is large you might want to consider another MSI tool. There are many limitations with Visual Studio Installer Projects.
Merge Modules: There are merge modules to install the Visual Studio C++ Runtime, but it is recommended to use the setup.exe for these reasons.
Visual C/C++ Runtime: You are probably just missing the Visual Studio C/C++ Runtime. It needs to be deployed with your application, it is not on there by default (unless you link statically, in which case it should not be needed). Skim this list quickly for other ideas.
You can download the VC++ redistributables at ("The latest supported Visual C++ downloads"):
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2977003
More Information:
More on the Visual C/C++ Runtime
Secondary Links:
Detecting presence of Visual C/C++ runtime on box
Missing Dependencies and check lists
Scan for application dependencies
Installing VC++ Runtime with merge modules
I am building a Qt App but I am having problems when I move the app to another PC. When I run the .exe the it keeps saying it is missing dependencies and once I transfer the missing one another one pops up. I assume that I need to install something on the target pc that contains all of these DLLs.
Some of the missing dependencies so far:
MSVCP140D.dll
vcruntime140d.dll
api-ms-win-core-rtlsupport-l1-2-0.dll
I think that there may be issues with the install of MSVS or MSVC on my build pc as I constantly have to point to things like UCRT manually.
Thanks in advance
Missing Runtime: Those files are obviously part of a runtime that your application needs (Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 - maybe?), but more than that you seem to have distributed the debug version of your application which will depend on debug versions of runtime dlls (dll name ends with "d" as in MSVCP140D.dll). These are generally only installed on developer PCs, and are not for distribution to client PCs at all.
Release Build: Maybe try to build your application in release mode and try to run that executable on your client systems. The required runtime might already be present on their boxes, just not in debug version.
Static Linking: I suppose you could also try static linking (for the Microsoft runtime: How do I make a fully statically linked .exe with Visual Studio Express 2005?), if that is available to you (I am not up to speed with Qt's handling of this in terms of availability of static linking with different forms of licensing): MSVCP140.dll missing. Just so it is mentioned: thought conceptually the same, static linking is different for Qt (licensing issues?) and the core Microsoft runtimes (see link above). Use a binary dependency checker to investigate how dependencies have changed with new compilation settings.
Remote Debugging: If you need to make a test PC capable of running your application in debug mode (maybe for remote debugging without installing all of Visual Studio): Preparing a Test Machine To Run a Debug Executable.
"Hacky": It seems here is another, "hackier" approach that I would not really recommend: install VC++ Debug Runtime Distributable. For other Visual Studio versions look for the debug_nonredist folder. Debug versions of an application are not redistributable, and debug versions of the Visual C++ library DLLs are not redistributable. Very important.
Recently I switched from mingw to msvc compiler for my Qt app.
I am using Qt5.8. The msvc debugger is from the windows 10 kit (though I develop on Win7 and Win8.1) and the compiler from the vc++2015 build tools.
I can run the app locally, but I can't run it on a different, clean computer.
I know that I have to copy the compiler specific dll's to the application's executable directory. All the other dlls are found by windeployqt. Still I don't get it to work. I can't ship vc_redist packages the user has to install, due to the requirement to be able to load the app from a pendrive. On the dev machine there are several dlls of the same name, how can I figure out which ones are actually used by the compiled app?
Questionable dlls is especially api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll.
On the deployment I got those errors:
I also tried Dependency Walker and showed the full paths. I assume the first hierarchy level is the important one, that's why I've hidden deeper hierarchies. I am wondering why the full path shows the dir System32 because isn't this the 64-bit files folder?? I did not target any specific one but my app must be running on x86. Is this a misunderstanding?
EDIT
According to another question and this Microsoft blog update it worked for me when I additionally included all dlls from this folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Redist\ucrt\DLLs\x86. There is also a file named ucrtbase.dll. I have no idea why DependencyWalker showed different ones.
You can use tools such as Dependency Walker to see which DLL is used by any other DLL or exe file.
Edit: You can also take a look at Determining Which DLLs to Redistribute on MSDN
Also you could use static linkage to link against the MSVC runtime (i.e use /MT switch instead of /MD (see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/2kzt1wy3.aspx). However this would also mean rebuilding Qt, but it would also give you the opportunity to build a static version of Qt, meaning that you would not need to ship any DLL alongside your exe. You can find more info on Qt wiki: Build Standalone Qt Application for Windows
How can I deploy my Win32 application as an EXE application so that others (who don't have VC++ installed) can use it?
I am using VC++ 2010 on Windows 7.
If you switch to "Release" mode when you compile your finished program (rather than "Debug", which you use for debugging it during development), you should get an executable that will run on a computer without Visual Studio installed.
However, that executable will still require the appropriate version of the C runtime library to be installed. For example, if you developed it in Visual C++ 2010, you will need version 10 of the CRT installed. This is a freely redistributable library, downloadable here.
So, you have several options for deployment:
Manual Deployment
Give people the bare executable file, and include the installer for the redistributable in another folder on the installation media. If they copy the executable to disk and cannot run it because they get an error message, they should install the CRT libraries from the included redistributable installer. Then the executable will run just fine.
This works great if you have relatively a computer-savvy audience, or you're deploying to a fixed range of machines (like across a school or corporation). But it doesn't work so well for general deployment to customers.
In fact, you don't even need the installer. You can just place the CRT DLLs in the same folder as your executable and it will run just fine. This is how I test apps I'm developing on clean VMs. It works like a charm. There's no need to run the CRT installer at all. You'll find these required libraries as part of your Visual Studio installation:
<Program Files folder>\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\redist\x86
Automated Deployment
Create a setup program that automatically installs your application along with any dependencies it requires, including the CRT redistributable. This is what you see most commercial applications doing. I recommend it for anything but the most trivial of apps.
Full versions of Visual Studio 2010 (i.e., not Express versions) can create a Setup Project that you can customize as needed to work as an installer for your application. But this is no longer the recommended way to create an installer, and this functionality has been removed from the latest version of Visual Studio, 2012.
So I recommend using something else, even if you have an older version of VS where the Setup Project is available. No point in wasting time creating something you'll just have to update later. My personal favorite choices for creating setup programs are WiX and Inno Setup. Both are free, and extensive documentation is available online.
Creating simple setups that don't have to do very much is really quite straightforward—this is likely the case for you, as all you need to do is install the CRT redistributable if it is not already there. I'd be willing to bet money you can find a walkthrough or example online for how to do this in either WiX or Inno Setup.
If you need to do more complicated stuff, both of these setup packages support it. They are extensively customizable and very powerful, it just takes more work to get it all going.
Static Linking
If you absolutely need to be able to distribute a bare executable that is guaranteed to simply work when double-clicked, you will need to switch your project to statically link in the required runtime libraries. This means that all of the CRT code is actually embedded by the linker directly into your executable, and means that you don't have to redistribute the CRT libraries separately.
The disadvantage of this approach is that the only way to benefit from improvements, bug fixes, and security patches released for the CRT is to recompile and redistribute your application. If you dynamically link (the default), your app will automatically benefit from enhancements to the installed version of the CRT libraries. Microsoft strongly recommends against static linking.
To switch between these modes in Visual Studio, follow these steps:
Right-click on your project in the Solution Explorer and select "Properties".
Ensure that the "Release" configuration is selected in the drop-down box at the top of the dialog.
Expand the "C/C++" item in the TreeView, and select "Code Generation".
Change the setting of the "Runtime Library" option to "Multi-threaded (/MT)".
A further description on what these cryptic compiler switches mean and which ones you should use when is given in my answer here.
Final Note: The "Debug" versions of the CRT libraries are not redistributable, but that doesn't matter because you should always distribute the "Release" build of your app anyway, never the "Debug" build.
In general, the odds are pretty good your EXE file will run on any version of Windows you built it on or higher.
All bets off, for example, if you built using Visual Studio 2012 Professional on Windows 7, and you try to run it on Windows 95. But otherwise, you're probably safe :)
The best way to test if you have any dependencies is to install and run on a "clean machine".
The best way to get (and reuse) a "clean machine" is with a VM.
I recommend VMWare. But Virtual Box and Windows Virtual PC are also viable choices.
As far as an installer, I'd strongly encourage you to look at InnoSetup
I hope that helps!
Make sure you build in release mode. As Floris Velleman said, you're using unneeded libraries for standalone executable.
For more information, you can check Compiler Options (MSDN).
My Development Environment is
C++
Visual Studio 2008
Windows 7
I'm going to start a project (MFC application) and final result (exe) should run on windows xp, vista ,windows 7 or windows 8 without installing any extra packages (like Visual C++ Redistributable package).
Questions:
Which kind of project I should select in visual studio?
What are the project settings I should specify?
You have to use MFC as a static library. Pay attention in project creation wizard for this option.
These are the basic things you have to consider when you start a project in Visual studio that need to run in target computer without installing any other redistribute components.
You have to select project type Win32-> Win32 Console Application or Win32-> Win32 Project as your console or GUI requirements.
You must select No Common Language Runtime support in right click project in solution explorer -> Properties -> General -> Common Language Runtime support
Your application need run-time assemblies to run in target computer. There is two methods to deploy run time DLLs in target computer
Assemblies link statically ( right click project in solution explorer -> Properties -> General -> Use of MFC and Use of ATL). but if your application combine with multiple DLL EXE and LIBs, this method is quite troublesome.
Deploy Runtime DLLs in target computer as private assemblies (I personally recommend this method). More details here
Expanding upon what's already been said..
You need to set the project to build as a static library:
Right click the project
Go to "Properties->Configuration Properties->General->Project Defaults->Use of MFC" set to "Use MFC in a Static Library"
You may also need to turn off the /MD flag if you're using it, and swap it out for '/MT' instead:
Right click the project
Go to "Properties->Configuration Properties->C/C++->Code Generation->Runtime Library" set to "Multi-threaded /MT"