Windows API commctrl.h using application doesn't work on machines without the Platform SDK

Question

I have written something that uses the following includes:

#include <math.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <commctrl.h>

This code works fine on 2 machines with the Platform SDK installed, but doesn't run (neither debug nor release versions) on clean installs of windows (VMs of course). It dies with the quite familiar:

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C:\Documents and Settings\Someone\Desktop\DesktopRearranger.exe
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C:\Documents and Settings\Someone\Desktop\DesktopRearranger.exe

This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

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OK   
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How can I make it run on clean installs? Which dll is it using which it can't find? My bet is on commctrl, but can someone enlighten me on why it's isn't with every windows?

Further more, if anyone has tips on how to debug such a thing, as my CPP is already rusty, as it seems :)

Edit - What worked for me is downloading the Redistributable for Visual Studio 2008. I don't think it's a good solution - downloading a 2MB file and an install to run a simple 11K tool. I think I'll change the code to use LoadLibrary to get the 2 or 3 functions I need from comctl32.dll. Thanks everyone :)

Answer 1

I suspect it is trying to find a version of common controls that isn't installed. You may need a manifest file to map the version of common controls to your target operating system. Also, you may need to make sure you have installed the same VC runtimes that you were linked to.

Chris Jackson blog

EDIT: A little searching and I've confirmed (mostly) that it is the version of your VC++ runtimes that is to blame. You need to distribute the versions that you built with. The platform SDK usually includes a merge module of these for that purpose, but there is often a VCRedist.exe for them as well. Try looking Microsoft's downloads.

KB94885

Answer 2

Use Dependency Walker. Download and install from http://www.dependencywalker.com/ (just unzip to install). Then load up your executable. The tool will highlight which DLL is missing. Then you can find the redistributable pack which you need to ship with your executable.

If you use VS2005, most cases will be covered by http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en which includes everything needed to run EXEs created with VS2005. Using depends.exe you may find a more lightweight solution, though.

Answer 3

Common controls is a red herring. Your problem is that the Visual C++ 8.0 runtime - I assume you're using Visual Studio 2005 - isn't installed. Either statically link to the C/C++ runtime library, or distribute the runtime DLL.

You will have this problem with any C or C++ program that uses the DLL. You could get away with it in VS 6.0 as msvcrt.dll came with the OS from Windows 2000 up, and in VS.NET 2003 as msvcr71.dll came with .NET Framework 1.1. No more. Visual Studio 2005 and later use side-by-side assemblies to prevent DLL Hell, but that means you can't rely even on .NET 2.0 installing the exact version of C runtime that your program's built-in manifest uses. .NET 2.0's mscorwks.dll binds to version 8.0.50608.0 in its manifest; a VS-generated application binds to 8.0.50727.762 as of VS2005 SP1. My recollection is it used some pre-release version in the original (RTM) release of VS2005, which meant you had to deploy a Publisher Policy merge module if you were using the merge modules, to redirect the binding to the version actually in the released C run-time merge module.

See also Redistributing Visual C++ Files on MSDN.