How to detect VC++ 2008 redistributable?

Question

Is there a Registry setting that I can look for to determine whether or not the Visual C++ redistributable is installed, whether standalone or as part of Visual Studio 2008? I know that I could launch the VC++ 2008 redistributable installer and let it handle the detection, but it would look cleaner if I can check for it and not bother launching the installer if the redistributable is already on the system.

It's no biggie if there is no setting to search for, as this is just for the preliminary installers that we have for the new version of our software. We won't need it for the new Windows Installer-based installers that we are working on that will replace the old tech ones and will use the merge modules.

Answer 1

You can check for the files under the WINDOWS\WinSxS directory to see which versions you have installed. Often many versions can be installed at one time so you might need to check the specific versions you have installed.

Answer 2

Quick and dirty:

if (LoadLibrary(L"msvcrt80.dll")!=NULL)
{
  // it is installed
}

Loadlibrary will handle searching the paths for you.

Answer 3

Check for $WINDIR\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_* if, for example, you're checking for the Visual Studio 2008 redistributable.

Answer 4

Check the registry:

VC++2008 (sp1): HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3C3D696B-0DB7-3C6D-A356-3DB8CE541918}

or

VC++2008 (original): HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{FF66E9F6-83E7-3A3E-AF14-8DE9A809A6A4}

Answer 5

looks like there is another solution proposed by a Microsoft-Developer, using MsiQueryProductState API, alas also relying on the GUIDs.

Update: The code went live yesterday and seems to be working fine. Here is what is beeing done: It is checked for the latest-known-to-me GUID AND the path² to-where-it-is-supposed-to-be-installed. If both fails, it is installed. This seems to work fine.

Additionally, it is installed with the command line arguments "/qb" which means "unattended but not invisible". See this other blog post about those params.

FWIW, GUIDs for Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 / VC90 SP1 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729

• 64bit 30729.17: 8220EEFE-38CD-377E-8595-13398D740ACE
• 32bit 30729.17: 9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475
• 32bit 30729.01: 6AFCA4E1-9B78-3640-8F72-A7BF33448200

² The path: $WINDIR\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729*

Answer 6

Found registry entry for VC2008 redistributable. Here is my solution:

BOOL IsVC2008RedistInstalled(LPCTSTR pLogFile) { TCHAR szLogEntry[256]; memset(szLogEntry, '0', sizeof(szLogEntry)); HKEY hKey; LONG lErr;

TCHAR csid[256];
_stprintf( csid, _T("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\{9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475}"));
lErr = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, csid, 0, KEY_QUERY_VALUE, &hKey);
if (lErr == ERROR_SUCCESS)
{
_stprintf(szLogEntry, _T("VC2008 Redistributable was installed before.\n"));
toFile(pLogFile, szLogEntry);
return TRUE;
}
else
{
_stprintf(szLogEntry, _T("VC2008 Redistributable was not installed before. %ld\n"), lErr);
toFile(pLogFile, szLogEntry);
return FALSE;
}

}

Answer 7

Update for anyone else hitting this problem:

1) If you have Visual Studio installed, the required DLLs will be present, but the "redist package" is not, so the registry keys are missing. (i.e. this will give a false negative). However, installing the redist over the top in this situation is harmless.

2) Every major release of the redist (Any combination of VS2005/VS2008, x86/x64/IA64, and service packs: SP1,ATL security update) has a different GUID. Take care if you are expecting to deploy your application on both x86 and x64 PCs.

3) If you use LoadLibrary or a check for Dll files, make sure you target the correct version. If you look for "any" copy of msvcrt80.dll (etc) then you won't be able to tell if it is the version your program was linked to.

Answer 8

I'd like to extend the GUID list with the following values:

32bit 30729.17
{9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475}
32bit 30729.01
{6AFCA4E1-9B78-3640-8F72-A7BF33448200}
64bit 30729.17
{8220EEFE-38CD-377E-8595-13398D740ACE}
64bit 30729.01
{0DF3AE91-E533-3960-8516-B23737F8B7A2}
VC++2008 (sp1)
{3C3D696B-0DB7-3C6D-A356-3DB8CE541918}
VC++2008 (original)
{FF66E9F6-83E7-3A3E-AF14-8DE9A809A6A4}
IA64 30729.01
{22E23C71-C27A-3F30-8849-BB6129E50679}
32bit 30729.4148
{7B33F480-496D-334A-BAC2-205DEC0CBC2D}
Visual Studio 2008 Professional SP1
{D7DAD1E4-45F4-3B2B-899A-EA728167EC4F}
32bit 30729.01
{F333A33D-125C-32A2-8DCE-5C5D14231E27}

So please decide, whether it's a good idea to check the presence of VCredist by GUIDs.

Answer 9

I don't think any of those solution can help when your using different OS ! For ex, MsiQueryProductState will always returned -1 using Vista VC8.0

while -1 for VC8.0/8.0 SP1/9.0 with Windows 7 ! So the GUID solution that microsoft provided, doesn't work in all cases

so i guess i'm forced to stuck with the %windir%\winsxs approach and search for

• x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT*
• x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT*

For those who are looking for all GUIDs, Here is a list i created:

Visual C++ 2005 runtime files

* VC 8.0 (x86) - {A49F249F-0C91-497F-86DF-B2585E8E76B7}
* VC 8.0 (x64) - {6E8E85E8-CE4B-4FF5-91F7-04999C9FAE6A}
* VC 8.0 (ia64) - {03ED71EA-F531-4927-AABD-1C31BCE8E187}

Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtime files

* VC 8.0 SP1 (x86) - {7299052B-02A4-4627-81F2-1818DA5D550D}
* VC 8.0 SP1 (x64) - {071C9B48-7C32-4621-A0AC-3F809523288F}
* VC 8.0 SP1 (ia64) - {0F8FB34E-675E-42ED-850B-29D98C2ECE08}

Visual C++ 2005 SP1 ATL Security Update runtime files

* VC 8.0 SP1 ATL Patch (x86) - {837B34E3-7C30-493C-8F6A-2B0F04E2912C}
* VC 8.0 SP1 ATL Patch (x64) - {6CE5BAE9-D3CA-4B99-891A-1DC6C118A5FC}
* VC 8.0 SP1 ATL Patch (ia64) - {85025851-A784-46D8-950D-05CB3CA43A13}

Visual C++ 2008 runtime files

* VC 9.0 (x86) - {FF66E9F6-83E7-3A3E-AF14-8DE9A809A6A4}
* VC 9.0 (x64) - {350AA351-21FA-3270-8B7A-835434E766AD}
* VC 9.0 (ia64) - {2B547B43-DB50-3139-9EBE-37D419E0F5FA} 

Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtime files

* VC 9.0 SP1 (x86) - {9A25302D-30C0-39D9-BD6F-21E6EC160475}
* VC 9.0 SP1 (x64) - {8220EEFE-38CD-377E-8595-13398D740ACE}
* VC 9.0 SP1 (ia64) - {5827ECE1-AEB0-328E-B813-6FC68622C1F9}

Visual C++ 2008 SP1 ATL Security Update runtime files

* VC 9.0 SP1 ATL (x86) - {1F1C2DFC-2D24-3E06-BCB8-725134ADF989}
* VC 9.0 SP1 ATL (x64) - {4B6C7001-C7D6-3710-913E-5BC23FCE91E6}
* VC 9.0 SP1 ATL (ia64) - {977AD349-C2A8-39DD-9273-285C08987C7B}