Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package

[kencooper]

Every upgrade of VirtualBox has worked perfectly, until today. I got an error message when trying to upgrade to 7.0.6, to be told that I need to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package. Why does the new version need some additional software?

I am averse to installing additional software in case it affects some of my other software packages. Can I be assured that installing this software will not adversely affect Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2007. As you can see, I'm living in the past, but using free software, which you now have to pay for.

I use VurtualBox to run XP, as my version of Quicken will only run in XP.

If necessary, I will live with Version 6.1.40, which is working perfectly, and ignore the upgrade messages every time I open VB.

[scottgus1]

Why does the new version need some additional software?

Because it does. Something new in 7.0 depends on the runtime. Programs requiring runtimes preinstalled has been a thing for at least a couple and a half decades. Further info will be had in a delve-into-the-source-code deep dive. I haven't gone down that rabbit hole yet.

I am averse to installing additional software in case it affects some of my other software packages.

Microsoft used to have this problem, I think it was called DLL Hell. But there's a side-by-side feature in Windows now that each app requiring a runtime gets its own install or something, I think. This may be a few years behind in the status of Windows though.

Can I be assured that installing this software will not adversely affect Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2007.

Absolutely not. You should take a host backup if you are worried about anything. You should be taking host backups anyway.

ignore the upgrade messages every time I open VB.

There's a switch for this, in the main Virtualbox window, File menu, Preferences, Update.

If necessary, I will live with Version 6.1.40

This would be a valid path for some time. 7.0 is still in bug-hunt phase. "If it ain't broke etc."

[kencooper]

Thanks for the replies, but I think at present I'm going to stick with version 6, as I can't be certain that the older versions of Microsoft packages would wok.

[mpack]

as I can't be certain that the older versions of Microsoft packages would wok.

Why not make a host PC backup and then find out?

And anyway, as Scott said: Win10 is not Win95. Different VC++ restributable versions do not conflict. Not installing a version only means that you can't run software that needs that specific version.

That said, I don't understand why the VBox devs go the antiquated route of shared library DLLs at all. Again, the Win10 era is not the Win95 era: who can't spare the disk space for slightly larger executables after static linking?

[Russw]

I ran into this error for the first time upgrading from VB 7.0.8 to 7.0.10 on a Win 7 Pro host. I installed the C++ Runtime (from MS), rebooted but I still get the error message. Is there something else that needs to be done?

[scottgus1]

It isn't an error. It's a prerequisite requirement.

Did you install the 64-bit version of the runtime?

[Russw]

Yes it was the 64-bit version. And I ran the VB installer as admin.
If this was a requirement from earlier versions of VB 7 I'm not sure why I am just running into this now, with version .10, when I installed 7.0.6 ad 7.0.8 without this issue previously. Nothing on my computer would have deleted the C++ runtime.

[scottgus1]

If this was a requirement from earlier versions of VB 7 I'm not sure why I am just running into this now,

Installing the runtime has been a requirement from 7.0.0, and probably in the 7.0 beta phase.

What is the exact message of the error you're receiving?

[Russw]

Capture.PNG (10.3 KiB) Viewed 20963 times

I downloaded the 2015-2023 installer from the link in this post

[scottgus1]

Do I understand that you have installed the 64-bit version of this before, and Virtualbox 7.0.8 or earlier was working, and now 7.0.10 is asking for the runtime again?

If so, what happens when you install the runtime again?

[Russw]

I did not have to install anything to get 7.0.6 or .8 to install and run, so the prerequisite must have already been installed.
I did install the C++ again, and it installed with no errors, I rebooted, tried VB install and got that message again. And there is no anti-virus software interfering.

[scottgus1]

I just upgraded my 7.0.8 test Windows host to 7.0.10, where the runtime has been in place back from around 7.0.2. The install went swimmingly without any errors, and Virtualbox 7.0.10 started just fine.

This seems to mean that it's not a problem with Virtualbox, but rather something on your local PC that is not correct. What it is, I don't know.

Try uninstalling Virtualbox and the runtime. Then reboot, and install the runtime, then Virtualbox again.

[Russw]

I will give that a try. But did anything change in the VB installer with this version?
This is what I see in my programs list. I am running a 64-bit machine. You can see the C++ x86 version was installed last year and the x64 version just today. Was VB running with the x86 version on a 64 bit machine all this time?

Capture.PNG (9.48 KiB) Viewed 20953 times

[Russw]

I uninstalled VB and C++, rebooted, tried to install VB 7.0.10, got that message. Installed the C++ runtime, tried VB, still got that message. I download VB 7.0.8 and it installed fine. So something seems to have changed with the .10 installer.

[fth0]

I've just tested in a Windows 10 VM, that a fresh installation of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable Package (x64) - 14.36.32532 allows the installation of VirtualBox 7.0.10.

@Russw:
I've noticed that you're using a Windows 7 host, which is not officially supported any more since VirtualBox 6.1. FWIW, I heard that the VirtualBox developers do not intend to investigate VirtualBox issues on Windows 7 hosts any more, but are willing to consider favorably and, if appropriate, accept patches.