Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable for Windows

By Microsoft
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Key Details of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable

runtime components of visual C++ libraries
Last updated on May 26, 2017
There have been 2 updates
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Developer's Description

runtime components of visual C++ libraries

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x64) installs runtime components of Visual C++ Libraries required to run 64-bit applications developed with Visual C++ on a computer that does not have Visual C++ 2008 installed.This package installs runtime components of C Runtime (CRT), Standard C++, ATL, MFC, OpenMP and MSDIA libraries. For libraries that support side-by-side deployment model (CRT, SCL, ATL, MFC, OpenMP) they are installed into the native assembly cache, also called WinSxS folder, on versions of Windows operating system that support side-by-side assemblies. For more information on supported ways of deployment for Visual C++ applications,

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable for Windows

By Microsoft
Free
User Rating

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Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: November 29, 2007

Latest update: May 26, 2017

Version: x64

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Windows

Operating System

Windows 10
Windows Vista
Windows 2003
Windows XP

Additional Requirements: 10MB HDD space

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 161,630

Downloads Last Week: 29

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User Reviews

1/5

2 User Votes

and yet....
judethelessobscureSeptember 16, 2011
Pros
none apparently
Cons
takes up hard drive space
Summary
After reading gibberish above, one still has NO idea what this program is for, if it is necessary or if it is BLOATWARE. Bad tech writer. BAD.
Seriously flawed; use 2005 version instead of 2008
tyler_folsomOctober 2, 2009
Pros
Retains the outstanding features from VC6 and VC2005. Great debugger, good interface.
Cons
Cannot write a program under MSCV 2008, install it on another computer and have it execute.
Summary
I am used to writing a simple program and being able to copy it to a customer's computer and execute it. You can't do that anymore. Copying the EXE and DLLs to the target directory doesn't work anymore The problem has to do with DLLs. You get programs expecting different versions of DLLs, so Microsoft did something about it. All DLLs have been moved to the Windows\SxS directory and given names decorated with arbitrary strings. OK, I can live with figuring out how to build an install project, running it, and then installing the package on the target computer. Problem is, that's not enough. Once you do the installation and try to execute the program you get an obscure error message about initialization failing. It suggests that you reinstall the program, but of course that doesn't help. There are three work-arounds: 1) Install the VC run-time on the target computer. The run-time is free, but it is a 92M download and takes a while to install. People who never program should not need a compiler on their computer. 2) Use static linking of the run-time libraries, which will blow up your program size. 3) Use MSVC 2005. The third solution is the most elegant. The 2008 version of Visual Studio has added some new goodies on the Tools and Test tabs, which I never use. It is set up to allow access to the web and databases. I don't use any of that either, since I write scientific programs for use in-house. Before installing VC 2008, make sure that the new features give you value that outweigh the non-portability of the produced executable code.