C++/VB - side by side configuration - what does this really mean?

Asked By phil oakleaf

28-May-10 12:37 PM

I have recently given an update to a single user who finds that the
program now gives an error

configuration is incorrect. Please see.... "

The program runs fine on my machine and older builds runs on his.

However, if I take the older build and re-build, the resulting exe gives
the same error.

it is an MFC project and there are no new DLL's. The VC redist is
installed on his machine.

If anyone has any ideas they'd be very much appreciated

Phil

28-May-10 01:22 PM

It may mean that you have installed a service pack such as the ATL update
and a new(er) version of the runtimes is required on the users machine.

Did you examine the manifest to see if the required DLLs were in fact
present on the machine?

-Pete

28-May-10 01:55 PM

Peter

Thanks for the help

I am not aware of installing any updates on my machine


Sorry if this is really a dumb question. But how do I check the
manifests on the users machines.

Many thanks
Phil

28-May-10 02:47 PM

Last Summer, MS issues a Windows Update for "ATL Security Update" which you
might have gotten automatically depending on your Windows Update settings.
This patches Visual Studio so that anything you build with it from then on
requires new redists.  (The new redists were put into your e.g. c:\program
files\microsoft visual studio 2008\vc\redist folder, so you can check there
to make sure it is the same as what you gave to your user.)

At a deeper level, run findstr from a command prompt and search all your
DLL's and EXE's that you distribute in with your app for e.g.
built with VC2005) and make sure that the versions that get dumped out are
actually the ones you distribute in your vc_redist.

Alternatively, if your user is skilled and running on Vista or later, have
him run SxSTrace.exe to 1) generate an error log, then 2) parse the error
log into a text file; the text file will show clearly what DLL could not be
found, and which DLL's whose versions were not adequate were found, thus
pointing to a version mismatch.

-- David

30-May-10 03:33 PM

David

thanks for the info

I think there must have been some change on my machine because if I
compile on a different system, no problem.

Build on my main machine I get the side by side

Why could VS have updated itself like this without asking me?

Thanks again