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How to know what installed and/or depends on each Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable?

Hello.

My Control Panel lists these programs related to Microsoft Visual C++:

Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.30501
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) - 12.0.30501
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (x64)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable (x86) - 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable (x64) - 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable (x86) - 9.0.21022
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable (x86) - 9.0.30729.6161
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64)

I know they have been installed by other programs, but I suspect that when I uninstall one of the latter it does not uninstall the corresponding redistributable. So how can I know what installed each of them and, the most important, which currently installed programs eventually depend on each of these  Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables?

(The Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (x64) seems a special case, probably related to Microsoft Office itself, so here is a second question: Since I have already uninstalled both the whole Office 2016 preview and OneNote 2013, can I safely uninstall it, or should I check for something else still needing it?)

Thank you.

Answer
Answer

The problem is that many different 3rd Party software apps need Visual C++ Runtime files and tend to install their own versions instead of following Microsoft's guidelines.  The runtime files also tend to be left behind when old software is uninstalled/updated

It's virtually impossible to tell which app is/was dependent on which dll file unless you monitor every program installation for file changes.  All you can do is rename one of the .dll files to .bak and then try to run each of your installed apps if any fail to run, then you should get an error message saying it can't find the required file.  A slow a painstaking process of trial and error.  They take up very little space and do no harm, so best to leave them alone unless you are obsessively tidy.

MJA
Windows Insider, Surface Pro 3, MacBook Pro (VirtualBox + Windows 10)

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Last updated April 24, 2024 Views 25,688 Applies to: