I wrote a C++ project called 'Foo' using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Verison 8.0.50727.762 (SP.050727-7600) on Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3. I built the project into Foo.exe. Then, I copied the file Foo.exe to a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2. When I tried to run it, it failed with this error,

C:\foo.exe
The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect.Reinstalling the application may fix the problem.

In Event Viewer > System, three events were logged.

Event ID: 32; Source: SideBySide

DependentAssemblyMicrosoft.VC80.CRT could not be found and Last
 
Error was
The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

ResolvePartialAssembly failed forMicrosoft.VC80.CRT.Reference error message:The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

GenerateActivationContext failed 
 
for C:\foo\Foo.exe.Reference error message:The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

Installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable didn't fix it

1. Installed it. The installer created a folder called C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd.

The version of this software as found from 'Add or Remove Programs' was '8.0.50727.42'.

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe, I got the same errors I described above.

Installing Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable didn't fix it

1. Installed it. The installer created a folder called: C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700.

The version of this software as found from 'Add or Remove Programs' was '8.0.56336'.

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe, I got the same errors I described above.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from the same machine (where I'm running the EXE) didn't fix it.

1. I copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll and msvcr80.dll from C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd toC:\foo.
2. Next, I copied C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\Manifests\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acd.manifest to C:\foo and renamed it to Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest.

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.42"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

When I tried running C:\foo\foo.exe this time, it didn't work. I repeated this thing again with the DLLs in C:\windows\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700 and the corresponding manifest file. It didn't help as well. I got the same error.

In both cases, I got the following errors in Event Viewer > System.

Event ID: 34; Source: SideBySide

Component identity found in manifest does not match the identity of the component requested

Event ID: 58; Source: SideBySide

Syntax error in manifest or policy file "C:\foo\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.MANIFEST" on line 4.

Event ID: 59; Source: SideBySide

GenerateActivationContext failed for C:\foo\Foo.exe.Reference error message:The manifest file contains one or more syntax errors.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from the Windows XP machine (where I built the EXE) didn't fix it.

1. I copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll and msvcr80.dll from C:\winnt\winsxs\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700 of Windows XP machine (where I developed and built foo.exe) to C:\foo of Windows Server 2003 (where I am trying to run foo.exe).
2. Next, I copied C:\winnt\winsxs\Manifests\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700.manifest to C:\foo and renamed it to Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest.

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.762"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

On trying to run C:\foo\foo.exe now I got the same errors mentioned in the previous section.

Copying CRT DLLs and manifest from Visual Studio folder fixed it.

1. Copied msvcm80.dll, msvcp80.dll, msvcr80.dll and Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest from C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT of Windows XP machine (where I developed and built foo.exe) to C:\foo of Windows Server 2003 machine (where I am trying to run it).

The fourth line of the manifest file looked like this:

<assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.6195"
                  processorArchitecture="x86"
                  publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>

This time I could run C:\foo\foo.exe without any issues.

Question

I was expecting that installing 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable' (vcredist_x86.exe) as described in the second approach would fix it. But it didn't. Copying the DLLs and manifest files from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT folder of the development machine fixed it. Why was it so?

Build options

In case, it helps you to answer my question. Here is the compiler and linker options I picked up from Visual Studio project properties:

Configuration properties > C/C++ > Command Line:

/O2 /GL /D "_MBCS" /FD /EHsc /MD /Fo"Release\\" /Fd"Release\vc80.pdb" /W3 /nologo /c /Wp64 /Zi /TP /errorReport:prompt

Configuration properties > Linker > Command Line:

/OUT:"C:\MixedBag\Release\Foo.exe" /NOLOGO /MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"Release\Foo.exe.intermediate.manifest" /DEBUG /PDB:"c:\MixedBag\release\Foo.pdb" /OPT:REF /OPT:ICF /LTCG /MACHINE:X86 /ERRORREPORT:PROMPT kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib