What do I need to add to PC with no version of visual studio, in order to install a setup project of visual studio installer?

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I created a setup.exe file from Visual Studio project by Visual Studio Installer.
When I install it on PC that has already any version of Visual Studio the application works properly, and when I install it on PC with no version of Visual Studio the application crash when I try to open a dialog box or something like that.

What I have tried:

If I install visual studio it solve the problem.

Any one knows about specific feature that should be added for installing project of Visual Studio Installer?
How can I solve that issue without installing Visual Studio?

Posted 25-Apr-17 21:59pm

GKSHR

Updated 26-Apr-17 2:10am

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Richard MacCutchan 26-Apr-17 4:10am

You need to install the relevant support libraries on the target machine.

Jochen Arndt 26-Apr-17 4:34am

In addition to the provided solutions:

Ensure that you ship a release version witin your setup.
Debug versions won't work on systems that did not have VS installed.

CHill60 26-Apr-17 4:46am

Good point!

GKSHR 27-Apr-17 8:15am

I have another point about my problem,
The installation file is of MFC application
It seems that the crash happens when we try to open file dialog of MFC.
The MFC140.dll (for VS2015) is existing in the System32 folder, what else that related to MFC should I add?

Jochen Arndt 27-Apr-17 9:02am

See Redistributing Visual C++ Files for what you have to ship with your application.
Common process: Ship your app with the redistributable package and execute that during installation (it will do nothing if already installed).

Is it crashing on all clients or only on a few ones?
For the later case: On which Windows versions it is crashing.

GKSHR 27-Apr-17 9:18am

It is crashing just for few ones, and it could happened on Windows 7 and 10,
but it can success on those version as well

Jochen Arndt 27-Apr-17 9:24am

All I can suggest is:

Create a statically linked application to check if the error ir related to the DLL's on the client or not.

If not, it might be an error in your application. Check the code that is using the file dialog. Add error checks for all functions that might return an error. Check if paths and files exist before accessing them (should be already catched when checking for error codes / function return values).

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CHill60 · Answer 1 · 2017-04-25T22:19:00

Solution 1

When the application crashes it will probably give you an exception message that would help you determine what is missing. If not then have a look at the PC event log to see what is missing.

Most PC's these days will have .NET pre-installed but if you are using some ancient beast then you may have to install it - make a pre-requisite of your install. There is no need to install Visual Studio.

Be aware that if you have uninstalled Visual Studio you may have uninstalled libraries that you now need - make sure the version of .NET libraries are fully patched (up to date).

If your "dialog box or something like that" is from a third-party then you will need to include the libraries for those controls in your set-up.

Also check the references section of your project to see if there are any other libraries you need.

Posted 25-Apr-17 22:19pm

CHill60

Comments

GKSHR 26-Apr-17 4:44am

Thank you very much for the quick responding.
I don't see any error message, the application just closed.
I see that .NET libraries are fully patched,
Do you know about anything else that could be missing?
I actually don't want to install Visual Studio, I just tried that way and found that it solved the problem. I mean to say: there are some features that the installation of Visual Studio adds to the system and I need to add them to my installation package, but I can't figure them out...
I'de like to get any idea
Thank you

CHill60 26-Apr-17 4:47am

See the comment from Jochen Arndt above - make sure you have shipped a Release version, not the Debug version of your executable - I suspect that he's found the problem

GKSHR 26-Apr-17 4:48am

Thanks,
But I work with release version

CHill60 26-Apr-17 4:54am

Did the event log not give any clues?
There is a set of tools called SysInternals that could help you work out what to include. There is an article on using Process Monitor - Troubleshooting dependency resolution problems using Process Monitor[^] and here's the documentation on the suite - Sysinternals Suite[^]

GKSHR 26-Apr-17 4:57am

Thanks!
I'II try it

GKSHR · Answer 2 · 2017-04-26T02:10:00

Solution 2

I have another point about my problem,
The installation file is of MFC application
It seems that the crash happens when we try to open file dialog of MFC.
The MFC140.dll (for VS2015) is existing in the System32 folder, what else that related to MFC should I add?

Posted 26-Apr-17 2:10am

GKSHR