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Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: hake on January 21, 2010, 03:08:17 PM

Title: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: hake on January 21, 2010, 03:08:17 PM
The following files are apparently needed by Avast 5: -
mfc90u.dll, msvcp90.dll, msvcr90.dll

These are missing from my Windows XP Pro SP3 systems.  Are they really needed and if so why wasn't the necessary runtime support made available by Avast?
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 21, 2010, 03:24:49 PM
The files are certainly included in and installed by the avast! installer.
Didn't you maybe uninstall another application later - that may have removed those files from the machine?
Or did the installation finish successfully?
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: hake on January 21, 2010, 03:37:08 PM
I had seemingly successfully installated Avast 5 over Avast 4.8.3168 on 3 systems.  These runtime files are missing on all 3 systems.  There have been no subsequent uninstalls of other software.  I am very puzzled as there was nothing to say that any runtime support was missing.  The installation procedure went smoothly without any hangs.  I simply ran the installation procedure which is so simple to execute that one cannot imagine what scope there is for mistakes.

Despite this, Avast 5 behaves well.

I think the best thing I can do is to download the required runtime environment from Microsoft.  Which do I need and where do I find it?  Is there a link to this?

Thanks.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 21, 2010, 03:56:16 PM
The redistributable can be downloaded here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A5C84275-3B97-4AB7-A40D-3802B2AF5FC2&displaylang=en

But it's certainly strange. If avast! installer didn't include the redistributable, or if there was a problem with its installation, I'd sure we'd see a huge number of similar reports...
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: hake on January 21, 2010, 04:36:22 PM
It seems that the problem is in the installation of the C++ 2008 runtimes.  It succeeded on Windows 2000 SP4 but not on Windows XP Pro SP3.  I have tried running the MS Visual C++ 2008 runtime installation procedure and although it seemed to be successful, the three files Avast 5 needs were not place in C:\WINDOWS\system32.

I cannot understand why this should be happening.  I have scrounged the needed files from a trustworthy source so my Avast 5 installation now has a complete and up to date runtime environment.

I don't think that this was Avast's fault but you should be aware of my problem (on THREE different systems!) with WinXP Pro SP3 in case someone else has the same difficulty.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 21, 2010, 04:38:14 PM
These files are not installed into C:\Windows\System32 anymore (since WinXP).
Microsoft replaced the previous "DLL hell" by something MUCH worse... and those DLLs are now stored somewhere deep in C:\Windows\WinSxS.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: hake on January 21, 2010, 05:03:59 PM
Thanks Igor.  That last post is most useful - I wasn't actually aware of that.

I am very pleased with Avast 5.  I would also remark that it seems to get along well with Threatfire which also has behaviour detection stuff.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 21, 2010, 05:13:14 PM
Isn't it Threatfire that's blocking the installation of the redistributable? ;)
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: lister on January 21, 2010, 06:11:04 PM
The files are certainly included in and installed by the avast! installer.
Didn't you maybe uninstall another application later - that may have removed those files from the machine?
Or did the installation finish successfully?


Seems a bit dodgy that uninstalling another app (one that installed VS 2008 first maybe) would stop avast! from working!
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: gordon451 on January 26, 2010, 05:00:11 AM
Ummm...  I've just installed v5 over v4.8 on W2K Pro SP4 rollup 1 which has never had Visual Studio on it: but Avast won't start and wails :'( that MSVCR90.dll cannot be found in the "specified path".

The files are certainly included in and installed by the avast! installer.
Didn't you maybe uninstall another application later - that may have removed those files from the machine?
Or did the installation finish successfully?

b) the installation finished successfully, and
a) I haven't had time to uninstall anything -- but v4.8 was uninstalled by v5, apparently successfully.

But it's certainly strange. If avast! installer didn't include the redistributable, or if there was a problem with its installation, I'd sure we'd see a huge number of similar reports...

Brace yourselves for the flood :o

Which version do I need?  I'm thinking of downloading it direct -- although perhaps I should uninstall and wait for v5.01  ::)

Gordon.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: waking on January 26, 2010, 06:55:34 AM
Which version do I need?  I'm thinking of downloading it direct --

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)

Igor already gave the download link in the message which you quoted from.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: edmuser on January 26, 2010, 07:32:52 AM
I can confirm there are issues with this.  All of the program components are failing to load the following dll's:

MSVCP90.dll
MSVCR90.dll
mfc90u.dll

Additionally, there are delay-load dll calls to:

afwcore.dll
afwcoreclient.dll

which are files that exist nowhere on my system.

All of the installed executables are from the currently-linked 5.0.377 installation package; however, they are signed with file versions 5.0.374.  I never used a beta version prior to 5.0.377.

I installed MS Visual C++ 2001 SP1 on my system; however, Avast continued to not be able to load them, reporting that the dll's were unavailable.  I shut down Avast's self-protection system and copied the files directly into the installation folder.  Avast now sees that they're there, but none of my problems have been resolved with the program's inability to complete a manual update.

What is most frustrating of all is that the Avast developers are completely ignoring us.  Even to make a post in the forum to say "hey, we released this way too early and it's complete crap, but we'll release something better in 93 hours" would make me a touch less angry.  I'll give this until Thursday and then I'll be saying "thanks for the memories" and move on to a non-crap product.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: waking on January 26, 2010, 08:30:48 AM
>All of the installed executables are from the currently-linked 5.0.377 installation
>package; however, they are signed with file versions 5.0.374.

The internal version numbers in the files were not always kept in sync with the
external build numbers during the Beta builds. This was intentional. The fact
that they were not synched for the release build is unfortunate, and someone
apparently miscued there. However, it is nothing to be concerned about and
does not indicate that older components are somehow mixed in with later ones
or that it is actually an earlier version.

>I installed MS Visual C++ 2001 SP1 on my system

Did you mean "2010"? If so, note that VC++ 2010 is still in beta.
I wasn't aware the 2010 redistributables were available for download
separately yet. In any event, it's the VC++ 2008 SP1 redistributables
which you should use. The "90" in the file names relates to that release.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 26, 2010, 08:32:59 AM
Additionally, there are delay-load dll calls to:

afwcore.dll
afwcoreclient.dll

which are files that exist nowhere on my system.

And why exactly should this be a problem?

I installed MS Visual C++ 2001 SP1 on my system; however, Avast continued to not be able to load them, reporting that the dll's were unavailable.

Sorry to say that, but if Microsoft's redistributable installer (I suppose you meant 2008 SP1 - if not, you downloaded the wrong package) isn't able to install properly, then there's something pretty wrong about your computer.
Either you have some 3rd party software installed that's blocking the installation, or your system is somehow corrupted.

I shut down Avast's self-protection system and copied the files directly into the installation folder.  Avast now sees that they're there, but none of my problems have been resolved with the program's inability to complete a manual update.

Doesn't make sense, you simply can't install those DLLs that way.

What is most frustrating of all is that the Avast developers are completely ignoring us.

I'm afraid the only thing I can say is that your computer is unable to install the necessary MS redistributable (if you downloaded the correct one) - which is something we can't do anything about.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: edmuser on January 27, 2010, 06:43:47 AM
Sorry to say that, but if Microsoft's redistributable installer (I suppose you meant 2008 SP1 - if not, you downloaded the wrong package) isn't able to install properly, then there's something pretty wrong about your computer.  Either you have some 3rd party software installed that's blocking the installation, or your system is somehow corrupted.
I did mean 2008SP1.  It is installed properly and verified as working.  Avast just doesn't seem able to load the dlls.

Doesn't make sense, you simply can't install those DLLs that way.
You can, it's just a bit extra work.

I'm afraid the only thing I can say is that your computer is unable to install the necessary MS redistributable (if you downloaded the correct one) - which is something we can't do anything about.
My computer's doing fine... aside from the Avast on it.  But I guess I'm mistaken and v5 is marching along happily without any problems.  The legions of users here having issues and receiving no answers or being dismissed must simply be rabble-rousers. 
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 27, 2010, 09:33:31 AM
I did mean 2008SP1.  It is installed properly and verified as working.  Avast just doesn't seem able to load the dlls.

Do you have any other programs compiled in (and linked against the DLLs of) VS 2008 SP1?
I mean, how exactly did you verify that it "installed properly and is working"?

Doesn't make sense, you simply can't install those DLLs that way.
You can, it's just a bit extra work.

Sorry, but it seems you don't know what you're talking about.
You could install VS2003 redistributable that way... but not 2008. Those DLLs have to be registered in the "great" Microsoft's WinSxS folder - they won't work if you just copy them to the application's folder, not on your computer, not on anybody else's.

The legions of users here having issues and receiving no answers or being dismissed must simply be rabble-rousers. 

This is the only thread with reports about problems with the redistributable - so certainly no "legions" of users. Considering that avast! 5 was in beta used by a million of users, now it's certainly more... it really doesn't look like there's a problem with the redistributables.

Besides, we can't really do anything else that run the Microsoft's redistributable (which avast! installer does - the redistributable package is embedded inside). If it fails... that's certainly bad, but I can't see anything we could do about it.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: olddog on January 27, 2010, 10:27:34 AM
Igor,

For what it may be worth, I have checked my PC. There are 4 copies of MSVCP90.dll in different subfolders of the WinSXS folder. There appears to be a duplication of 1 in terms of its version number and the others have different version numbers. The creation/date modified dates are different, however they all appear to be from installations many months up to a number of years before I installed V5. I did not install any of the beta versions of V5. I moved straight from 4.8 to 5.0.377 in the last week.

There are 2 copies of mfc90u.dll, again in different subfolders of the WinSXS folder, with the same comments above applying to the dates.

I can't find either afwcore.dll or afwcoreclient.dll on my PC, but then I'm not getting any indication that anything is looking for them either.
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: igor on January 27, 2010, 10:35:57 AM
Yes, that's what the WinSxS folder is about - "side by side", multiple versions of the same DLL. When a program starts, the necessary version of the DLL is (somehow) found in that folder and loaded.
So, you can have msvcr90*.dll from VS 2008 SP0 and VS 2008 SP1 installed simultaneously, even though they have the same name, and each program loads the one it needs (though yes, it's kinda crazy that VS 2008 SP0 and SP1 are not complatible, each needs a different redistributable).

As for afwCore*.dll, they're delay-loaded - only when the program needs them.
As the name suggests, they're part of the firewall - so unless you have avast! AIS installed, they will never be loaded (= don't have to be present).
Title: Re: Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?
Post by: olddog on January 27, 2010, 02:28:30 PM
Igor,

Thanks for the explanation.