Do I need to include MS Visual C++ runtimes in my installer?

[josborne]

Hi

I have an application built in LV2016 and I need to build the installer for it.  And of course, I want to include the LV2016 RTE in my installer because I can't guarantee that my customers already have this on their computer.

I am also trying to make my installer as "slim" as possible.  When I look at the section for "Additional Installers", I see there is a lot of cryptic stuff related to Visual C++ that LabVIEW wants to include in the installer, such as:

NI VC2008MSMs

NI VC2010MSMs

NI VC2015 Runtime

When I look at the description for these assitional installers, it seems to be telling me that I should include these otherwise it will have troubl einstalling the LV RTE.

"Include this component ... to load and run the LabVIEW Runtim on computers where the LabVIEW runtime has not been previously installed"

Is this true?  Do I need to install all 3 of those things in order for my customers to successully install the LV RTE, assuming the LV RET has never been installed on their PC before?  That seems like a lot of overkill.

[aputman]

I believe the C++ rruntime is needed for the LV RTE to operate.  If you include it and it's already installed on their system, no harm done.  But if you don't include it and it is needed, kinda looks bad on you, doesn't it? 

[josborne]

OK.  I guess I was just asking if someone can confirm that its actually is necessary for computers that have never had the RTE on it.  But as aputman stated, I guess I can't take the risk and should include it with my installers.

Seems like overkill to me, though.  Does NI really need all 3 of those VC++ runtimes (2008, 2011 and 2015) in order to load and run the LV RTE?  My guess is "probably not" ... but I'll never know, and so I'm forced to bundle them.

[rolfk]

I'm not sure if all 3 MS VC RTE's are really needed for the LabVIEW runtime itself. Most likely one of them is enough for the LabVIEW RTE itself, but there are many more components that you may need to use such as the Advanced Analysis library or other components which all need the RTE version for the VC compiler that was used to create them. So you could try out without and then try to install it on a clean computer but that is not a conclusive test at all. Depending on which version of Windows you install it, Windows itself or some other application you have already installed may have come with the MS VC installer and therefore it works for you while one of your customers may not have the same Windows version or not have installed the same MS Office version, or whatever else application you have on your computer and it fails for them. Unless you are prepared to spend lots of time in finding out what is really needed, it's simply the easiest to include them all and live with it.