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It appears that Microsoft Visual C++ offers equivalent copies of the VC++ runtime redistributable under two formats of names.

VS2017:

@ /cygdrive/c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2017/Community/VC/Redist/MSVC/14.16.27012
$ cksum.exe vcredist_* vc_redist.*
4227323895 15311608 vcredist_x64.exe
1446350140 14636936 vcredist_x86.exe
646937804 7271400 vc_redist.arm64.exe
4227323895 15311608 vc_redist.x64.exe
1446350140 14636936 vc_redist.x86.exe

VS2019:

@ /cygdrive/c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Professional/VC/Redist/MSVC/14.23.27820
$ cksum.exe vcredist_* vc_redist.*
4163206349 15073600 vcredist_x64.exe
1076245464 14373272 vcredist_x86.exe
4163206349 15073600 vc_redist.x64.exe
1076245464 14373272 vc_redist.x86.exe

I'm not sure why the VS2019 install doesn't have the arm64 version (perhaps I didn't install support?), but based on the fact that Windows ARM64 support is newer, this all suggests that:

  • There is a renaming afoot for these redistributable packages.
  • Since the content is the same, one set of names is the now the compatibility names, and the other the go-forward names.
  • The vc_redist.<arch>.exe names appear to be the newer format, based on the fact that ARM64 exists in that format, and ARM64 support is new in Windows.

However, some searching didn't reveal any documentation to support these conclusions. Which format of names should I use if I want to stay compatible? Links to supporting MSVC documentation would be ideal.

acm
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1 Answers1

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According to the Visual Studio documentation:

In versions of Visual Studio since 2017, these files are named vc_redist.arm64.exe, vc_redist.x64.exe, and vc_redist.x86.exe. In Visual Studio 2015, Visual Studio 2017, and Visual Studio 2019, they're also available under the names vcredist_x86.exe, vcredist_x64.exe, and vcredist_arm.exe (2015 only).

So vc_redist.x86.exe appears to be the new name. This is also listed as the original filename for vcredist_x86.exe if you open the file properties in Explorer, at least for the files supplied with VS 2019.

rveerd
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