Re: VS 2005 and Manifest for runtime dlls

Hi all,

I'm having some problems with Visual Studio 2005 and even though I
read everything I could find in MSDNL I still couldn't find the
answer. Mainly my problem is that even though the manifest needed for
the MS runtime library is embedded into the binary the C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest is
still needed.

Detailed: I did the following steps:
1) New Project -> Win32 Console Application -> Empty project
2) Add new .cpp file with some code (as easy as possible), eg:
#include <stdio.h>
void main() { printf("MOMO"); }
3) Build the project in Release
4) Open the built .exe in the Visual Studio IDE (File -> Open -> File)
=> we can see the RT_MANIFEST being indeed 1, as suggested by MSDNL,
which means the manifest is embedded into the binary.
5) Copy this new binary, eg coco.exe on a Windows XP system with no
Visual Studio installed

Now there are the following scenarios:
a) Run coco.exe on that machine => error "The system cannot execute
the specified program.", when run from cmd prompt, or "This
application has failed to start because the application configuration
is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.",
when double-clicked in explorer. Not working might be normal as there
are no runtime DLLs b) copy the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual
Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT DLLs (msvcp80.dll and
msvcr80.dll) on the target machine in the same directory like the
coco.exe and try again to run coco.exe => the errors like above.
This is what I don't understand. Why isn't this enough taking in
account that the manifest is embedded in the binary?
c) If I also copy in the exact same directory where the DLLs and
coco.exe are the file Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest from C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT,
running coco.exe will work. But doesn't that mean that I have an
external manifest? If yes, means this is not what I want, as in MSDNL
is stated that having an external manifest is not a good idea as this
won't work if you load a DLL via LoadLibrary, so I want the manifest
embedded.

In other words, can somebody pls:
I) explain why the scenario b) is not working

II) the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
8\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC80.CRT\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest is
always needed? Does this mean external manifest or not?

III) what do I need to do in order to deliver on the target machine
the DLLs in the same directory where the app is? (not WinSxS, and not
a subdirectory of the application directory)