visual c++ - Unistalled C++ Redistributables on Windows Vista

Windows Vista Service Pack2 32 bit

I uninstalled C++ re-distrubutables (was not aware they are necessary for some applications to run) and I am facing error Cannot start application because the side-by-side configuration is not correct when i start applications like Avast, Revo Uninstaller etc. I came across this page. But the downloaded vcredist_86.exe doesn't seem to do much. It extracts itself and that's it nothing after that. No error nothing.

I just finished installing 300+ MB updates on my system, so i don't want to use the System Restore option [And, I don't know which Restore Point to revert to]. Any other way to get this done?

Answer

Run the Command prompt (cmd.exe) with admin rights and run this command:

SxsTrace Trace -logfile:SxsTrace.etl

Now run the program which causes the SideBySide error.

Go back to the command prompt press ENTER to generate the SxsTrace.etl. Now type this:

sxstrace Parse -logfile:SxSTrace.etl -outfile:SxSTrace.txt

Now open the SxSTrace.txt trace and look which VC++ runtime is missing.

8.0.50727.42 = Visual C++ 2005 RTM
8.0.50727.762 = Visual C++ 2005 Sp1
9.0.21022.8 = Visual C++ 2008 RTM
9.0.30729.1 = Visual C++ 2008 Sp1

After figuring out which version is missing, download the Runtime.