Modified:
Oct 18, 2018
Created:
Feb 18, 2017
Views:
14382
Author:
JH

Missing DLL error with ProSelect 2017r1 on Windows

ProSelect 2017r1 and newer uses the latest Microsoft Visual C libraries for a number of its functions. This suite of .dll files are installed, by default, with Windows 10 and as part of the latest Microsoft software updates on Windows 7 & 8 computers.

If your computer has all the latest Windows 7 & 8 software updates installed, these libraries should already be present on your computer and ProSelect will run without any issues.

Just in case, the ProSelect installer also includes a copy of the 32-bit library installer (called "VC_redist.x86") and this is automatically run at the end when installing ProSelect.  This program checks whether the latest library files are installed and, if not, attempts to install them.

Depending on your Windows setup and when you last updated your system software, this last step may not successfully complete. See below for what can go wrong and hopefully how to fix it.

Note: ProSelect v2017r1 requires Windows 7 SP1, 8.1 or 10 (32/64bit). It will not run on Windows XP or Vista.

The Symptoms

When installing ProSelect, you will see the message "Installing Windows 32-bit runtime... (this may take a minute)" at one of the last steps.  

If this step does not complete after a few minutes then:

(a) You have earlier versions of the Libraries already installed (possibly by other third-party software)

(b) Your Windows software does not have some pre-requisite software updates installed (usually because you have not done a successful Windows Software update for some time).

If you Force Quit the ProSelect installer, then try to run ProSelect, you will likely see the message:

"The program can't start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing"

The Solutions

The Simplest

  1. Run the Windows Updater on your computer and select to install all the updates listed under the Important tab, and possibly those under the Optional tab which are relevant to Windows (e.g. Update for Windows... ") Depending on when you last did this, you may need to complete the Update process, restart your computer, then run the Windows Updater again to see if there are any more updates still to do. Repeat this process until there are no more outstanding updates to be installed.

  2. Re-install ProSelect.

More Involved (installing missing files)

Once you have all your Windows Updates installed, if you are still having a problem with the ProSelect installer hanging up at the "Installing Windows 32-bit runtime" stage then try the following:

1. Download the "VC_redist.x86" file from this Microsoft page onto your desktop.

 2. Run this installer and choose "Yes" when prompted.

IMPORTANT: Even if you are running the 64-bit version of Windows, you must download the 32-bit installer of these libraries, because ProSelect is currently a 32-bit program. You can optionally download and install the 64-bit version as well, however, these are not used by ProSelect.

When running the installer, if you get the error message shown below, then try the instructions in the next section.

Removing old Visual C++ installs

If you receive the above error message when manually installing the Visual C++ libraries, then try removing previously installed versions of "Microsoft Visual C++ year Redistributable (x86)".

To do this, in Windows Control Panel --> Uninstall Programs:

  1. Right click on the last list "Microsoft Visual C++ year Redistributable (x86)..." version and choose Uninstall.
  2. Click "Yes" button to continue if prompted (Do not restart your computer yet).

After doing this

  1. Run the "VC_redist.x86" installer again (see previous section)
  2. If still not running (with the same message), then uninstall the next (x86) instance.
  3. Once installed, restart your computer.
  4. Open ProSelect.

Note: Removing older versions of this Library may effect other applications on your computer. If this happens you may need to reinstall any applications effected.


KnowledgeBase Article: Missing DLL error with ProSelect 2017r1 on Windows