Warning of installing redistrubatble in Visual Studio 2015

Question

I got a new computer and had to reinstall Visual Studio 2015 on it. Most of the time it went okay till the end. I got these warnings:

1. Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x64) - 14.0.24210 : Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

2. Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (KB3165756) Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x64) - 14.0.24215 : The installer failed. Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Error code: 0x80070666

3. Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (KB3165756) C++ 2015 Redistributable (x86) - 14.0.24215: The installer failed. Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Error code: 0x80070666

From reading previous posts on here, it says to uninstall the updated version before installing this.

However, when going to add/remove list, I noticed that the only items that would be a conflict is Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable. That may have been installed by SQL server management studio. My question is that since the version I have covers from 2015-2022, can I ignore the warning given by the Visual Studio installer or do I have to uninstall the 2015-2022 version and try again?

Answer 1

VC++ redistributable are backwards compatible for the same major version. So the 2022 version will work in place of the 2015 version.

From MS:

Visual Studio versions since Visual Studio 2015 share the same Redistributable files. For example, any apps built by the Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, or 2022 toolsets can use the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. However, the version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installed on the machine must be the same or higher than the version of the Visual C++ toolset used to create your application

Answer 2

My question is that since the version I have covers from 2015-2022, can I ignore the warning given by the Visual Studio installer or do I have to uninstall the 2015-2022 version and try again?

I am afraid that you cannot ignore the warning and you have to uninstall the 2015-2022 version and then install visual studio 2015.

To get you unblocked, i suggest you try the following:

1.Uninstall all the higher version of the VS Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable from your system through the Control Panel's.

2.Install your VS2015.

3.Re-install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable from this page. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

Hope it can help you.