What version of MS Visual CC do I really need?

[RJsDad]

Greets all;

This may have been asked before, so if I'm beating a dead horse, just say so .

I have 4 2005's, 6 2008's and a lone 2010 installed; the question is do I really need all of them or just the most recent? If I only need the latest version, is it safe to remove the older ones (assuming I don't have anything that needs them)? And is the 2010 redistributable the absolute latest version? After looking it up at Microsoft, it seems there is a 2012 and/or 2013 but the information is a little confusing - so I figured before I go and download another, I'd better get some expert advice.

Thanks in advance.......

p.s.: I searched the forum, but it just made my brain hurt.

 

[marsmimar]

The very short answer is you probably need all of them.

My usual disclaimer: I'm not an expert at anything.

As I understand it, different programs use different "versions" of Visual C++. If you remove the wrong version the program won't work. On the other hand, I've removed all of them and then waited for a program to prompt me to download the required C++. In a very short time all of the uninstalled versions were reinstalled. These Microsoft forum threads may help.

Different versions and updates of Microsoft Visual C++, do I - Microsoft Community

Why are there multiple versions of Microsoft Visual C++ libraries on my computer?

 

[LMiller7]

In theory all applications should work with the most recent version of the runtime. But in the real world things don't always work that way. Many applications were written for one specific version and will work with no other. That is an issue that only the application developer can resolve.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Are you asking about runtimes or compilers/IDEs?

For compilers, just install the latest version, each compiler just supports new features and new specifications of C++. I believe Visual Studio 2012 supports C++ 11 now.

 

[Alejandro85]

Each program compiled with Visual C++ is linked to a specific version of the runtime, as they're not backward compatible. That is, a program made for 2010, will ONLY run with 2010 runtime, for instance. Weather you actually need all of them or not depends on what programs you have and what runtime they use.

My personal preference is to have installers for each version, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012, for both x86 and x64, and install all of those at once, then forget about it, so it can run any program that used MSVC++.