Member Avatar for Stormy_Weather

Hi,

We are new to Visual Studio 2008, barely a month into a C++ course, and are currently working on a few personal projects.

We have successfully created a console application with Visual Studio but are not sure on how to get the program to run outside of Visual Studio. Looking through the provided textbook(s), we can not find a clear solution.

Is there any way to build the program, so that it is an .exe file that can be used independently?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

K & R

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by tux4life

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As found, Visual Studio already writes an .exe into the project’s build output. What matters for running that .exe on other machines is twofold: whether the program is native (unmanaged C++) or managed (C++/CLI or C#), and whether the Visual C++ runtime is linked into the binary or left as a separate DLL. was right that the build output is on disk; was mistaken to imply every VS2008 build needs .NET — only managed apps do.

Practical deployment points not yet covered in the thread:

  • Debug builds use debug CRTs that are not redistributable. Always produce a Release build for distribution.
  • Dynamic CRT dependency (default) means the target needs the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable (MSVCR90.dll). To avoid that, set the runtime to static: Project Properties -> C/C++ -> Code Generation -> Runtime Library -> Multi-threaded (/MT). Static linking makes the EXE larger and bypasses system CRT updates, so weigh that trade-off.
  • Visual C++ Express does not include MFC; MFC apps require the non-Express editions or the appropriate libraries.

Recommended workflow for distribution:

  1. Build the Release configuration for the intended platform (Win32 for widest compatibility).
  2. Test the EXE on a clean VM to catch missing DLLs. Tools like Dependency Walker show what the EXE needs.
  3. If using the dynamic runtime, include the appropriate VC++ redistributable installer with the package; otherwise use /MT. For packaging, simple options are a ZIP or an installer creator (Inno Setup / NSIS). Code-signing reduces AV false positives.

Common errors and fixes: “missing MSVCR90.dll” -> supply the 2008 redistributable or switch to /MT; SxS/manifest errors -> ensure the CRT manifest is embedded. This expands on the earlier replies and should make distributing a standalone EXE straightforward.

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Member Avatar for tux4life

>Is there any way to build the program, so that it is an .exe file that can be used independently?
Yes, sure there is!

I assume you can run the program from within Visual Studio?
In that case you just browse to the folder where your project is saved in, there will be a folder called "Release" or something, and in that folder you'll probably find your executable file.
If your program is fully finished, I would also like to advise you to compile your code in "Release" mode, instead of the default "Debug" mode.

On MSDN you can also find a video to learn become familiar with the IDE, check it out here.

Member Avatar for Stormy_Weather

>Is there any way to build the program, so that it is an .exe file that can be used independently?
Yes, sure there is!

I assume you can run the program from within Visual Studio?
In that case you just browse to the folder where your project is saved in, there will be a folder called "Release" or something, and in that folder you'll probably find your executable file.
If your program is fully finished, I would also like to advise you to compile your code in "Release" mode, instead of the default "Debug" mode.

On MSDN you can also find a video to learn become familiar with the IDE, check it out here.

Thank you -- we found the file!

Just needs a few tweaks so we'll take your advice on the compiling method!

K & R

Member Avatar for u8sand

The only problem with Visual 2008's compiled files is that you cannot run it on other machines without the .NET framework. I recommend finding a way to get it to work without the .NET framework or get DevC++.

Member Avatar for tux4life

The only problem with Visual 2008's compiled files is that you cannot run it on other machines without the .NET framework. I recommend finding a way to get it to work without the .NET framework or get DevC++.

If I'm not wrong, you can also compile your source code as a native Windows application, which doesn't need .NET to run.
Though I'm not so sure about this.

Edit::
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/60k1461a.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visual_Studio_Express

Member Avatar for u8sand

I remember looking all over for something like that but i don't think it exists... Not to worry! All windows operating systems from VISTA and above have the .NET framework already installed on it... Of course XP and lower don't -.-

I also know of a way (only with MFC though) to link the libraries in a different way so that you can run it on different systems... static linking i think? But MFC is old and never used/updated anymore.

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