"Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.32.31326 unavailable" pop up after upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11

Question

I tried to contact window support, but they told me to ask the community as I can show screenshots at here. Hope some experts here can help me fix this problem.

I upgraded from windows 10 to windows 11 on 7/16/2024. After upgrade to windows 11, this pop up shows up quite often, usually pop up when I turn on my computer.

In my case, I have this popup since I upgraded my windows 10 to windows 11.

Anyway, I tried the answer they provided:

To fix this problem, you can try the following steps:

1. Install the missing component: The easiest way to fix this problem is to install the missing component. You can download it from the Microsoft website: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
2. Repair or reinstall the Visual C++ runtime library: If installing the missing component does not help, you may need to repair or reinstall the entire Visual C++ runtime library. To do this, you can use the "Programs and Features" control panel. Open the Start menu and type "programs and features" in the search bar. Select "Programs and Features" from the search results and find the entry for "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.32.31326." Select it and click on the "Change" button. From here, you can choose to repair or reinstall

I try to download the Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022, X86 version, when I run it, that "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.32.31326 unavailable" popup pops again. If I click cancel, then the installation will be terminated and shows an error popup: "The older version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x86 Minimun Rutime - 14.40.33810 cannot be removed. Contact your technical support group."

And when I try the method 2, I checked my installed app in windows 11, I found out I didn't have this "Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime" at all, or any apps with "minimum runtime" these words. I have a lot of "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable", included some x86 and x64.

I upgraded to windows 11 on 7/16/2024. I have "Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (X64) - 14.40.33810 " installed on 7/16/2024, not (x86).

I saw another one also installed on the 7/16/2024 : Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (X86) - 14.13.26020, it is X86, but the file name is not "2022", or "2015-2022 Redistributable".

I think the problem is here, when I upgrade to windows 11, it only installed "Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (X86)", not "Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x86)".

But when I try to install it again, it said it can't be installed as "The older version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x86 Minimun Rutime - 14.40.33810 cannot be removed"...

Please help. And try to use the terms for windows 11 for me, as windows 11 looks so many differences they use different name for the same thing.

Thank you

Answer 1

Hello Christina,

I don't work for Microsoft but I know how to fix your problem.

What you're seeing during the manual installation of Visual C++ 2022 there is a relatively common problem that happens with MSI installations. I'll try to explain it in broad or simple terms.

The Visual C++ Runtime Redistributables are wrapped EXEs. When you run the EXE, it extracts a bunch of stuff from itself and then runs an MSI to perform the actual installation. And, during the installation of an MSI, there is a step where the registry of the machine is checked for existing or older versions of the software you're trying to install. If it finds relevant information in the registry, it will then give that information precedence over just about anything else in regards to how to proceed with the install. Because the MSI installer is finding information regarding the install in the registry, it is deferring to that info to first perform an uninstall/repair/whatever before the install will proceed. And, because the information regarding the MSI at the path listed doesn't exist, you're unable to proceed.

I.E. There is information in the registry of that machine referencing that c:\Programdata\Package Cache... path and "vc_runtimeMinimum_x86.msi" that is overriding the normal installation steps of the Visual C++ 2022 EXE you're trying to run. This is breaking the installer from proceeding forward with the install.

So resolve the issue, we simply need to find the Key in the Registry that is causing this issue and delete it. Easy peasy.

1-

Start by searching the registry beneath this key:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products"

for this:

"vc_runtimeMinimum_x86.msi"

You can do this from a command window like this:

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products" /s /f "vc_runtimeMinimum_x86.msi"

This should return multiple results if you have multiple versions of Visual C++ Runtimes installed (E.G. 2010, 2012, 2013, etc..).

When I searched on my machine, I found 4 results:

c:>reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products" /s /f "vc_runtimeMinimum_x86.msi"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\1BAD2218D4DE6763BBA0AC63186945E3\SourceList

*PackageName    REG\_SZ    vc\_runtimeMinimum\_x86.msi* 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\2B7A37F2E05E6A93A9CBFE984E6CE263\SourceList

*PackageName    REG\_SZ    vc\_runtimeMinimum\_x86.msi* 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46\SourceList

*PackageName    REG\_SZ    vc\_runtimeMinimum\_x86.msi* 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\DC8A59DBF9D1DA5389A1E3975220E6BB\SourceList

*PackageName    REG\_SZ    vc\_runtimeMinimum\_x86.msi*

2-

Now we need to check these four keys to see which one might be causing us the problem.

To do this from your command window, use "reg query" followed by the key path (NOT including the "SourceList" part).

For example, from my first returned result from above, my command looks like this:

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\1BAD2218D4DE6763BBA0AC63186945E3"

When I run that command it gives me this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\1BAD2218D4DE6763BBA0AC63186945E3

*ProductName    REG\_SZ    Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.40664* 

*PackageCode    REG\_SZ    82C7CC9682E1077408579187FC5DC13E* 

*Language    REG\_DWORD    0x409* 

*Version    REG\_DWORD    0xc009ed8* 

*Assignment    REG\_DWORD    0x1* 

*AdvertiseFlags    REG\_DWORD    0x184* 

*InstanceType    REG\_DWORD    0x0* 

*AuthorizedLUAApp    REG\_DWORD    0x0* 

*DeploymentFlags    REG\_DWORD    0x3* 

*Clients    REG\_MULTI\_SZ    :* 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\1BAD2218D4DE6763BBA0AC63186945E3\SourceList

Here we can see that that key is referencing "Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.40664 ", so it's NOT the one we want. Keep doing the reg query commands on the other three keys until you find the one that's referring to the messed up Visual C++ 2022 stuff.

On my machine, it was the third one:

c:>reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46

*ProductName    REG\_SZ*    ***Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.40.33816*** 

*PackageCode    REG\_SZ    91507CEA530B99A40B0EFDE1E0E92A0B* 

*Language    REG\_DWORD    0x409* 

*Version    REG\_DWORD    0xe288418* 

*Assignment    REG\_DWORD    0x1* 

*AdvertiseFlags    REG\_DWORD    0x184* 

*InstanceType    REG\_DWORD    0x0* 

*AuthorizedLUAApp    REG\_DWORD    0x0* 

*DeploymentFlags    REG\_DWORD    0x3* 

*Clients    REG\_MULTI\_SZ    :* 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46\SourceList

And now that you've found the Offending Key, do a reg query including the "SourceList" path to confirm the "Package Cache" path that keeps showing up in your messed up installation window. Like so:

*c:>reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46*SourceList

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46\SourceList

*PackageName    REG\_SZ    vc\_runtimeMinimum\_x86.msi* 

*LastUsedSource    REG\_EXPAND\_SZ    n;1;****C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{D7A66DA5-B103-45C1-A0A7-736C08E2F464}v14.40.33816\packages\vcRuntimeMinimum\_x86\*** 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46\SourceList\Media

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46\SourceList\Net

(Again, this is the result from my machine. Yours will probably be slightly different/)

3-

Now that you're certain you've found the registry key that is causing your problem, you can delete it. By doing so, the next time the Visual C++ 2022 setup runs it will no longer find this bad information in the registry so it will proceed to install itself as if it's a fresh installation. Hopefully...

You'll need to change the path to whichever key you found on your own machine.

To delete the bad key, I would run this command on my machine:

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\5AD66A7D301B1C540A7A37C6802E4F46

(Note: Again, no "ProductList" in the path. This is the main parent key you would want to delete.)

When you run that, it will ask you if you're sure. You can press "y" to confirm in your command window.

As always, there is inherent risk when deleting stuff from your Registry. But, as long as you only delete this one key that is referring to the Visual C++ 2022 installation history, you shouldn't have any problems.

If it DOES still give you problems, like for example it's now complaining about the 64bit minimum runtime msi:

"vc_runtimeMinimum_x64.msi"

Don't worry! You now know exactly how to find that pesky MSI reference in the registry and delete it. Just repeat the three steps above to delete the offending Reg Key and then try the installation again!

Hopefully you, or someone in future Google Searches, find this helpful.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi community members,

I found out I can insert images in "reply" but not at the "post" itself. I will edit the post to call these images. After I post this reply, I go back to edit my post, and found out I can upload images successfully now. I think there are some bugs in this platform.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Answer 3

Hi community members,

I found out I can insert images in "reply" but not at the "post" itself. I will edit the post to call these images. After I post this reply, I go back to edit my post, and found out I can upload images successfully now. I think there are some bugs in this platform.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

khloyyann

Answer 4

Hi Hahn,

Thank you for replying.

I contacted Adobe and they tried to help me remove the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (X86) - 14.13.26020", it said unable to uninstall but after rebooting, it is gone. I wonder if those "failed to uninstall" files they won't show up on the control panel again, so I can't do any repairing on those files.

And also, they try to help me repair "Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable **(X64)** - 14.40.33810", it said successful and then reboot the computer. Next they try to install the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable **(X86)** - 14.40.33810". Still the same error said they can't remove the old version, so it failed to install the new one. Same error message like the image above, said I need to install "Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable (X86) - 14.13.26020" to fix the problem. Is there anyway I can find this "Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Minimum Runtime (X86) - 14.13.26020" so I can install it again to fix this problem? 

Adobe suggests me contact Microsoft support to fix this problem, they said it didn't relate to Adobe apps. This popup shows up every time I try to install things, but if I click cancel, I can still install the software without problem.

And do I really need this C++ in windows 11? Those 2005, 2008 version I saw it didn't update for a long time, is it safe to delete them? But I saw 2012 version on Aug windows update, they updated it still... can I really remove it?

Any idea?

Answer 5

Hi Christina,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

It sounds like you're having issues with Visual C++ Redistributable installations after upgrading to Windows 11. The error messages and problems you're encountering suggest a conflict or incomplete removal of old Visual C++ components. Here’s a step-by-step guide to resolving these issues:

• Clean Up Existing Visual C++ Redistributables:

1. Uninstall Conflicting Versions:
2. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
3. Look for any Visual C++ Redistributable entries, particularly those for 2022 or older versions.
4. Select any conflicting or problematic entries and click **Uninstall**. If you see a message about being unable to uninstall, note down the details.

• Perform a Clean Boot and try installing the Visual C++ Redistributable again:

A "clean boot" starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs, so that you can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program. How to perform a clean boot in Windows - Microsoft Support

• Repair Windows Components: If issues persist, you can try repairing Windows components.

System File Checker (SFC) and DISM: Run the System File Checker (SFC) and Deployment Image Service and Management Tool (DISM) to check and repair system files. Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files - Microsoft Support

Let me know if any of these steps help or if you encounter any issues during the process!

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist