Error: “Application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect”

Question

I have created an MFC application using Visual Studio 2008 which is working fine on Windows XP. But when I try to execute the same EXE file in Windows Vista I am getting:

Error: Application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect

When I check the event viewer then below is what it says:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        SideBySide
Date:          12/10/2010 10:06:08 AM
Event ID:      33
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      WIN-8A4INI0BH2R
Description:
Activation context generation failed for "C:\MyApp.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="SideBySide" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49409">33</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2010-12-10T04:36:08.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>181</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>WIN-8A4INI0BH2R</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8"</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>
    <Data>

    </Data>
    <Data>C:\MyApp.exe</Data>
    <Data>
    </Data>

    <Data>
    </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Answer 1

You have no CRT runtime DLL on the target machine. To avoid this you can install VC9 redistributables or you can link your program with the runtime statically ( more info ). This question could be helpful also.

Answer 2

I realise this is an old thread but I got this same error and none of the SO threads have a reference to the cause of the issue I had. I used the sxstrace program and it pointed me to the config file where there was a syntax issue with the XML !