New versions of Wireshark no longer working on unpatched Windows system( api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-0.dll )

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We run the CRT installer in silent mode. We could run it in noisy mode so those with broken systems can see what's up.

We also check (in the NSIS installer) the CRT installer for a return value indicating a reboot is required, but don't appear to check for any other error code.

Hi all,

The problem I have is that to install the runtime required, I have to have a shed load of windows updates patches installed. Experience has taught me they can be problematic so I don't bother with them but that again brings its own problems with products like WS are compiled needing those dependencies.

So.. I did something else most wouldn't recommend.. I went with an older version - works flawlessly and has the better and easier looking interface! Problem solved!

Windows7 Home Premium, no build number known.

And to do this is entirely your choice, but hopefully you'll keep your likely insecure Windows installation away the internet.

The old GTK UI has been dropped due to lack of support for our platforms and thus the Qt UI is now standard on all platforms.

To be honest i've had my systems online for years like this, they work fine - i run regular scans and nothing ever turns up that is nasty. With that said, i'm not all over the internet, i just visit the same regular websites each day so hardly a big risk taker. There is more risk of 3rd party software (such as yours lol) doing something bad.

There is also the argument that the updates actually introduce security lapses - where the CIA / NSA etc can gain access. The reality is that nobody knows what is going on inside those MS updates.

I give you exhibit 1; Wannacry and it's affects on the NHS in the UK. From the official investigation and report:

All NHS organisations infected by WannaCry had unpatched or unsupported Windows operating systems so were susceptible to the ransomware.

As Wireshark evolves we update the builds to use the most recent versions of Visual Studio and they require the most recent C runtime libraries.

Then shouldn't we include the C runtime we require in the Wireshark installer, either by installing the runtime ourselves, providing the runtime dll as one of the dlls we provide, or statically linking with the runtime?

We do run the appropriate CRT installer from the Wireshark installer, but there have been various reports of this not installing, for reasons we've never been able to discover. For VS 2015 onwards there is also an OS component to the CRT, and I guess it's possible that if pre-requisites are not met the CRT installation will fail. That seems to be the issue for the OP.

If we depend on the OS component of the CRT, and can't force that to be upgraded, we need either to somehow make our builds work on OSes with older versions or make our installer fail to install Wireshark and to indicate that you have to update the OS.