tracker issue : CF-4207286

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Title:

SideBySide Error for TypeViewer.dll - Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package EOL

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Status/Resolution/Reason: To Fix//BugVerified

Reporter/Name(from Bugbase): Robert E. / ()

Created: 02/26/2020

Components: COM/DCOM

Versions: 2018

Failure Type: Incorrectly functioning

Found In Build/Fixed In Build: 2018,0,07,316715 /

Priority/Frequency: Normal / All users will encounter

Locale/System: English / Win 2016

Vote Count: 1

Problem Description:

ColdFusion 2016 and ColdFusion 2018 have a hard dependency on Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package.  This component reached end-of-support on April 10, 2018.  As a result, DoD and other agencies view this package as a security threat because Microsoft is no longer supporting/patching this software.  There is a current push within DoD and other agencies to remove this package from all servers and desktop computers on their networks.  Removal of this package causes any calls to create COM objects in ColdFusion to fail.  

Steps to Reproduce:

Instantiate a COM object without VC++ 2008 Redistributable package installed.  Have VC++ 2010, VC++ 2012, VC++ 2015-2019 Redistributable Packages installed.

Actual Result:  

Receive the following error in the Event Logs:

Activation context generation failed for "E:\ColdFusion2018\cfusion\lib\TypeViewer.dll". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.MFC,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

Expected Result:  Can instantiate a COM object.

Any Workarounds:

None.  The Visual C++ Redistributable packages are not backwards compatible until the Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable package.

Attachments:

Comments:

running dependency walker on typeviewer.dll (CF2018u7) indicates dependencies on MFC90.dll and MSVCRT90.dll. Instantiating COM with CF should still work in the absence of those DLLs, provided newer version are present on the OS. have requisitioned a new VM to test that.
Comment by Piyush K.
33208 | February 28, 2020 01:23:27 PM GMT
Unfortunately, I cannot agree with your assessment. This is what we currently have on our development environment with ColdFusion 2016 installed: name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219 version : 10.0.40219 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x64 Additional Runtime - 11.0.61030 version : 11.0.61030 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x64 Minimum Runtime - 11.0.61030 version : 11.0.61030 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x86 Additional Runtime - 11.0.61030 version : 11.0.61030 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x86 Minimum Runtime - 11.0.61030 version : 11.0.61030 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X64 Additional Runtime - 14.24.28127 version : 14.24.28127 name : Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 X64 Minimum Runtime - 14.24.28127 version : 14.24.28127 After removing VC++ 2008 x64 Redistributable, rebooting the machine, and then calling a COM object yields the following error: Activation context generation failed for "e:\ColdFusion2016\cfusion\lib\TypeViewer.dll". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.MFC,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
Comment by Robert E.
33209 | February 28, 2020 02:03:49 PM GMT