INSTALLING WAMP, PART 1, VISUAL C++ REDISTRIBUTABLES

This is the first of a two part article about installing WAMP on a Windows machine, where I show you how to prepare your computer. There are a few things that isn’t included in the installation package, that you have to install on your own first.

Before you start installing and configuring WAMP, you have to make sure that you have all the necessary Visual C++ redistributables installed.

You can just open the Control Panel and look through what is installed and compare it with what is required. They are:
• Visual C++ 2008 SP1 (C++ 9.0)
• Visual Studio 2010 SP1 (VC++ 10.0)
• Visual Studio 2012 (VC++ 11.0)
• Visual Studio 2013 (VC++ 12.0)
• Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 (all three share the same installation)

Remember, if you have a 64-bit Windows, you have to install both 32- and 64-versions of the redistributables.

WAMP has a tool called check_vcredist.exe, which will analyse your computer and give you a report on which files you need to install.

WAMP has a few requirements on your system. Chances are that you have at least some of them already because they are also used by many other applications. What I am talking about is the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable packages, which is a set of standard functionalities.

The WAMP tool can create a report of what is missing

You have to check if you have them already. WAMP has a tool that checks this for you, just run it and it will tell you what you need to install.

You download it from here: http://wampserver.aviatechno.net/files/tools/check_vcredist.exe.

There are a few steps to go through when you execute this app.

Step 1 – Select the language

Step 2 – Are you using PHP, version 5.3 or 5.4?

Select if you are going to use any of the PHP versions 5.3 or 5.4. At this moment when I write this text, the current version of PHP is 7.4, so it’s likely that you will be using another version than these two.

You really should use the same version you’re using on your public site.

And you really should also use latest version. Always.

It looks as if the translation from French dropped the word “another”… I guess it should have said “…or will you use another one?”

Step 3 – Run the check

The final step is to let the app check what versions you have and what you need to install.

Just click the <Check> button

Step 4 – The report

The app will produce a report that looks something like this.

As you can see, I am missing two libraries:
VC_2019_REDIST_X86
VC_2019_REDIST_X64

32 vs 64 bit Window

– “But wait a minute! The two are basically called the same thing! What is this?”

If you didn’t know it before, Windows comes in two flavours, 32 and 64 bits.

If you have a 32 bit Windows, you only have to install the 32 bit version of the redistributable.
That’s the one that is named “…X86”.

But if you have a 64 bit Windows, you have to install both.

So, how do I know what kind of Windows I have then? You can read about that on this page.
Is my Windows 10 a 32 or 64 bit system?

Download and install the redistributables

Download using the WAMP homepage at aviatechno.net

WAMP has links to them on their page: https://wampserver.aviatechno.net/

Just search the text for “Visual C++ Redistributable Packages”

Download from Microsoft

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads-2647da03-1eea-4433-9aff-95f26a218cc0

Google it!

And if none of the links above work, you can always try to Google it:
Download the Visual C++ redistributables

Checking without using the WAMP tool

You can, of course, see what you have installed without the tool.

Open the Control Panel and click the “Programs and Features” link.

If you view by “Category”, you will find it under “Programs”

You will have to search the list until you find them.

The packages that WAMP requires

• Visual C++ 2008 SP1 (C++ 9.0)
• Visual Studio 2010 SP1 (VC++ 10.0)
• Visual Studio 2012 (VC++ 11.0)
• Visual Studio 2013 (VC++ 12.0)
• Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 (all three share the same installation)

I hope this will make things a little bit clearer for you.

Do you have anything you want to know, that I should write about? Just tell me in the comments.

— Cheers!