apt-win-crt*dll files are missing on some Windows 8 and Windows 7 systems
trying to install tor 9 on windows 8.1 keep getting the error firefox.exe system error saying api-win-crt-convert-l1-1-0.dll is missing
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Username: bob121
Activity
We got reports that Tor Browser is not starting on some Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers because of some api*dll files missing. The reason for that is that we are now using mingw-w64/clang as our compiler depending on the
ucrtruntime which Microsoft shipped as an update to their users years ago.Users hitting this bug don't have this update installed for whatever reason.
One thing we could do is just bundle yet another set of .dlls like Mozilla is doing. The additional size is not that big (1-2 MiB), however, we would need to take care of keeping those .dlls up-to-date ourselves which was already a burden in the past when we shipped the
msvcr100.dllas runtime dependency because older systems did not have that one.Another thing we could do is tell users to have their Windows system up-to-date and install the ucrt update, too. I suspect the majority of users hitting the issue in this ticket are actually not getting any security update whatsoever anymore which makes their Windows setup essentially EOL and not a thing we should support.
Trac:
Summary: firefox.exe problem to apt-win-crt*dll files are missing on some Windows 8 and Windows 7 systems
Owner: N/A to tbb-team
Component: - Select a component to Applications/Tor Browser
Keywords: N/A deleted, tbb-9.0-issues, tbb-regression added
This should be the source of the MS files: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1a022e38-f700-4738-b047-53c69ac41fec But the link is dead. Torbrowser 9 is unusable. (there are users, who selectively install patches. This one was not needed until now)
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Username: Yeti-
Replying to Yeti:
This should be the source of the MS files: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1a022e38-f700-4738-b047-53c69ac41fec But the link is dead. Torbrowser 9 is unusable. (there are users, who selectively install patches. This one was not needed until now)
You get the dlls with an update directly in your Windows. We strongly recommend going that route instead of installing random dlls.
#32358 (moved) is a duplicate.
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Cc: N/A to Yeti 
Replying to gk:
You get the dlls with an update directly in your Windows. We strongly recommend going that route instead of installing random dlls.
I am not a Windows person, but for people who cannot or do not want to install all available updates via the Windows automatic update mechanism, it looks like it may be possible to download targeted installers from Microsoft's website. They are not easy to find because some articles on their site include broken links (404). But you can find the installers by using your favorite search engine to look for something like
KB2999226 Windows <version> download, e.g.,KB2999226 Windows 8.1 download. On DuckDuckGo that search leads me to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49071, which looks promising (warning: I have no way to test whether this is the correct patch).Adding
x64to the search phrase should help find patches for people who are using a 64-bit Windows installation.
#32453 (moved) is a duplicate
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Cc: Yeti to Yeti, aldo3400001-
A frontdesk email reads:
"It seems that the appropriate thing to do is to simply come right out and say up front that Tor no longer supports use on Win7. Saying that Win7 users need to get updates from MS is all well and good, but MS no longer supports Win7 and does not provide those updates. Yes, they can be had using other channels, but since you are offering a product for use on Win7 it should contain all the files necessary, as well as providing updates to those files as needed with your regular updates. See, even if users have the files, they would still need to be updated as you make changes to your code. And as the tor rep says in the ticket, the file size is negligible. This is simple disregard for your users and laziness. If you don't want to provide support for Win7 that is fine. But you should be honest about it, and say that on your main download page."
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Username: PROTechThor Replying to PROTechThor:
A frontdesk email reads:
"It seems that the appropriate thing to do is to simply come right out and say up front that Tor no longer supports use on Win7. Saying that Win7 users need to get updates from MS is all well and good, but MS no longer supports Win7 and does not provide those updates. Yes, they can be had using other channels, but since you are offering a product for use on Win7 it should contain all the files necessary, as well as providing updates to those files as needed with your regular updates. See, even if users have the files, they would still need to be updated as you make changes to your code. And as the tor rep says in the ticket, the file size is negligible. This is simple disregard for your users and laziness. If you don't want to provide support for Win7 that is fine. But you should be honest about it, and say that on your main download page." bullshit
mentioned in issue #32358 (moved)
mentioned in issue #32453 (moved)