Is it mandatory to have Visual C++ redistributable 2015 installed to run LibreOffice 5.4?on

[suryasunder]

After installation, I was shown a dialog box that said that my computer didn’t have the api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll. I retrieved the dll from the web and installed it. But the problem persisted and I was informed by dialog boxes that I didn’t have several other files beginning with “api-ms-win” etc.

After a few web searches I gathered these files were parts of the Visual C++ redistributable for Visual Studio 2015. Many sites advised me to download and install the said Visual C++ redistributable, which I did. But the problem persists. So, I uninstalled 5.4 and went back and installed 5.3.5.

So, my question is - Is it mandatory to install Visual C++ redistributable? I also checked the system requirements of LO 5.4, it didn’t say anything about this redistributable. Please help. I always use the “fresh” versions as they are made available for download. This time I couldn’t. Is there something I’m doing wrong?

[mikekaganski]

This is bug 108580. Unfortunately, it’s mandatory at this time (until a fix) for systems running Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. Redistributable must match LibreOffice bitness, i.e. use 64-bit redistributable for 64-bit LibreOffice.

Use Microsoft site to download the redistributable. Do not use third-party download sites for that, since files downloaded from there may contain malware.