Java Loves MSVCR71.dll in 64-Bit

As I installed DevMail on fresh 64-bit Windows system, I was greeted with “The program can’t start because MSVCR71.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.” Although program started normally when I dismissed error message I found it annoying.

After some troubleshooting I narrowed issue on Java. And I found pretty good explanation of this problem. After knowing this, solution was simple.

I went into “C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin” folder and copied “msvcr71.dll” from there to DavMail’s application folder (“C:\Program Files (x86)\DavMail”). This way DavMail found his dll and everybody was happy.

P.S. It was interesting to see that DavMail developers had more than one ticket open on this subject. They closed them with solution “reinstall Java”. That solution is invalid. Real solution would be to include this dll with installation.

P.P.S. I found it annoying and idiotic of Sun Oracle to remove this bug from their bug database. That bug used to exist (and thus we know that it’s ID is 6509291) but they removed it. Only reason that might fit Sun’s Oracle’s FAQ is “security reasons”. How this applies to this situation is anybody’s guess.