Deleting files left after installing vcredist_x86.exe using ‘Inno Setup’

VC Redistribulables from VC++ 2008 (9.0) installs temporary files in system root directory. This is a known bug as mentioned in this Microsoft’s KB Article 950683.

Actually, it installs temporary files in the drive with maximum free space (not the system root).

Until Microsoft fixes it in VC 2008 SP1, we will need to find our own workaround. Here is an ‘Inno Setup’ script that deletes the 24 temporary files from the drive with maximum free space.

We do not find which drive has maximum free space. Instead we just check each drive from C:\ to M:\ for a subset of files. If they exist, then we start deleting all the 24 files.

Update: The 64 bit version of the redistributable vcredist_x64.exe also has the same problem. Also, they seem to have fixed this problem in VC++ 2008 Redistributables SP1. I haven’t tested it yet because its size has bloated up from 1.7 MB to 4 MB.

Here is the code

procedure DeleteVCRedistRuntimeTemporaryFiles();
var
   i : Integer;
   byCounter : Byte;
   byDrive : Byte;
   strFile1, strFile2, strFile3 : String;
   strRootDrivePath : String;
   //totally there are 24 files to be deleted
   arrFiles : Array [1..24] Of String;
begin

   //We will check the following root drives
   //C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M
   For byCounter := 67 to 77 do
   Begin
      strRootDrivePath := Chr(byCounter) + ':\';
      arrFiles[1] := strRootDrivePath + 'vcredist.bmp';
      arrFiles[2] := strRootDrivePath + 'VC_RED.cab';
      arrFiles[3] := strRootDrivePath + 'VC_RED.MSI';

      //If these 3 files then we have found the right
      //drive in which the VC runtime files are extracted
      If (FileExists(arrFiles[1]) And
          FileExists(arrFiles[2]) And
          FileExists(arrFiles[3])) Then
      Begin

          arrFiles[4] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1028.txt';
          arrFiles[5] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1031.txt';
          arrFiles[6] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1033.txt';
          arrFiles[7] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1036.txt';
          arrFiles[8] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1040.txt';
          arrFiles[9] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1041.txt';
          arrFiles[10] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.1042.txt';
          arrFiles[11] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.2052.txt';
          arrFiles[12] := strRootDrivePath + 'eula.3082.txt';
          arrFiles[13] := strRootDrivePath + 'globdata.ini';
          arrFiles[14] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.exe';
          arrFiles[15] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.ini';
          arrFiles[16] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1028.dll';
          arrFiles[17] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1031.dll';
          arrFiles[18] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1033.dll';
          arrFiles[19] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1036.dll';
          arrFiles[20] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1040.dll';
          arrFiles[21] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1041.dll';
          arrFiles[22] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.1042.dll';
          arrFiles[23] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.2052.dll';
          arrFiles[24] := strRootDrivePath + 'install.res.3082.dll';

          For i := 1 to 24 Do
          Begin
            DeleteFile(arrFiles[i]);
          End;

          //Now that we have found and deleted all the files
          //we will break
          Break;
      End;
   End;
End;

procedure DeinitializeSetup();
begin

    DeleteVCRedistRuntimeTemporaryFiles();

end;