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PDFnet.dll Error on FileDirector WinClient

Symptoms​

FileDirector Winclient shows the following error when opening a document:

If you 'Quit', the he following Exception may be shown.

Cause​

Missing a VC++ redistributable (32-bit) - often the case when 64-bit OS is used. You can use the following PowerShell script to check installed versions: $entries = foreach ($p in @( 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*', 'HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*' )) { Get-ItemProperty $p -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $.DisplayName -like 'Visual C++' } | ForEach-Object { [pscustomobject]@{ DisplayName = $.DisplayName DisplayVersion = $_.DisplayVersion Arch = if ($p -like 'WOW6432Node') { 'x86' } else { 'x64' } } } }

Header

Write-Host ("{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f 'DisplayName', 'Version', 'Arch') -ForegroundColor Cyan Write-Host ("{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f ('-'*70), ('-'*15), ('-'*4))

Rows

$entries | Sort-Object Arch, DisplayName, DisplayVersion | ForEach-Object { $color = switch ($_.Arch) { 'x86' { 'Green' } 'x64' { 'Red' } default { 'White' } }

Write-Host (
  "{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f
  $_.DisplayName,
  $_.DisplayVersion,
  $_.Arch
) -ForegroundColor $color

} The output will show results like this: Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17 9.0.30729 x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161         9.0.30729.6161  x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) - 12.0.30501           12.0.30501.0    x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.30501 12.0.30501.0 x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005          12.0.21005      x64 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005             12.0.21005      x64 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005 12.0.21005 x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005 12.0.21005 x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 Additional Runtime - 14.50.35719         14.50.35719     x64 Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 Minimum Runtime - 14.50.35719            14.50.35719     x64 Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Additional Runtime - 14.50.35719 14.50.35719 x86 Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.50.35719            14.50.35719     x86 Microsoft Visual C++ v14 Redistributable (x64) - 14.50.35719           14.50.35719.0   x86 Microsoft Visual C++ v14 Redistributable (x86) - 14.50.35719 14.50.35719.0 x86 Look for results in green - these are 32-bit installations. My output indicates that VC++ 2013 x32 is installed which will work correctly with WinClient.

This is a minimal script to output a non-coloured list: $entries = foreach ($p in @( 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*', 'HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*' )) { Get-ItemProperty $p -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $.DisplayName -like 'Visual C++' } | ForEach-Object { [pscustomobject]@{ DisplayName = $.DisplayName DisplayVersion = $_.DisplayVersion Arch = if ($p -like 'WOW6432Node') { 'x86' } else { 'x64' } } } }

$entries | Sort-Object Arch, DisplayName, DisplayVersion | Format-Table -AutoSize

Resolution​

Download the appropriate VC++ redistributable (32-bit) from [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist)

2010 version is supported on Win10, 2013 on Win11. Note that Microsoft is calling EOL on older versions.