The 2017 Redistributable uses Side-by-Side (WinSxS) assemblies .
Many users ask, "Why do I have ten different Visual C++ Redistributables installed?" c++ redist 2017
From that day on, Leo added a single line to his README: you have two clean choices:
If you try to run an application that requires C++ Redist 2017 without having it installed, you may see errors like: c++ redist 2017
Visual Studio versions 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, and even 2026 now share the same redistributable files. Installing the latest version covers all these years.
If you are shipping a C++ app built with Visual Studio 2017 (or 2015, 2019, 2022), you have two clean choices: