Breaking changes due for VcRedist 4.1

[aaronparker]

VcRedist 4.0 will provide mostly under-the-hood code improvements; however, VcRedist 4.1 will introduce two breaking changes:

• Functions including Install-VcRedist, New-VcMdtApplication, New-VcConfigMgrApplication, New-VcIntuneApplication etc., will require output from Save-VcRedist instead of Get-VcList. This will be done to simplify determining the paths to the downloaded vcredist.exe installers - Get-VcList | Save-VcRedist returns a Path property which means that a -Path parameter will not be required by other functions. This change will require scripts to be updated
• VcRedist 2005 and 2008 releases that have been pulled for download by Microsoft will be removed from the manifest. See #114. This should be a minor issue anyway as these downloads don't work right now and the later 2005 and 2008 installers should be used. Note that 2005, 2008 and 2010 redistributables are no longer supported by MS

[aaronparker]

Here's some examples of the syntax change change - here's the change in syntax for Install-VcRedist

Old syntax

$VcList = Get-VcList
Save-VcRedist -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist
Install-VcRedist -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist

New syntax

Get-VcList | Save-VcRedist -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist | Install-VcRedist

[aaronparker]

Here's the change in syntax for Import-VcMdtApplication

Old syntax

$VcList = Get-VcList
Save-VcRedist -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist
Import-VcMdtApplication -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist -MdtPath \\server\deployment

New syntax

Get-VcList | Save-VcRedist -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist | Import-VcMdtApplication -MdtPath \\server\deployment

[aaronparker]

Here's the change in syntax for Import-VcIntuneApplication

Old syntax

$VcList = Get-VcList
Save-VcRedist -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist
Import-VcIntuneApplication -VcList $VcList

New syntax

Get-VcList | Save-VcRedist -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist | Import-VcIntuneApplication

[alexhass]

This ends with

Add-IntuneWin32App : Cannot validate argument on parameter 'FilePath'. Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is an empty string.
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\VcRedist\4.1.495\Public\Import-VcIntuneApplication.ps1:115 char:47
+             $Application = Add-IntuneWin32App @Win32AppArgs
+                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Add-IntuneWin32App], ParameterBindingValidationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,Add-IntuneWin32App

[aaronparker]

Here's the change in syntax for Import-VcConfigMgrApplication

Old syntax

$VcList = Get-VcList
Save-VcRedist -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist
Import-VcConfigMgrApplication -VcList $VcList -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist -CMPath \\server\applications -SMSSiteCode LAB

New syntax

Get-VcList | Save-VcRedist -Path C:\Temp\VcRedist | Import-VcConfigMgrApplication -CMPath \\server\applications -SMSSiteCode LAB

[aaronparker]

Note - I'll push these changes to the PowerShell Gallery on March 1, 2023.

[bmitchell76]

@aaronparker, did you push the update? I'm still pulling v4.0.461 from the gallery.

[aaronparker]

ah yeah no. I got busy and completely forgot. Let's push this back

[aaronparker]

I'll push the updated module to the PowerShell gallery on March 15th. AEST. (i.e. March 14th for those in the US)

[aaronparker]

4.1 has now been pushed to the PowerShell Gallery.

[bmitchell76]

We were supposed to have a significant proxy server change where we couldn't use basic auth, but that was postponed, so my workaround will work for now.

I appreciate your work!

[nahidf]

We are having issue installing the power shell module on docker container, its pointing to new version now. is there any change on quick install not mentioned in docs?

[aaronparker]

@bmitchell76 I'm not sure what's going on there - could you open an issue?

[aaronparker]

@nahidf are you using https://vcredist.com/install.ps1?

I've pushed a new version of that script, so you should see it update soon.

[nahidf]

@aaronparker Yes and I confirm its fixed now, thanks!

[God-damnit-all]

Not really too relevant since you can do Get-VcList -Export All or Get-VcList -Export Unsupported, but I would like to point out that while Microsoft has dropped support for those redistributables, they still make them available through winget.

If you ever decide to support more than just the English locale, their manifests are an excellent resource. You could even use GitHub Actions to auto-update VisualCRedistributables.json using these manifests.

[ei-zascha]

Doesn't this force you to download the redistributables every single time though? What if I want to download them once to a central location and install to several computers from there?

Also, it'd be helpful if the documentation at https://vcredist.com/ was updated to reflect these changes.

Thanks!

[aaronparker]

@aizascha if the vcredists are already downloaded, they won't be redownloaded.