There are so many ways to break things in the operating system. In this blog, we would learn about fixing error “The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is not correct”.
While working with one of the clients, their Jr. DBA asked me for a quick help and I couldn’t deny it. He informed that on one of his development servers, SQL Service is not getting started. As usual, I asked for error messages which they are seeing.
Here is the error when they try to start SQL Server service.
Windows could not start SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) service on local computer.
Error 14001: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is not correct.
Then, I asked to check system event log and application event log to see if they have any additional errors. We found the SideBySide error I application log.
Log Name: Application
Source: SideBySide
Event ID: 33
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Description: Activation context generation failed for “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL14.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe”. Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.ATL,processorArchitecture=”amd64″,publicKeyToken=”1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,type=”win32″,version=”8.0.50727.4053″ could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
I searched on the internet and found many tools who claim to fix this error. Never download such tools as they are viruses and malware.
WORKAROUND/SOLUTION
From SideBySide message, it looks like an issue with some Visual C++ (Microsoft.VC80.ATL) component file is missing. So, we performed following actions by going to Add/Remove Programs in the control panel.
- Repair “Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)”
- Repair “Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)”
- Download and install – Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update 32 bit
- Download and install – Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update 64 bit
If above doesn’t solve the issue, then you need to find the right version of C++ runtime which needs to be installed as it would depend on SQL Server version.
If you find any other solution, please share via comment to help others.
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
11 Comments. Leave new
Thanks a lot. Your solution works.
That’s great!
thanks, you save my server
you can do alternative way as tested and working now…
open regedit run as administrator:
hklm/software/wow6432node/microsoft/microsoft sql server management studio/18
delete entire folder microsoft sql server management studio/18
uninstall sql server 2017 and install again..
it will work.
I am scared of touching registry keys.
It works great. After installing all the C++ packages in van. I tried this approach without even un-installing. It worked and all my connections and configurations were intact.
Thanks a lot the solution works.
Thanks @Carlos.
Hi Pinal, I used regedit solution suggested by upendra banna, resolved this issue for me during upgrade from 18.4 to 18.5.1 :-)
PS: recommend export the regedit entry before deleting
Microsoft needs to get their act together. MariaDB and PostgreSQL install and run flawlessly, and very powerful, and very light on system resources. I’ve spent a gd hour trying to get SQLServer Express to run, and now one of your ‘fixes’ says I have to reboot.
Why do we still need these old package to run the latest products? Can run windows 11 because an i7 CPU is not supported only to run software that is older than the i7?