Qualfast Tool Error Message : Side-by-side configuration is incorrect

How to Fix the “Side-by-Side Configuration Is Incorrect”

Live Versions: 1 - 9.0.4 Operating System: Windows Vista, Windows 7
Symptom

Live does not start and an error message says “The application has failed to start due to a side-by-side configuration error”.
Reason

This happens on computers which do not have Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 installed.

Solution:

Install all available Windows updates and the latest Windows service pack and check if this already solves the problem.

If this doesn't help, turn off Windows' User Account Control (UAC). Now download and install one of the following packages, depending on which Live version you are using:

Live 32-bit - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
Live 64-bit - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64)

Please ensure you only install the 2008 version of the SP1 Redistributable Package as later versions (e.g. 2010) will not resolve this issue.

Reboot your computer and launch Live.


Additional Notes:

The issue should not take place anymore with the latest Live updates: from Live 9.0.5, the Microsoft Visual C++ is included in the program installer.

Installing the latest Live version will take care of installing this component.