On a clean machine, with only Windows 7 x64 installed and Java (no JDK), when launching SQL Developer, you receive the following error:
sqldeveloper64W.exe - System Error
The program can't start because MSVCR100.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
Several people have noted same issue in this forum as well as helpful blog posts
https://community.oracle.com/message/13594442#13594442
https://community.oracle.com/message/12907428#12907428
http://ora-00001.blogspot.com/2015/11/sql-developer-412-missing-msvcr100dll.html
https://matthiashoys.wordpress.com/2015/11/14/msvcr100-dll-error-launching-sql-developer-4-1-2-with-jdk-8-on-windows-7/
The workaround is to copy [installDir]sqldeveloper\jdk\jre\bin\msvcr100.dll to [installDir]sqldeveloper\sqldeveloper\bin\msvcr100.dll. The workaround works, but this should logged as a bug and fixed in a future release of SQL Developer. Here some supporting details:
The JDK needs msvcr100.dll to either be located in the same directory as sqldeveloper.exe OR already be installed on a Windows machine in a location defined in environment path variable. In testing SQL Developer install on various Windows 7 machines where I have other software installed (not a clean machine), the msvcr100.dll is installed on C: \Windows\system32\msvcr100.dll and SQL Developer just works. On the same non-clean machines looking in add-remove programs I see:
"Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219 10.0.40219" which installs to C:\Windows\system32\msvcr100.dll
Running where from cmd prompt reveals it's in my path
where
C:\Windows\System32\msvcr100.dll
Since msvcr100.dl is not part of a base Windows 7 install on a clean machine SQL Developer will fail. So rather than have everyone fail to launch SQL Developer and stumble upon the workaround of copying msvcr100.dll, Proposed permanent fixes:
- Include a copy msvcr100.dll in [installDir]sqldeveloper\sqldeveloper\bin\msvcr100.dll
- Install "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219" as a prerequisite--release notes documentation
- Set path to include [installDir]sqldeveloper\jdk\jre\bin\msvcr100.dll--release notes documentation
- Manually copy [installDir]sqldeveloper\jdk\jre\bin\msvcr100.dll to [installDir]sqldeveloper\sqldeveloper\bin\msvcr100.dll--release notes documentation
This error is easy to reproduce on any Windows x64 machine, and should be logged as a bug. My preference is for the SQL Developer team do #1, as this means it will just work without any post or pre-steps.