[adifrank]

Hi. I have just installed Adobe Lightroom 3. Yet, sadly I am unable to run the application.

Upon starting up Lightroom I get a Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Error and Lightroom closes. I've googled the subject and found a few similar posts about this happening to other people. A couple of them seem to have overcome the problem using fixes such as:

- deleting a .lock file from the Lightroom catalog folder.
or
- running ccleaner and fixing registry issues.
or
- starting up Lightroom with Ctrl pressed.
or
- uninstalling and re-installing Lightroom.

I've tried all of the above suggestions, but with no success.

I have no idea what Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime is, but as I glanced at the list of my installed software, I noticed that I actually have a few Microsoft Visual C++ items installed on my system. I have:

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable [version 8.0.56336] / Installation: 15.2.2010
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17 / Installation: 7.3.2010
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.4148 / Installation: 21.2.2009

The first thing that I questioned was if it is normal to have three copies of MS Visual C++ installed simultaneously and if they are not maybe conflicting with each other and causing problems such as the error I am dealing with.
The other thing that struck me as a bit strange is that the chronological order of when each of these was installed seems to not correspond with the logical progression of version number. For example, it looks as though the 2005 version was installed about one year after one of the 2008 versions; and while version 9.0.30729.17 was the latest installed version, according to the version numbers - it seems logical to me that version 9.0.30729.4148 should have been the last installed.

As I've said, my knowledge of these inside Microsoft stuff is extremely limited, so I haven't a clue as to whether this is part of the problem or not.

I'm Running Windows XP Pro (SP3) on a rather new and capable computer. I do graphic and video work. I have other Adobe products installed, such as Adobe CS4 Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and Flash. All work without a problem.

I'd really appreciate help here. Thanks!