Make portable ZIP more portable by bundling MSVC DLLs

yan12125 commented 14 hours ago

Summary

As shown in https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/issues/10925, out-dated MSVC redistributable packages prevent KeePassXC from being started. In some cases, installing newer MSVC redist is not an option. How about bundling necessary DLLs in portable ZIP archives, so that KeePassXC can work out-of-box (almost) everywhere?

Examples

I believe bundling individual DLLs in portable ZIP is allowed by the license. Such an approach is mentioned on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/redistributing-visual-cpp-files?view=msvc-170 (not recommended, though):

It's also possible to directly install the Redistributable DLLs in the application local folder. The application local folder is the folder that contains your executable application file. For servicing reasons, we don't recommend you use this installation location.

Technically, relevant DLLs can be copied from Visual Studio as per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/determining-which-dlls-to-redistribute?view=msvc-170:

The individual Redistributable DLLs are also included in your installation of Visual Studio. By default, they're installed in the Visual the %VCToolsRedistDir%[architecture]\Microsoft.[toolset].[library] folders, where [architecture] represents the target architecture, [toolset] represents the toolset version, and [library] represents the library.

It seems 4 files are needed: MSVCP140.dll, MSVCP140_1.dll, VCRUNTIME140.dll, VCRUNTIME140_1.dll

ldd output for KeePassXC.exe

``` PS C:\> ldd.exe 'C:\Program Files\KeePassXC\KeePassXC.exe' | sort.exe | grep -v /KeePassXC/ ADVAPI32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/ADVAPI32.dll (0x7ff99e6d0000) bcrypt.dll => /c/Windows/System32/bcrypt.dll (0x7ff99d830000) cfgmgr32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/cfgmgr32.dll (0x7ff99db10000) combase.dll => /c/Windows/System32/combase.dll (0x7ff99e7a0000) CRYPT32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/CRYPT32.dll (0x7ff99d1e0000) CRYPTBASE.DLL => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/CRYPTBASE.DLL (0x7ff99cab0000) d3d11.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/d3d11.dll (0x7ff998110000) DEVOBJ.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/DEVOBJ.dll (0x7ff99cea0000) DNSAPI.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/DNSAPI.dll (0x7ff99c5c0000) dwmapi.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/dwmapi.dll (0x7ff99aea0000) dxgi.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/dxgi.dll (0x7ff99ba70000) GDI32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/GDI32.dll (0x7ff99f390000) gdi32full.dll => /c/Windows/System32/gdi32full.dll (0x7ff99d340000) HID.DLL => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/HID.DLL (0x7ff99ba30000) IPHLPAPI.DLL => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/IPHLPAPI.DLL (0x7ff99c580000) KERNEL32.DLL => /c/Windows/System32/KERNEL32.DLL (0x7ff99e580000) KERNELBASE.dll => /c/Windows/System32/KERNELBASE.dll (0x7ff99d460000) MPR.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/MPR.dll (0x7ff98ca40000) msvcp_win.dll => /c/Windows/System32/msvcp_win.dll (0x7ff99d790000) MSVCP140.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/MSVCP140.dll (0x7ff996ba0000) MSVCP140_1.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/MSVCP140_1.dll (0x7ff9993a0000) msvcrt.dll => /c/Windows/System32/msvcrt.dll (0x7ff99db60000) NETAPI32.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/NETAPI32.dll (0x7ff98d040000) NETUTILS.DLL => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/NETUTILS.DLL (0x7ff99c6e0000) ntdll.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/ntdll.dll (0x7ff99fb30000) ntmarta.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/ntmarta.dll (0x7ff99c410000) ole32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/ole32.dll (0x7ff99f600000) OLEAUT32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/OLEAUT32.dll (0x7ff99ed20000) RPCRT4.dll => /c/Windows/System32/RPCRT4.dll (0x7ff99f790000) sechost.dll => /c/Windows/System32/sechost.dll (0x7ff99f560000) SETUPAPI.dll => /c/Windows/System32/SETUPAPI.dll (0x7ff99ee70000) shcore.dll => /c/Windows/System32/shcore.dll (0x7ff99f2e0000) SHELL32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/SHELL32.dll (0x7ff99dc60000) SRVCLI.DLL => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/SRVCLI.DLL (0x7ff9929e0000) ucrtbase.dll => /c/Windows/System32/ucrtbase.dll (0x7ff99d910000) USER32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/USER32.dll (0x7ff99f3c0000) USERENV.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/USERENV.dll (0x7ff99d090000) UxTheme.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/UxTheme.dll (0x7ff99ab90000) VCRUNTIME140.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/VCRUNTIME140.dll (0x7ff99a100000) VCRUNTIME140_1.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/VCRUNTIME140_1.dll (0x7ff99a2f0000) VERSION.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/VERSION.dll (0x7ff98dce0000) win32u.dll => /c/Windows/System32/win32u.dll (0x7ff99d760000) WINMM.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/WINMM.dll (0x7ff98b1c0000) WinSCard.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/WinSCard.dll (0x7ff98dfc0000) WS2_32.dll => /c/Windows/System32/WS2_32.dll (0x7ff99edf0000) WTSAPI32.dll => /c/Windows/SYSTEM32/WTSAPI32.dll (0x7ff99a380000) ```

Context

I'd like to use KeePassXC on computers where I don't have admin rights.

droidmonkey commented 14 hours ago

Many more than that are needed, unfortunately. The WinRT dlls are also required. I believe those are loaded at runtime which is why they don't appear in the ldd report.

yan12125 commented 13 hours ago

If WinRT DLLs are loaded at runtime, I guess they are not needed until relevant functionality (Windows Hello?) is used. If so, bundling those 4 files can be a good start.

I have been using portable ZIP + those 4 DLLs (copied manually from another PC) for several weeks. Basic functionalities are fine - entry operations, autotype, browser integration. I cannot setup Windows Hello on that machine for testing, though.

droidmonkey commented 13 hours ago

No, they are loaded at startup. You can see what dependencies are actually attached/loaded by using a tool like Process Explorer. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

droidmonkey commented 13 hours ago

Also, if you are using the legacywindows portable then WinRT is not a part of that build.

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