What is ‘msdia80.dll’ and Should You Delete It?

A system file which is known as msdia80.dll is present in Visual C++ and other Windows-based software applications. This is a commercial, integrated development environment (IDE). It is for C, C++ as well as CLI programming languages.

Additionally, it possesses tools for running and debugging various C++ code. This includes the code for Microsoft Windows API, DirectX API as well as Microsoft NET Framework.

msdia80-dll

The extended form of DLL is the Dynamic Link Library. This is known to be a package which contains important code or libraries for programs. This is used for reference as well as for use. Usually, this is a read-only file.

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The meaning of this is that many applications can simultaneously access the file without any problems. There are numerous applications that depend on several DLL files for their smooth operations. If the users delete such a DLL then the application might not run as expected.

Contents

What is msdia80.dll and How Did it Get in my PC?

The DLL msdia80.dll is present on the user’s drive. The reason is that the user has installed Microsoft Redistributable Package on his or her computer. If it is present on the user’s D drive (any other drive except the system drive(C)), then it means that there are some games or applications present in D.

The person who has installed it on the user’s computer has added some applications in the drive. However, the original location for the DLL file is not supposed to be in the tool directory. Rather, it should be alongside all the other DLL files.

The correct path for this is ‘C: Program Files(x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\VC’.

Howsoever, msdia80.dll is installed on the root folder of the boot drive when the user installs the Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable package. It is installed using the exe files ‘Vcredist_x64.exe’ or ‘Vcredist_ia64.exe’.

What should you do about the DLL file? Delete it?

It is explained earlier that it is against the recommendation to delete any DLL file from the user’s computer. These are just pieces of code present on one’s computer which are accessible to applications when in need. We do not use these files frequently.

If ‘msdia80.dll’ is present in all of the users’ drive, then they should move it to the correct location. After that one should register it. The users should keep this in mind that registering the file is important.

The reason behind this is that the users are letting Windows know that they have placed the required file in that target location.

Additionally, it can access it whenever it wants. Either the users can do this or they can install two Microsoft packages on their computer. We will show how to iterate through both methods.

Method 1 – Relocating the DLL File

The work of the developers is to relocate the DLL file from the root directory of the drive. Following that they place it inside the VC folder which is present in the boot drive of the users. The boot drive is a drive where the users’ operating system is installed.

Step 1: First press Windows+E to launch the File Explorer. Then navigate to the drive where msdia80.dll is present in the root directory.

Step 2: After that right-click on the DLL file. Then select “Cut“.

Step 3: One has to navigate to the following file path: “C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\VC”. The users have the scope to change the local drive-in path name if their operating system is saved to another drive.

Step 4: Following that right-clicks on any empty space. Then click “Paste“. A UAC might pop-up asking the users to authorize the transfer. Lastly, press “Continue“.

Step 5: After the relocation has been completed, the users need to register the file. Following this, press Windows+S and then type “command prompt” in the dialogue box. Lastly, the users have to right-click on the application and select “Run” as an administrator.

Step 6: In the elevated command prompt, the users have to execute the following command once. One should make sure to include the double-quotes. regsvr32 “C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\VC\msdia80.dll”.

Step 7: Lastly, the users must restart their computer and check if the problem has been fixed or not.

Method 2 – Installing Microsoft Visual C++ Packages

If the first solution that is provided seems to be tedious or does not work as expected. Then, the users can try installing Microsoft Visual C++ Packages on the users’ computers. Users need to install two packages.

One should make sure that he or she has administrative privileges and an internet connection to carry out this solution.

Step 1: First the users should open their browser. After that navigate to the package named “Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update.

Step 2: Following that select ‘vcredist_x86.exe‘ as well as ‘vcredist_x64.exe’ from the checklist. After that, download them to an accessible location. After the downloading process, one should run these executables and wait for them to be installed. One should make sure to launch them in elevated mode. They should right-click and select “Run as administrator“.

Step 3: After the users have completed installing these two packages, navigate to the package. The package is ‘Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package MFC Security Update‘.

Step 4: Then the users need to select ‘vcredist_x86.EXE‘ as well as ‘vcredist_x64.EXE’ from the checklist. Following this, one has to download them to an accessible location. After downloading, they should run these executables and wait for them to be installed. One should make sure that these should be launched in elevated mode. First, right-click and then select “Run as administrator“.

Step 5: After completion of installing all the packages, the users must restart their computer. This is done to check whether the problem has been solved or not.

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Conclusion

The problems might fail to solve after following both solutions. The users need not worry about them. We suggest leaving the DLL in their root directory. As has been explained earlier, DLL files are files for reference.

If anyone of them is present in the users’ directory, there is no harm. The users can easily continue operating the machine. Lastly, it will not affect the users anyway.