Compile to a stand-alone executable exe in Visual Studio

Question

how can I make a stand-alone exe in Visual Studio  Its just a simple Console application that I think users would not like to install a tiny Console application  I compiled a simple cpp file using the visual studio command prompt  Will the exe work even if the  NET framework is not installed  I used native C   code

User · Accepted Answer

Anything using the managed environment  which includes anything written in C  and VB NET  requires the  NET framework   You can simply redistribute your  EXE in that scenario  but they ll need to install the appropriate framework if they don t already have it

User · Answer

Inside your project folder their is a bin folder  Inside your bin folder  there are 2 folders  a Release and a Debug  For your polished  exe  you want to go into your Release folder   I m not quite sure if thats what youre asking

User · Answer

You can embed all dlls in you main dll  See  Embedding DLLs in a compiled executable

User · Answer

I agree with  Marlon  When you compile your C  project with the Release configuration  you will find into the  bin Release  folder of your project the executable of your application  This SHOULD work for a simple application   But  if your application have any dependencies on some external dll  I suggest you to create a SetupProject with VisualStudio  Doing so  the project wizard will find all dependencies of your application and add them  the librairies  to the installation folder  Finally  all you will have to do is run the setup on the users computer and install your software

User · Answer

I don t think it is possible to do what the questioner asks which is to avoid dll hell by merging all the project files into one  exe   The framework issue is a red herring  The problem that occurs is that when you have multiple projects depending on one library it is a PITA to keep the libraries in sync  Each time the library changes  all the  exes that depend on it and are not updated will die horribly   Telling people to learn C as one response did is arrogant and ignorant

User · Answer

If I understand you correctly  yes you can  but not under Visual Studio  from what I know   To force the compiler to generate a real  standalone executable  which means you use C  like any other language  you use the program mkbundle  shipped with Mono   This will compile your C  app into a real  no dependency executable   There is a lot of misconceptions about this around the internet  It does not defeat the purpose of the  net framework like some people state  because how can you lose future features of the  net framework if you havent used these features to begin with  And when you ship updates to your app  it s not exactly hard work to run it through the mkbundle processor before building your installer  There is also a speed benefit involved making your app run at native speed  because now it IS native    In C   or Delphi you have the same system  but without the middle MSIL layer  So if you use a namespace or sourcefile  called a unit under Delphi   then it s compiled and included in your final binary  So your final binary will be larger  Read   Normal  size for a real app   The same goes for the parts of the framework you use in  net  these are also included in your app  However  smart linking does shave a conciderable amount   Hope it helps

User · Answer

I ve never had problems with deploying small console application made in C  as-is  The only problem you can bump into would be a dependency on the  NET framework  but even that shouldn t be a major problem  You could try using version 2 0 of the framework  which should already be on most PCs   Using native  unmanaged C    you should not have any dependencies on the  NET framework  so you really should be safe  Just grab the executable and any accompanying files  if there are any  and deploy them as they are  there s no need to install them if you don t want to

[c#] Compile to a stand-alone executable (.exe) in Visual Studio

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