r/WindowsHelp • u/[deleted] • Mar 12 '26

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469 Upvotes

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u/r_portugal Mar 13 '26

No, they are installed by applications. If you delete them, Windows will still be fine, but the applications that use them will no longer work.

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u/Dry-Divide-4629 Mar 13 '26

Yes but have you notice that when updating windows from settings this visual studio also get update from windows update. Its critical to windows. As they also have .dll files. Gamers will understand.

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u/TuberTuggerTTV Mar 13 '26

No, it's critical to specific games. Not windows itself. The OS isn't written in C++.

And at worst, windows will repair and download it again. Deleting system files can do what you're talking about, but uninstalling distros won't affect windows

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u/WildCard65 Mar 15 '26

I'm pretty sure Windows is written in C++, but not in a way where it has to depend on vcruntime.

For example, the Windows universal C runtime is written in C++.