XP PROBLEMS RUNNING SCRIVENER (PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT NOTICE)
There is one key Microsoft package file that Scrivener needs to function that is included in newer versions of Windows and XP versions that are up to date with the in-built Microsoft Update function.
Scrivener will run on XP. We have tested it with XP service packs 1,2 and 3. BUT YOU MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING FILE FROM MICROSOFT INSTALLED.
REQUIRED FILE:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
IF YOU GET THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE YOU NEED THIS FILE:
“This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.”
REINSTALLING SCRIVENER WILL NOT FIX THIS ISSUE. YOU MUST DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86) FROM MICROSOFT. THEN SCRIVENER WILL RUN.
MICROSOFT DIRECT X
Microsoft’s Direct X end-user run time may or may not be required and is not critical to Scrivener running. The easiest way to tell if you do not have Direct X installed is if you can’t play audio and video files within Scrivener. Once again this is installed by default on all newer versions of Windows and Windows XP versions that are up to date with the in-built Microsoft Update function.
IF YOU CAN’T PLAY AUDIO AND VIDEO WITHIN SCRIVENER YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer from Microsoft. The assumption of course being that you have relevant drivers and hardware installed on your machine to play audio and video in the first place.
Just wanted to add, with the recent versions (2.2 and 2.3 I think?) this error message will show up upon your first install and opening of Scrivener:
(Window Title:) Error
(X) There has been an error.
Unknown error while running C:\Program Files\Scrivener/Scrivener
&
The application will exit now.
[OK]
I didn’t recognize the error message and it was consistent so I was wondering if it was some really weird bug, but when I attempt to open the program a second time, it will show the message that this notice says. I went and installed that C++ package (I had to refresh my laptop recently), and it fixed it, so just noting for people that this is the same error packaged a bit differently.
Just wanted to add, I just got a new laptop, windows 7. I can’t get scrivener to work. I’ve installed and uninstalled multiple times. Nor can I manage to find a way to download an older version of Scrivener. Worst of all, I have multiple manuscripts being held hostage on my hard drive at this point. Some I had word versions of, most not.
Assuming you’re seeing a side-by-side configuration error, you should be able to get this working again by downloading and installing the “Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)” from microsoft.com/en-us/download … px?id=5582, then just restarting Scrivener. (This is a different link from the OP for this thread, which was valid for earlier builds of Scrivener; this is a newer package and is what you’ll want if you’re seeing this error now on Win7.)
There’s a link to the 1.0.3 version of Scrivener on our changelog page here if you scroll down to that version number. There is currently a separate error with some 64-bit Win7 configurations which can cause a message about the application requesting the runtime to terminate in an unusual way; Lee is working hard to resolve this, but in the meantime you can uninstall and use 1.0.3.
I just wanted to thank the Forum for being so useful.
I’ve been using Scrivener for several months now (since sometime this past autumn) and have had no problems until recently when I got this error. I believed the error message that told be I should reinstall Scrivener, but was not sure where I had put my magic key, so I put off doing anything for a few weeks. Today I located the key, downloaded the installation file, and reinstalled Scrivener. Well, just as was described here on the forum, I still got the error.
That is when I turned to the technical support forum and in mere minutes located this thread, read the answer, downloaded & installed the Microsoft fix, reinstalled Scrivener, and had instant success.
