How to install Microsoft VC++ redistributables silently in Inno Setup?

Question

How to install Microsoft VC++ redistributables silently in Inno Setup? I used the following code, most of the installation part is silent except the installation progress window.

Here is my [Run] section's code:-

[Run]
Filename: "{app}\bin\vcredist_x86.exe"; \
    Parameters: "/passive /verysilent /norestart /q:a /c:""VCREDI~3.EXE /q:a /c:""""msiexec /i vcredist.msi /qn"""" """; \
    Check: VCRedistNeedsInstall; WorkingDir: {app}\bin;Flags: runminimized nowait; \
    StatusMsg: Installing CRT...

Answer 1

For a smooth install, check if it's necessary to install the redistributable. If the installed version is already up to date (quite likely), don't even unpack it.

[Files]
; VC++ redistributable runtime. Extracted by VC2017RedistNeedsInstall(), if needed.
Source: ".\Redist\VC_redist_2017.x64.exe"; DestDir: {tmp}; Flags: dontcopy

[Run]
Filename: "{tmp}\VC_redist_2017.x64.exe"; StatusMsg: "{cm:InstallingVC2017redist}"; \
  Parameters: "/quiet"; Check: VC2017RedistNeedsInstall ; Flags: waituntilterminated

[Code]
function VC2017RedistNeedsInstall: Boolean;
var 
  Version: String;
begin
  if RegQueryStringValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
       'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\VC\Runtimes\x64', 'Version', Version) then
  begin
    // Is the installed version at least 14.14 ? 
    Log('VC Redist Version check : found ' + Version);
    Result := (CompareStr(Version, 'v14.14.26429.03')<0);
  end
  else 
  begin
    // Not even an old version installed
    Result := True;
  end;
  if (Result) then
  begin
    ExtractTemporaryFile('VC_redist_2017.x64.exe');
  end;
end;

Note that the 14.14 redistributable is also suitable for VS2015.

Answer 2

You can add those to the setup script:

[Files]
Source: "vcredist_x86.exe"; DestDir: {tmp}; Flags: deleteafterinstall

[Run]
Filename: {tmp}\vcredist_x86.exe; \
    Parameters: "/q /passive /Q:a /c:""msiexec /q /i vcredist.msi"""; \
    StatusMsg: "Installing VC++ 2008 Redistributables..."

Note that the run parameters will change slightly, if you are using a different redistributable version from 2008.