Oracle SQL Developer – Unable To Locate Component (MSVCR71.dll)

sqldeveloper.exe – Unable To Locate Component – MSVCR71.dll was not found.

One of the things I like about the new JAVA based tools is that they are simple to install and most of the time easy to dump them.

Well, the last time I installed Oracle SQL Developer 3.1.x (on WinXP) I came across this strange error.  Upon the attempt to start up SQL Developer by calling the sqldeveloper.exe the following error pop up that complained about failing to find MSVCR71.dll:

There are many sites that claim to scan and fix your PC for a fee, but you don’t need any of them for this error.  In fact I wouldn’t trust any third party to add dlls to my machine as this can be VERY RISKY.

A simple search on your OS will reveal many copies of MSVCR7.dll on your system.

So the problem is not that you don’t have the MSVCR7.dll on your system, as in fact a copy of it is part of your sqldeveloper.jar that you have downloaded and it is located on “\sqldeveloper\jdk\jre\bin”.  The problem is the dll is not linked to the program that you are trying to run, in this case the SQL Developer.

To fix the issue, simply copy \sqldeveloper\jdk\jre\bin\MSVCR7.dll to the SQL Developer top directory that holds your sqldeveloper.exe

Your done.  Just start up the SQL Developer and the link is made and your SQL Developer should start up as expected.