"Msvcr71.dll cannot be found" error message when you repair Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Symptoms

When you repair the operating system on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition or Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and the computer has the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 installed, you may receive the following error message:

Cause

When you repair either Windows XP Media Center Edition or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the Copy2gac application installs assemblies to the global assembly cache. Copy2gac is a managed application. To use Copy2gac, you must have the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 installed on your computer. However, the Copy2gac.exe file does not have an associated configuration file that binds this application to the Microsoft common language runtime that is included with the .NET Framework 1.0.

By default, the .NET Framework 1.1 binds managed applications that do not have associated configuration files to the common language runtime that is included with the .NET Framework 1.1. Therefore, when the Copy2gac application runs, the .NET Framework 1.1 binds the Copy2gac application to the wrong version of the common language runtime, and you receive the error message that appears in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Close the error message box.

2. In a text editor (such as Notepad), paste the following XML sample code:

   <configuration>
       <startup>
           <requiredRuntime version="v1.0.3705"/>
       </startup>
   </configuration>

3. Save the file as Copy2gac.exe.config in the following folder:

   Windows Folder\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705Note Windows Folder is a placeholder for the location of your Windows folder.

4. You can now successfully repair your operating system.

Status

This behavior is by design.

More Information

References

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.mspx

Microsoft .NET
http://www.microsoft.com/net/

Configuration files
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1xtk877y(vs.71).aspx

Specifying which runtime version to use
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f4kkd0k5(vs.71).aspx

Targeting a .NET Framework version
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9w519wzk(vs.71).aspx

Common language runtime
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8bs2ecf4(vs.71).aspx