PDFnet.dll Error on FileDirector WinClient

Created by Jeremy Burgess, Modified on Tue, 3 Feb at 3:44 PM by Jeremy Burgess

Symptoms

FileDirector Winclient shows the following error when opening a document:

If you 'Quit', the he following Exception may be shown.

Cause

Missing a VC++ redistributable (32-bit) - often the case when 64-bit OS is used. You can use the following PowerShell script to check installed versions:

$entries = foreach ($p in @(
  'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*',
  'HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*'
)) {
  Get-ItemProperty $p -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
    Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like '*Visual C++*' } |
    ForEach-Object {
      [pscustomobject]@{
        DisplayName    = $_.DisplayName
        DisplayVersion = $_.DisplayVersion
        Arch           = if ($p -like '*WOW6432Node*') { 'x86' } else { 'x64' }
      }
    }
}

# Header
Write-Host ("{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f 'DisplayName', 'Version', 'Arch') -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host ("{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f ('-'*70), ('-'*15), ('-'*4))

# Rows
$entries |
  Sort-Object Arch, DisplayName, DisplayVersion |
  ForEach-Object {
    $color = switch ($_.Arch) {
      'x86' { 'Green' }
      'x64' { 'Red' }
      default { 'White' }
    }

    Write-Host (
      "{0,-70} {1,-15} {2}" -f
      $_.DisplayName,
      $_.DisplayVersion,
      $_.Arch
    ) -ForegroundColor $color
  }

The output will show results like this:

Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17           9.0.30729       x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161         9.0.30729.6161  x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) - 12.0.30501           12.0.30501.0    x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.30501           12.0.30501.0    x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005          12.0.21005      x64
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005             12.0.21005      x64
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005          12.0.21005      x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005             12.0.21005      x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 Additional Runtime - 14.50.35719         14.50.35719     x64
Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X64 Minimum Runtime - 14.50.35719            14.50.35719     x64
Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Additional Runtime - 14.50.35719         14.50.35719     x86
Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 X86 Minimum Runtime - 14.50.35719            14.50.35719     x86
Microsoft Visual C++ v14 Redistributable (x64) - 14.50.35719           14.50.35719.0   x86
Microsoft Visual C++ v14 Redistributable (x86) - 14.50.35719           14.50.35719.0   x86

Look for results in green - these are 32-bit installations. My output indicates that VC++ 2013 x32 is installed which will work correctly with WinClient.

This is a minimal script to output a non-coloured list:

$entries = foreach ($p in @(
  'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*',
  'HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*'
)) {
  Get-ItemProperty $p -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
    Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like '*Visual C++*' } |
    ForEach-Object {
      [pscustomobject]@{
        DisplayName    = $_.DisplayName
        DisplayVersion = $_.DisplayVersion
        Arch           = if ($p -like '*WOW6432Node*') { 'x86' } else { 'x64' }
      }
    }
}

$entries | Sort-Object Arch, DisplayName, DisplayVersion | Format-Table -AutoSize

Resolution

Download the appropriate VC++ redistributable (32-bit) from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist

2010 version is supported on Win10, 2013 on Win11. Note that Microsoft is calling EOL on older versions.