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Hello @Paguirigan, Christian
Yes, most of the Visual C++ versions you've listed are out of Microsoft support, but I would not conclude that they can therefore be safely uninstalled.
Microsoft's current lifecycle documentation lists:
- Visual C++ 2005 (v8) - support ended April 12, 2016
- Visual C++ 2008 (v9) - support ended April 10, 2018
- Visual C++ 2010 (v10) - support ended July 14, 2020
- Visual C++ 2012 (v11) - support ended January 10, 2023
- Visual C++ 2013 (v12) - support ended April 9, 2024
However, Visual C++ Redistributables are application runtime dependencies. An application compiled against VC++ 2010, 2012 or 2013 may still require that specific runtime even if a newer Visual C++ Redistributable is installed.
In particular, the current Visual C++ 2015+ Redistributable is binary-compatible with applications built using the Visual Studio 2015 and later v14 toolsets. That compatibility does not mean it replaces VC++ 2005/2008/2010/2012/2013 runtimes.
Therefore, I would not bulk-uninstall these packages from production servers based only on their support status.
Microsoft specifically recommends identifying which applications are using an out-of-support runtime before removing it. Microsoft documents NTFS file auditing as one method for determining applications that still depend on legacy Visual C++ Redistributables.
Also note that Microsoft continues to support some legacy runtimes when they're dependencies of specific supported Microsoft products. For example, Microsoft documents VC++ 2012/2013 dependencies for certain System Center products.
For the duplicate VC++ 2013 entries, 12.0.40664.0 is the latest available VC++ 2013 Redistributable, but don't remove the other entries until you've confirmed that no installed application depends on them.
My recommendation would be:
Inventory application dependencies → identify the software that installed/uses each runtime → upgrade or remediate those applications → remove the legacy runtime only after dependency testing.
If these are production servers, test the removal on a representative non-production system first.
Microsoft References:
Microsoft C++ Build Tools, Redistributable and runtime lifecycle FAQ
Latest supported Visual C++ Redistributable downloads
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