How to Solve: SQL Developer can’t start because MSVCR71.dll is missing (On Windows)

I have installed SQL Developer (with JDK) on Windows many times before, and almost all the time I receive the system error bellow when trying to execute it by the first time. Due to this, I decided to publish the solution to this annoying issue.

We can easily fix this issue by following these simple steps:

1. Run regedit (remember to run it as the administrator)
2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
3. Expand SOFTWARE
4. Expand Microsoft
5. Expand Windows
6. Expand CurrentVersion
7. Expand App Paths
8. At App Paths, add a new KEY called sqldeveloper.exe
9. Expand sqldeveloper.exe
10. Modify the (DEFAULT) value to the full pathway to the sqldeveloper executable (See example below step 11)
11. Create a new STRING VALUE called Patch and set it value to the sqldeveloper pathway + \jdk\jre\bin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
12. After the step 11 is completed, please enjoy your SQLDEVELOPER

Hope this tip would help you to solve this issue too!

Regards,

Francisco Munoz Alvarez