“api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing” error with LIBPFonOPC on Windows Server 2012 R2 64 bit

You may receive the error “The program can’t start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing” when launching the LIBPFonOPC configurator 1.0. 2264 on a fresh install of Windows Server 2012 R2 64 bit.

01Related symptom: this error silently appears in the Setup Log of the Event viewer during the installation of LIBPFonOPC:
Windows update could not be installed because of error 2149842967 "" (Command line: ""C:\Windows\SysNative\wusa.exe" "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\3ACBF3890FC9C8A6F3D2155ECF106028E5F55164\packages\Patch\x64\Windows8.1-KB2999226-x64.msu" /quiet /norestart")<br />

02

Here is a hint to the solution: “Excel can’t start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing”.

So it turns out that the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 silently fails to install on a fresh install of Windows Server 2012 R2 64 bit … So just update the OS and reinstall the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 update 1 from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49984