SQL Server 2016 GDR update

Upon release of RTM one of the first issues indicated in the release notes was that a Visual C++ 2013 update was required before installation. Their recommendation to determine whether it's required is to manually check DLL versions but it's much more easily done through PowerShell.

# As per https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn876712.aspx if the build version
# of msvcr120.dll is not 12.0.40649.5 or higher you need to install KB 3138367.
 
$dll = "$($Env:SystemRoot)\system32\msvcr120.dll"
if (Test-Path $dll) {
    [System.Version] $version = Get-Item $dll | Select -ExpandProperty VersionInfo | Select -ExpandProperty ProductVersion
    if ($version -ge [System.Version]::Parse("12.0.40649.5")) {   
        return
    }
}

$url = "https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/3138367"
&start $url
throw "Please install KB 3138367 from $url"

This covers the scenarios of:

• An outdated version of the DLL (Windows Server 2012 R2).
• A missing DLL (Windows 10 Professional).

Here's what it will show (as well as opening an Explorer window):

Please install KB 3138367 from https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/3138367
At line:14 char:1
+ throw "Please install KB 3138367 from $url"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Please install ...n-au/kb/3138367:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Please install KB 3138367 from https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/3138367

The download above is only 7MB. But if you don't do it, Microsoft has you covered with a 228MB GDR update to do the same thing!

You should make that part of your install image going forward.