> Option #2 is typically the best one and is pretty easy to do Your app's manifest is more important than you realise and I wonder if the OP is aware of this?

> Option #2 is typically the best one and is pretty easy to do Your app's manifest is more important than you realise and I wonder if the OP is aware of this? Its SxS not SxSW. :-) http://tinyurl.com/y3q8h3ks http://tinyurl.com/y3q8h3ks This might be useful as well https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-library-search-order https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-... IIRC Windows has been UTF-16 for ages which this link suggests has been since 2000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_in_Microsoft_Windows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_in_Microsoft_Windows I always treat UTF-8 as internet territory like web pages because its reportedly easier to recover from corruption which occurs more often online than with the components inside a computer.