>>I have no strong concern for software protection. The issue is essentially all about "zero-install" app delivery. I am however still interested by the VFP compiler (32 bit version) and any trick to maintain a decent Windows User experience.

You can deploy a VFP-compiled app as a set of files copied to the target machine.

>>I did struggle to run a test though on my dev platform. I have not been in ownership and use of a C compiler for over 15 years (last millenium). I'd be glad to make another try of the baiyujia tool but essentially wish a barebone free C compiler for running such a crash-test.

My advice: install any free MS C++ compiler version so you can pass the Baiyujia installation check, but copy the C++ V7 compiler files into the foxrun7 folder and use 7 for your compilation since the result uses the same support dlls as VFP itself and does not need manifests or other dependencies. There's some quite good info on this in one of the documents that accompany the Baiyujia product.

One other potential gotcha: depending on your Windows setup, you may need to run VFPCompiler with admin privileges. Otherwise I have seen failure when MAKE tries to create the dll and freezes up. I've not seen that since the product was deployed as an installer that puts it in the program files hierarchy, though.