Beta 2 common install issues and work around can be located at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/vsbeta2installissues/default.aspx

For All Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 Products

1. What must I do before installing Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2?

2. What if I did not follow the uninstall order?

3. What if I get package load failures after installing Beta 2?

For Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 Express Edition

4. What if I cannot install SQL Server Express Edition April CTP?

5. Why does my progress bar seem to hang?

6. What if the web browser does not launch when I click on the "Register Now" link in the Product Activation dialog?

7. What if I get download errors?


 

Are there other known issues?


 

Answers

1. What must I do before installing Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2?


 

2. What if I did not follow the uninstall order?

If the uninstall order is not followed accurately, e.g. uninstall .NET Framework 2.0 Beta 1 before uninstalling other Visual Studio components, Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 may not install or function properly. Though this is not Microsoft supported, here is some helpful information and some recommendations.

Run the beta cleanup tool. This tool is not guaranteed to clean up 100% of the possible problems. If Beta 2 products still do not install or function properly, please repair the Beta 2 install. If repairing Beta 2 does not resolve the issue, see the blog entry located here for additional steps.


 

3. What if I get package load failures after installing Beta 2?

Symptoms

  • Package Visual Studio Common IDE Package' has failed to load properly. (GUID={6E87CFAD-4ADF-3B7943875B7C}. Please contact package vendor for assistance. Application restart is recommended, due to possible environment corruption. Would you like to disable loading this package in the future? You may use 'devenv /resetskippkgs' to re-enable package loading.
  • Package 'Visual Studio Settings and Project Designers Package' has failed to load properly. GUID = {67909B06-91E9-4F3E-AB50-495046BE9A9A}.
  • “Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.TestCaseManagement.QuailtyToolsPackage, Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.TestCaseManagement.QuailtyToolsPackage, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken-b03f5f7f11d50a3a” with GUID = {A9405AE6-9AC6-4F0E-A03F-7AFE45F6FCB7}

These are most likely to be caused by uninstalling Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1 products in the non-described order, causing the wrong version of assemblies to be loaded.  For more information about the cause of this problem, please see the blog entry located here.

To resolve this issue:

  • Run the beta cleanup tool located here after agreeing to its EULA. This solution supports Express, Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Standard edition.
  • Some package load failure may require additional step to fix. E.g. Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.TestCaseManagement.QuailtyToolsPackage requires user to add back Team Foundation Client feature to fix error due to a known issue. Please check this page regularly for updated information.


 

4. What if I cannot install SQL Server Express Edition April CTP?


 

5.Why does my progress bar seem to hang?

When installing optional components such as MSDN Express and SQL Express, the download progress bar appears to stall at the end, while download is actually still progressing.  The package sizes of these two components were underestimated.

  • MSDN Express: Reported Size - 206 MB, Actual Size - 237 MB
  • SQL Server Express: Reported Size - 38 MB, Actual Size 72 MB

To resolve this issue:

Allow setup to continue to download the additional bits needed even after the download progress bar reaches the end.  The Status field will continue to update and show the transfer rate.

6.What if the web browser does not launch when I click on the "Register Now" link in the Product Activation dialog?

The registration links in the Product Activation dialog may not launch when the default web browser on the system is not set. The Product Activation dialog is accessed by clicking on the Help menu and selecting "Activate Product...".

To resolve this issue:

  1. Close all Express products
  2. Start Internet Explorer
  3. Go to Tools > Options. Select Programs tab
  4. Check "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser"
  5. Click OK
  6. Close all instances of Internet Explorer
  7. Start Internet Explorer again. If asked whether you want to set IE to the default browser, choose Yes.
  8. Restart your Express product, go to Help > Activate Product... and click on the link again.