Visual Studio Setup

Installation and containerization of the Visual Studio family of products

February 2008 - Visual Studio Setup

Another Workaround to Add New Components to Existing Features

February 19, 2008 Feb 19, 2008 02/19/08
Heath Stewart
Yesterday I described an issue when adding new components to existing, not-installed (absent) features the feature tree is installed. This can lead to prompts for source or failed installations. One workaround is to add new, top-level hidden features. This works well unless new resources have a dependency on the older resources installed by ...

Adding New Components to Existing Features Installs the Feature Tree

February 18, 2008 Feb 18, 2008 02/18/08
Heath Stewart
As Developer Division starts to ship patches for the Visual Studio 2008, some users are being prompted for installation source media. This is a resulting of Windows Installer needing the original source files if, for example, files are missing from disk when you repair your product or backup files are not available during patch install. If you...

Debugging Custom Actions: Leaked Handles

February 12, 2008 Feb 12, 2008 02/12/08
Heath Stewart
Debugging custom actions isn't exactly the easiest action to do; Windows Installer spawns separate processes - remoting servers - to run in-process custom actions. Any opportunity to diagnose issues without debugging can be helpful.For example, an issue that comes up from time to time is leaked handles. A Windows Installer debug log might show...