Visual Studio Setup
Installation and containerization of the Visual Studio family of products
Latest posts
Windows Installer PowerShell Module 2.2.1 Released
Yesterday I released servicing update 2.2.1, which updates 2.2.0 to fix a few bugs and add a few cool new features: Version-specific documentation has been added, but the most significant change to the documentation is the complete overhaul of the examples. Apart from removing some old examples using deprecated functionality, I organized the examples into different subsections (on separate pages) based on what sort of actions you'd like to perform. You can suggest any other examples you would like to see - or any other questions or comments - on the discussion tab.
Windows Installer PowerShell Module 2.2.0 Released
Years ago I released PowerShell cmdlets (“command-lets”) that make querying product and patch information easy and robust. Windows PowerShell is a powerful shell that pipes objects – not simply text – and provides full access to the .NET Framework as part of the language (though higher-level constructs are most often better). Earlier this week I released a new version – version 2.2.0 - of my Windows Installer PowerShell module with great new cmdlets as well as some bug fixes. I’ll be posting more examples online, but have included a few below to give you an idea of what you can do and how they work seamlessly wi...
Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 has Released
To provide incremental value to our customers, we have released Visual Studio Update 1 and will be notifying all Visual Studio 2012 customers via toast notifications (like you get for VS package updates) soon.Soma’s blog has more information on VSUpdate in general, as well as some of the features you can expect. And check out Brian’s blog for links to more detailed information about the changes made for TFS.
Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 CTP3 is Available
Visual Studio 2012 Update (VSUpdate) is our way of delivering fixes and, in some cases, new features to our VS2012 customers. The latest Community Technical Preview (CTP) is available for download now.See the ALM and TFS blog post for more information.
Windows Installer XML (WiX) v3.6 Released
The Windows Installer XML (WiX) team has released version 3.6 which, most notably, released a powerful and customizable chainer named Burn. The Visual Studio 2012 setup applications were built on Burn using features such as package caching, reference counting, and sticky patching to improve the overall experience from past releases.Head on over to Rob’s blog post for more information about all the features introduced and improved in WiX v3.6 as well as background information on how we achieved such an important release for WiX.Updated: Corrected typo.
Visual Studio 2012 RTM will not install on pre-release versions of Windows 8
SymptomCustomers installing Visual Studio 2012 RTM on pre-release versions of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 may see the following error after launching the setup application: The .Net Framework installed on this machine does not meet the minimum required version: 4.5.50709. This is a blocking error and only allows the install to be canceled.CauseVisual Studio 2012 RTM is not supported on pre-release versions of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012.ResolutionTo install Visual Studio 2012 RTM, you will need to install it on Windows 7 SP1, Server 2008 R2 SP1, or install VS2012 RTM on Windows 8 or Server 2012 RTM...
Visual Studio 2012 can only install to certified Windows To Go drives
Windows To Go is a cool new enterprise features to enable a mobile workforce to carry around an enterprise-managed installation of Windows on a USB thumb drive. However, only certified thumb drives appear as fixed drives and, therefore, Visual Studio 2012 can only install to certified drives. VS2012, like some other products, only supports installing to fixed drives because removable drives can be ejected and VS will not work correctly. If you install Windows To Go (aka WTG or W2G) on a non-certified drive then boot to it and attempt to install VS2012 – or even try to install VS2012 to a separate removable drive...
A certificate chain could not be built to a trusted root authority
This was a preview of a Knowledge Base article which has been published as KB2746268.SymptomAfter Visual Studio 2012 has been installed, the finish page displays the following: Setup Completed However, not all features installed correctly. Please correct the following problems to ensure full product functionality. Click here to see the most common issues and workarounds or here to review the log file. Microsoft Web Deploy 3.0 A certificate chain could not be built to a trust root authority. If you click to view the log file and search for “Error”, you will see log lines similar to the following: [05B0...
Upgrading from Visual Studio 2012 RC to RTM
Now that Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5 have been released, some customers are wondering if they need to uninstall the Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate (RC) first before upgraded. In general, the answer is “no”. VS2012 RC will upgrade to RTM, but there are a few things to note: For more information about compatibility, see our compatibility page on the Visual Studio website.If you need to uninstall VS2012 RC, we have posted instructions to KB2744926. For the most part, you only need to remove the main program entry in Programs and Features. While we have done a lot to reduce ...