Visual Studio Setup

Installation and containerization of the Visual Studio family of products

Diagnosing Archives - Visual Studio Setup

Error in installation log for Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC can be misleading

April 17, 2014 Apr 17, 2014 04/17/14
Heath Stewart
Given many of the exciting announcements and features demonstrated recently at Build 2014, customers are downloading Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC. This update is quite a bit bigger than VS2013 Update 1 since it contains many new features. A small number of customers, however, are experiencing problems installing VS2013.2 RC. Symptoms ...

Testing for components that install under TARGETDIR

February 26, 2010 Feb 26, 2010 02/26/10
Heath Stewart
A while back I explained how Windows Installer sets the TARGETDIR property to the root of the fixed drive with the most free space available. The problem is that even an attached USB external drive can appear as a fixed drive, and these may be later detached. If components are installed to that drive and the drive is detached, repairing, ...

Updated log collection utility available for Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 Beta 1

May 22, 2009 May 22, 2009 05/22/09
Heath Stewart
Last Monday we shipped Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 and .NET Framework 4.0 Beta 1 to MSDN customers, and made them publicly available Wednesday. More information about Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 are available on MSDN, and Aaron Stebner has a good collection of direct links.While we have worked hard to reduce install times and ...

Microsoft VS/.NET Log Collection Tool

May 20, 2009 May 20, 2009 05/20/09
Heath Stewart
Using the Collect Utility If you encounter any setup issues, we will need all relevant logs. Please follow the instructions below to collect all those logs. Reporting Setup Errors There are several options for reporting setup errors, but you might consider first checking to see if the issue is a known issue. This will save you time and ...

Enable BITS Logging

July 7, 2008 Jul 7, 2008 07/7/08
Heath Stewart
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 uses a new bootstrap application that chains several packages together for a seamless installation experience. Because VS2008 SP1 contains a lot of fixes and new features, it is also quite large - almost 3 times as large as VS2005 SP1.To download all this data, we use the Background Intelligent ...

BITS Logging

July 7, 2008 Jul 7, 2008 07/7/08
Heath Stewart
The attached ZIP file contains scripts to both enable and disable logging for the Background Intelligent Transfer Service, or BITS. Both scripts must be run elevated so on Windows Vista or newer open an elevated command prompt and run these scripts. You may also right-click on the scripts and choose to Run as administrator. BITSLogging.zip...

Visual Studio and .NET Log Collection Utility

May 10, 2008 May 10, 2008 05/10/08
Heath Stewart
Setup and deployment is a tricky business. Machines can be in many different and often unforeseen states that cause setup to fail. But rarely will setup actually crash, and that is why setup logs are vital to diagnose install, repair, and uninstall problems. Setup applications for Visual Studio and .NET may write to many different logs ...

MSIZap is not Uninstall

April 22, 2008 Apr 22, 2008 04/22/08
Heath Stewart
The tool msizap.exe that is available in the Windows SDK and elsewhere on the web (remember to always download from a trusted source) is a powerful but dangerous tool that is often used to quickly and casually, and can leave your machine in a corrupted state if not used correctly. The same is true for the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility ...

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...

Determine Which Files are Being Patched

February 21, 2006 Feb 21, 2006 02/21/06
Heath Stewart
Installing a patch will often mean that files are to be updated, though patching isn't limited or even required to just patch files. Starting with Windows Installer 3.0 you can find the final sequence of patches to be installed or reinstalled in a verbose log file similar to the following:MSI (c) (8C:C4) [14:27:53:319]: Final Patch Application...