Hi there,

I'm having a problem installing VS 2005 professional edition, that is really strange...

When I try to install VS 2005, I get a message saying that I need to install Windows XP Service Pack 2.

I install the Windows XP SP2, and I continue to get this message!

I installed the .NET framework 2.0 and ALL the updates in the windows update web site and the message is still the same.

When I access the Windows XP Service Pack 2 web page, it says that my machine already have the SP2 ...

 Please help

Note: Since I didn't have a DVD drive, I copied all the files in the hard disck, could that be the problem ?

Thanks

You copied the installation files of VS2005 from the DVD prior to running the installation? That shouldn't be a problem (I've done it myself). It sounds like there's something fishy going on with your system. You could try to repair or reinstall XP SP2. But be sure to backup your data first.

Yes, its an exact copy of the DVD content...

I don't understand what is wrong, since I successfully installed VS2005 before with the same DVD in another machine...

I wish I new why the VS2005 SETUP program complains that there is no SP2 (even thought it is).

How the SETUP program checks the existance of SP2 ?

Could it be some wrong key in the REGISTRY?

Thanks

I guess the SP2 verification process is somewhat complex. It is not just a single registry value or file that should be present. What you can do if you really have the time is to monitor the installation with RegMon and FileMon, two indespensible tools from Sysinternals. They will log all registry and file accesses (and if they succeed). Maybe you can get something out of that.

But if VS installation cannot sense your SP2 then it must be something that's wrong with your Windows installation me thinks. How did you apply SP2? Was it recently?
 

Are those tools free ?

 The Windows XP Operating System was installed a long time ago (about 3 or 4 years ago) but I re-installed SP2 last week...

I guess there is something messed up with my system and, probably, the best thing to do is to format back from zero...

Thanks

Yep, they are free and absolutely wonderful. Mark Russinovich is THE god on advanced Windows programming.

Sysinternals: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx

3-4 years for an XP installation is too old if you ask me. Chances are big that your system is messed up. I'd definitely do a reinstall. But don't forget to back your data!!!!

Just for the record,

I did reformat my system with a recent version of windows xp (with service pack 2).

and, after that, I downloaded and installed 81 updates.

When I ran the vs 2005 setup program, the same problem happen again:

Saying that I needed SP2, even thoug I already had that...

I countinued my search and I found the solution:

I had to run the setup by the command prompt, using this:

setup.exe /no_bsln_check

and I finnaly got my vs 2005 up and running...

Thanks for sharing this!