Hey all,

I am having a problem trying to start VWD2008 Express ... I keep getting errors about Packages failing to load.  I am running XP SP2, and I installed .NET 3.5 separately.  I had no problems with the framework install, and I ran NetFx35_detect_issues.bat (found in the VS Support Forum, I believe) and that batch reported that 3.5 was installed and configured OK.  I installed VC# 2008, VC++ 2008, VWD 2008, and SQL Server 2005 ... all Express editions.  The problem I am having with VWD is also popping up with VC++ and VC#, but I haven't seen posts on it yet.

Anyway, when I start VWD, the following Packages are failing to load properly:

• Visual Studio Explorers and Designers Package (GUID = {8d8529d3-625d-4496-8354-3dad630ecc1b})
• Visual Studio Common IDE Package (GUID = {6e87cfad-6c05-4adf-9cd7-3b7943875b7c})

The first fails once, and the second fails 5 times, when populating the Start Page.  Also, the first error pops up when loading a Web project, and when trying to open/edit a database.  Other packages are failing to load as well:

• Microsoft.VisualStudio.ORDesigner.DslPackage.ORDesignerObjectsPackage, Version 9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a (GUID = {aa612177-a69a-4391-b2f4-17f8a88f4bba}) - This one fires when loading a project.
• Visual Studio XML Editor Package (GUID = {87569308-4813-40a0-9cd0-d7a30838ca3f}) - This one fires when attempting to open/edit a database.

As a result, I have no designer support in any of the Express editions I installed.  When I go to the page designer, I get the following for controls placed on the page:

• Could not load "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVHasRelatedSaveItems" from assembly "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.8.0, Version 8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

I have to do all control editing via the editor, which is a bit time consuming, and not why I got VWD.  Also, when I attempt to create a database, I get an exception fired out of another Package (Microsoft.VSDesigner.VSDesignerPackage.VSDesignerPackage).

When I installed VWD (along with the other Express Editions) I received no error messages, and the installs went OK.  As I did Web installs, I do not want to uninstall and go through the Web install process again.  I had no 2008 betas installed, if that helps.

So, my question is this: What is the problem here, and is there a fix that does not require an uninstall/reinstall cycle?

Any information appreciated.  Thanks.

 CW

Most probably there is something wrong with .NET 2.0. Try uninstalling/reinstalling 2.0 framework.

Thanks for replying, Mikhail.  I have a question on this ... when I installed 3.5, it retroactively applied 2.0 SP1 and 3.0 SP2, which is all good.  I had never had a problem with 2.0 before (I installed 2.0 through the 2.0 SDK).  Is there a utility I can use to check the validity of the 2.0 install, before uninstalling/reinstalling?  Also, would I need to uninstall/reinstall 2.0 SP1, and would there be ramifications to 3.0 SP1 and 3.5?  I just want to be sure.  Thanks for you info so far.

 CW

Look under Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.... and check versions of System.Design.dll and System.Web.dll - what are they?

I had two v2.0 directories, 2.0.40607 and 2.0.50727.  2.0.40607 contained nothing but typelibs.  Under 2.0.50727, the versions were as follows:

• System.Design.dll - Version 2.0.50727.1433
• System.Web.dll - Version 2.0.50727.1433

Any more info appreciated.  Thanks for everything so far.

CW

Versions appear to be correct. However, existence of 2.0.40607 indicates that VS Beta 1 was installed at some point. Was it completely removed (including all related bits) before installing RTM?

I did not have VS Beta 1 installed.  An empty directory under 2.0.40607 is left over from Visual J#, so this must have been from when I had VS 2005 Express editions installed in July-August 2004.  I have subsequently removed them, so there appears to be some residue left.  I believe I had VC#, VC++, VJ#, and VWD 2005 Express Editions installed.  Again, they would have been installed in the July-August timeframe of 2004, and subsequently removed.  I then installed the 2.0 SDK in mid-2006, and it is still installed on my machine.

Hope that helps a bit.  Thanks for everything so far.

 CW

I did some research, and see that I had 2005 pre-releases installed ... oh goodie.  So, these were uninstalled a while ago, and since I have put on 2.0 SDK, 2.0 SP1, 3.0 SP1, & 3.5 ... as well as the release versions of 2008 I mentioned in my first post.  I looked at the manual uninstall procedure for prerelease 2005 Express Editions, and it no longer applies, because I no longer have any of the things mentioned in the procedure in my Add/Remove Programs.  I did download the uninstall tool (vs_uninst_betas.exe), just in case.  Unfortunately, I do have residue from .NET 2.0 Beta (v2.0.40607) on my system, it appears.  I went through the registry, and searched out all references to v2.0.40607.  There were quite a few, and I'm not sure if I should remove these, or modify them to 2.0.50727 ... or a combination of the two.  I have a sampling of the 2.0 Beta reg keys/entries below:

-- NOTE: There's also a 2.0.0.0 entry under the InProcServer Entry below that references Runtime Version 2.0.50727. 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD5CD8B1-6FE0-44F3-BBFB-65E3655B096E}\InprocServer32\2.0.3600.0]
"Class"="Microsoft.Aspnet.Snapin.AspNetManagementUtility"
"Assembly"="AspNetMMCExt, Version=2.0.3600.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
"RuntimeVersion"="v2.0.40607"

--NOTE: There are several typelibs that have the HELPDIR entry referencing 2.0.40607, but this one also references the 2.0.40607 typelib under the win32 entry.  Could this be part of the problem?
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{83893EB2-CA84-33C7-8AEC-6DE210D304B8}\2.0]
@="System_Web"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{83893EB2-CA84-33C7-8AEC-6DE210D304B8}\2.0\0]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{83893EB2-CA84-33C7-8AEC-6DE210D304B8}\2.0\0\win32]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\System.Web.tlb"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{83893EB2-CA84-33C7-8AEC-6DE210D304B8}\2.0\FLAGS]
@="0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{83893EB2-CA84-33C7-8AEC-6DE210D304B8}\2.0\HELPDIR]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607"

-- NOTE: There is a lot stored under this branch.  The .reg file for the branch is 147KB, and I can email it if necessary.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.40607]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.40607\NGenService]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.40607\NGenService\Roots]

-- NOTE: Again, alot is stored in the branch as well.  .reg file is 69KB.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion\NativeImageCacheIndex\v2.0.40607_32]
"ILUsageMask"=hex:5d,08,00,29,3e,ff,e1
"NIUsageMask"=hex:01,00,00,7e,81
"LatestIndex"=dword:0000004a

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion\NativeImageCacheIndex\v2.0.40607_32\IL]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion\NativeImageCacheIndex\v2.0.40607_32\IL\1055815979]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion\NativeImageCacheIndex\v2.0.40607_32\IL\1055815979\422009126]

-- NOTE: There are 9 entries of the following form.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\257B19FB0ED6ADF45A60A302704BC07E]
"00000000000000000000000000000000"="C?\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\mscorlib.tlb"
"10000000000000000000000000000000"="C?\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727\\mscorlib.tlb"
"1F3B805BA42A0C233B0158879691FE82"="C?\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727\\mscorlib.tlb"

-- NOTE: These are the typelibs still referenced in the SharedDLLs.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs]
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\Microsoft.Vsa.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\Microsoft.Vsa.Vb.CodeDOMProcessor.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\Microsoft.JScript.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\mscoree.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\mscorlib.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\System.EnterpriseServices.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\System.Windows.Forms.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\System.Drawing.tlb"=dword:00000001
"C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.40607\\System.tlb"=dword:00000001

Do I need to scrub out the registry of 2.0.40607?  Any more info appreciated.  Thanks.

CW

Setup issues are hard to diagnose. Try uninstalling 3.5, 3.0, and 2.0, cleaning registry and reinstalling 2.0, then 3.0 and then 3.5. Don't install any updates manually, or use Windows Update after you have installed all frameworks.

If you are running Vista, have you ever installed pre-release Vista SP1? You may also have a look here: http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2007/08/03/orcas-beta2-gotcha-no-asp-net-controls-in-toolbox-no-asp-net-intellisense-validation-on-pages.aspx