Software clean-up VS2005/2008

Question

Hi There. Not sure if this is the right forum or not? I have a problem with VS2008 and VS2005. I originally had VS2005 installed on my computer, which also installed SQL 2005. I upgraded to VS2008 some time ago and it left many of the VS2005 components and features on my system, including all the parts and features of SQL 2005. I DO want to keep the SQL 2005 server on my system. Can I uninstall all references to VS2005? Will it effect VS2008? The main reason I'm asking is that VS2008 upgrade installation did not create a FRAMEWORK64 folder and give me the x64 Dlls I need. When looking to uninstall software/programs on my system (VISTA Ultimate SP2) I can see there is .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2, .NET Compact Framework 3.5 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 plus numerous referrences to SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 and Visual C++ 2005 ATL Update and Visual C++ 2008 ATL Update, Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition, Visual Studio 2008 Premier Partner Edition....... the list goes on. So my question is, is there a simple/easy/straight forward way of removing VS2005 and SQL 2008 without affecting VS2008 and SQL 2005? Thanks in adavance.

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Dweezil38

Answer 1

When you install VS 2008 it does not replace VS 2005 - it's side by side, so you can continue to use VS 2005 as well as 2008. 

If you have both SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 in Add/Remove Programs/Features then they're designed to be side by side and you can uninstall the one you don't need.

Is this a 64-bit system?

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Phil Wilson

Answer 2

Hi Dweezil38,

Thank you for your post.

As Phil mentioned, if it doesn't affect you a lot, you can leave Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 on your machine. They can work side by side.
For SQL Server 2005 and 2008, we can install SQL Server 2008 side by side with an earlier version, or migrate existing databases and configuration settings from an earlier SQL Server version, and apply them to an instance of SQL Server 2008. Please see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144267.aspx

If you want to remove Visual Studio 2005, you can try the points mentioned here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907965.
If you want to remove SQL Server 2008, please remove it via Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs.

Hope this helps! If you have any concern, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Yichun Chen

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Answer 3

Hi there.

Thanks Yichun. I'm a little affraid to remove anything as both my VS2005 and VS2008 are upgrade versions and I've run into major problems doing something like that in the past. My real problem is that VS2008 did not create a Framework64 folder with the libraries I need. I've created a Win App that uses an Access Database and when I try to set the project to run on a 64bit machine I get a compile error regarding "MSCORLIB.DLL" and "SYSTEM.DATA.DLL". I am not developing on a 64bit machine but my application will need to run on one.

So instead of removing and re-installing software, how do I get a Framework64 folder with the missing libraries I need?

Thanks

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Dweezil38

Answer 4

Hi Dweezil38,

Thank you for your reply.

Some clarification with you:
What's your OS?

For FRAMEWORK64 folder, it includes 64 bit components of the frameworks on your system. It is shipped with .NET Framework installation. The .NET Framework installer will automatically check your machine and determines what needs to be installed during installation. For 64 bit machine, both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the frameworks will be installed during the installation. For 32 bit machine, it only installs 32 bit Frameworks.

Generally, to build x64 Winform application, we should check the following points:
- Set Active Solution Platform to "x64" and build the application
   For more information on how to target platforms, please check: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165408.aspx .
- Check whether your target machine has installed .NET Framework to support your application
   For instance, if your Winform application targets .NET Framework 3.5, the target machine need to install .NET Framework 3.5 to support it. We can download .NET Framework 3.5 full package to install it.

Based on your description, it seems that you want to build 64 bit application on your 32 bit machine. Thus, you need x64 bit components of .NET Framework to build your application, right?

If yes, I'm afraid that we cannot build x64 application on x86 machine since we need x64 Framework to support it. That's why we can install 32 bit application on 64 bit machine but cannot install 64 bit application on 32 bit machine.
Thus, for your concern, I would suggest you to build this x64 application on one x64 machine which includes x64 Framework.

Hope this helps! If you have any concern, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Yichun Chen

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Answer 5

Hi Yichun

You are correct. I am developing my app on a X86 (32 bit) machine, using VISTA Business, VS2008, with .NET Framework 3.5 (Which is installed if not there during deployment). The thing is my customers will be running it on either a X86 or X64 machine. From what you say in your response my app should run fine on a X64 machine (Compiled as a 32 bit app) even though I've developed it on a X86 (32 bit). "That's why we can install 32 bit application on 64 bit machine but cannot install 64 bit application on 32 bit machine." This is not true! If installed on a X64 machine the customers get an error regarding "MSCORLIB.DLL" and "SYSTEM.DATA.DLL" which are used for reference to my Access Database. I believe this is the problem as the app just doesn't open on a x64 system. One of the first things it does is try reading from the DB.

So, does this mean if my customers buy an x64 machine they are out of luck running my app? Is Microsoft now forcing me to buy an x64 machine?

Thanks

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Dweezil38

Answer 6

Hi Dweezil38,

Thank you for your reply. I can understand the situation you came across better.

Some clarification with you:
What's the Active Solution Platform of your application? "x86" or "x64"?
What's the OS of this customer's x64 machine?
What's the target framework of your application? .NET 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5?

Firstly, please check whether the target framework has been installed on this customer's x64 machine.
If .NET Framework has been installed, please try Verification Tool to verify .NET Frameworks to eliminate the possible issue of corrupted .NET Framework installation on this machine. If the .NET Framework cannot be verified, please try Cleanup Tool to remove and then reinstall it.

If the problem still exists, I would suggest you to try setting Active Solution Platform to "Any CPU".

You also can install and run your application on another 64 bit machine to have a try. If your application can be run on another x64 machine, we can narrow down the possible issue to this customer's x64 machine instead of your application.

BTW, this forum is for the support of .NET Framework installation. If you have further concern on application deployment, you could post your thread on ClickOnce and Setup & Deployment Projects forum. This will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well.

Hope this can help you! If you have any concern, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Yichun Chen

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Answer 7

Hi Yichun

My OS is VISTA Business on a x86 machine. My App is using .NET Framework 3.5. WinApp created using VS2008 PRO. My Active Solution Platform is ANY CPU. My Target machine does install .NET Framework 3.5 during deployment installation (Required). Here is my description of my WinApp. I have built it on an X86 machine it is a 32 Bit app and I want it to run on an x64 machine and x86 machines. It doesn't work. I get an error when it starts. I have verified that .NET Framework 3.5 was installed. The errors I get appear to be in regard to Read/Writing from my Access Database. The DLL's required can not be found "MSCORLIB.DLL" and "SYSTEM.DATA.DLL".

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Dweezil38

Answer 8

Hi Dweezil38,

Thank you for your clarification.

Frankly speaking, different machine has different environment. I'm not quite familiar with your application. This might be hard to troubleshoot online. However, we could do some work to narrow down the possible cause of deployment issue.
Based on your description, .NET Framework 3.5 is well installed on the customer's machine. Now we can isolate the possible cause of corrupted .NET Framework installation.
Have you tried your application on another x64 machine?

Moreover, MSDN online has one forum that aims at deployment issue - ClickOnce and Setup & Deployment Projects forum. There are more deployment experts in that forum. Thus, you will get more useful help there. :)

Hope this helps.

Have a great weekend!

Best regards,
Yichun Chen

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.
Welcome to the All-In-One Code Framework! If you have any feedback, please tell us.