Installation and Setup

As you install Visual Studio .NET, you will have the opportunity to choose among several different installation and setup options. This topic will help you familiarize yourself with these options, and direct you to appropriate help.

You also can refer to the Readme files, located in the root of the installation CD or DVD. The Readme files contain detailed information on installation issues for all of the products in Visual Studio .NET. The Readme files are in HTML format and can be viewed with an Internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. For information on locating Readme files, refer to the topic Locating Readme Files.

The following sections provide more information on various aspects of setup:

Side-by-Side Installations of Visual Studio .NET

Visual Studio supports installation of versions 2002 and 2003 on the same machine, which allows you to evaluate the latest version of Visual Studio and upgrade gradually.

You should be aware of the following conditions:

• If you open a solution created with Visual Studio .NET 2002 in Visual Studio .NET 2003 and save the solution, you can no longer open the solution in Visual Studio .NET 2002.

• Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped with version 1.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK; Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped with version 1.1. If you have both versions of the .NET Framework installed, Visual Studio .NET 2003 allows you to choose which version your projects support. Visual Basic, Visual C#, and Visual J# projects use a new property, Supported Runtimes. Visual C++ provides a way to manually specify runtime support. For more information, select a topic from the table.

  Language	Topic
  Visual Basic	Build, Common Properties, <Projectname> Property Pages Dialog Box
  C#	General, Common Properties, <Projectname> Property Pages Dialog Box
  Visual J#	General, Common Properties, <Projectname> Property Pages Dialog Box
  Visual C++	Running a Managed C++ Application on a Previous Version's Runtime
  JScript	Running a JScript Application on a Previous Version of the Common Language Runtime

• You can copy certain Options dialog box settings from Visual Studio .NET 2002 to Visual Studio .NET 2003. For more information, see Migrate Options Dialog Box and /migratesettings.

• Changes in how ProgIDs are handled in the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Automation model can cause errors with add-ins written in Visual Studio .NET 2002. Also, invoking new instantiations of the Visual Studio .NET IDE now requires a version-dependent ProgID. For more information about these issues, see Side-By-Side Automation Compatibility Issues and Migrating Add-in Solutions from Visual Studio .NET 2002 to Visual Studio .NET 2003.

Side-by-Side Installations of Help

If you install Visual Studio .NET 2002 and Visual Studio .NET 2003 on the same machine, you also install two different versions of Help for Visual Studio.

You should be aware of the following conditions:

• The Help that installs with Visual Studio .NET 2003 includes corrections and additional information that also applies to Visual Studio .NET 2002 as well as new information for the features and updates provided in Visual Studio .NET 2003.
• To save space on your machine, you can specify that Visual Studio .NET 2002 use the version of Help included with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and then uninstall the Visual Studio .NET 2002 Help files. For more information, see Combined Help Collection Manager.
• If you attempt to view the topics you included in your Favorites from Visual Studio .NET 2002 in the Help for Visual Studio .NET 2003, the topic titles will appear, but the links will be broken.
• If you open a Visual Basic project that was upgraded from Visual Basic 6.0 in Visual Studio .NET 2003, any Help links in the project will be broken.

User Permissions

You must have Administrator permissions for the computer on which you are installing the product. You do not, however, need Administrator permissions to use Visual Studio after installation. Most tools require only the basic permissions provided by the Users group. Visual Studio has its own user groups, such as Debugger Users or VS Developers, for certain tools. For example, you must be a member of the VS Developers group to create Web projects on your local machine. If you do not have the correct permissions to use a certain tool, Visual Studio provides an alert to notify you. For more information, see Developing Software in Visual Studio .NET with Non-Administrative Privileges.

Advanced Setup Options

Visual Studio .NET setup provides two specialized installations modes, Administrator and Remote components.

Administrator Setup

This mode of setup allows network administrators to silently deploy to client computers. Administrator setup allows you to create custom installation files for Visual Studio .NET Prerequisites and the main Visual Studio .NET installation.

For more information on Administrator setup for Visual Studio .NET Prerequisites, see adminreadme.htm in the \Help folder in the Visual Studio .NET Prerequisites CD or on the Visual Studio .NET DVD in the \wcu\Help folder.

For more information on Administrator setup for the main Visual Studio .NET installation, see adminreadme.htm in the Setup folder in the Visual Studio .NET CD or DVD.

Remote Components Setup

This mode of setup allows you to install select components, such as debugging and analysis components, on remote computers. For more information, see RemoteComponents.htm at the root of Visual Studio .NET CD or DVD.

Service Releases

You can check for service releases applicable to your installation directly from within the integrated development environment (IDE).

Note   Your computer must be able to connect to the Internet to check for available service releases online, or you must have a service pack CD.

To check for service releases from within the product IDE

• On the Help menu, choose Check for Updates.

If an update is available, you will be prompted to close the IDE and install the service release.

You can check for available service release using Add/Remove programs as well.

To check for service releases from outside the product IDE

1. On the Start menu, choose Settings and then choose Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs.
3. In the Add/Remove Programs dialog box, choose your product installation, such as Visual Studio .NET Enterprise, and then choose Change/Remove.
4. In the main setup screen, choose Service Releases.

Registering the Product

If you choose not to register the product at the end of setup, you can register the product using other methods.

• Register online at https://register.microsoft.com/regsys/ValueProp.asp?FU=http%3A%2F%2Fregister%2Emicrosoft%2Ecom%2Fregsys%2Fregsys%2Easp%3Fwizid%253D4289%2526lcid%253D1033&LCID=1033&WizID=4289. Microsoft Passport and your product key are required to register online. The product key can be found on the packaging for Disk 1 or from your administrator.
• Register using the registration card found in the product box.

Repairing Your Product Installation

If you are experiencing problems or unexpected behavior while using this product, you can easily repair your current installation by using the Add/Remove Programs dialog box; choose the product you have installed, such as Visual Studio .NET, and then choose Change/Remove. Setup allows you to repair both Visual Studio .NET Prerequisites and the main product installation.

See Also

Visual Studio .NET Hardware Requirements | Visual Studio .NET Software Requirements | Locating Readme Files | What's New in the .NET Framework Version 1.1 | What's New in Visual Studio .NET | Working With Multiple Versions of the .NET Framework | Specifying the Runtime Version for An Application