Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack Preparation Tool does not work

Posted At : August 12, 2008 9:38 AM
Related Categories: .NET,Microsoft,Visual Studio

I tried to install the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 update, and the install failed. I did some searching, but I was not able to find anyone else who is having this problem.

I have been running the SP1 beta for Visual Studio 2008. When I went to run the actual SP1 installer yesterday, I got prompted to run the Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack Preparation Tool.

I tried running the tool, and was prompted to locate "x64/Setup/vs_shell.msi" file on the Visual Studio installer disks. No such file exists on my original installer. The Visual Studio uninstaller does completely remove the IDE, so I am dead in the water until Microsoft Fixes this issue.

Update: I uninstalled the Visual Studio 2008 shell, and I was able to run the visual studio patch tool.

Comments (10) | Print | Send | del.icio.us | Digg It! | Linking Blogs | 2083 Views
Comments
[Add Comment]
Drikus Roux's Gravatar Yep, same thing happened to me.

Did a quick scan for any reference of vs_shell.msi on http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/2/8/A2807..., but nothing!

There is some more information here http://hodentek.blogspot.com/, that actually says that you need the original program disc for VS2008 as well as access to vs_shell.msi, allegedly from the previous installation of SQL Server 2008 RC0? Huh?

Explained in more detail here: http://weblogs.asp.net/kencox/archive/2008/08/11/v..., advises to locate vs_shell.exe on the SQL Server 2008 RC0 disc in folder X64\Setup or installing the VS 2008 Shell. This is correct, the vs_shell.msi is indeed located there.

The "Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack Preparation Tool" takes looooong to run, tick-tock, tick-tock...Ok it probably hung...I stopped and restarted it and it flew through the process in about 5 seconds.

What was different?

I had loaded the SQL Server 2008 iso (containing all versions) via Nero Image Drive (creating a virtual DVD) that you can also do with Deamon tools etc. I am assuming that the removal tool must have scanned all the DVD drives on my PC and found the vs_shell.exe file in the X64\Setup folder? Huh? Ohkay!

The Installation log contains an entry "CleanupBlock (UnAdvertisedFeatures) succeeded on product (Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Shell(integrated mode) -ENU).”

So, if my assumption is correct, just load the SQL Server 2008 DVD in your drive and bob's your uncle, the removal tool should not ask for the vs_shell.exe on your original VS 2008 installation DVD. Nice to know thanks!

All the best!
Drikus Roux
South Africa
# Posted By Drikus Roux | 8/14/08 7:09 AM
psc's Gravatar how long is long? I gave up waiting, and aborted it.
# Posted By psc | 8/14/08 10:53 AM
Drikus Roux's Gravatar Long should not be long 4 the "Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack Preparation Tool", but for installing SP1, I can tell you this, when I left work this evening it was still going! I think it will probably run 3-4 hours, on my company issue Dell D910 with XP SP3! Not sure why though!
# Posted By Drikus Roux | 8/14/08 2:11 PM
Rob Vettor's Gravatar Resolved. Look for 'vs_shell.msi' in the setup directory on the SQL Server 2008 RC0 setup disk.
# Posted By Rob Vettor | 9/1/08 12:07 PM
Drikus Roux's Gravatar Just an update on the duration of SQL 2008 SP1's loading time....

I installed it on my home PC (P4 - 1997 model) and it took about 30-40 minutes. My previous laptop install went on for a bit longer, I guess a few hours. So yeah, she's not fast!
# Posted By Drikus Roux | 9/2/08 2:16 AM
Ray Garrett's Gravatar I have the same issue as described above except I do not have a RC0 disk to retrieve vs_shell.msi from. I downloaded the RC0 from Microsoft. I mistakenly uninstalled RC0 before running the Patch Removal Tool and now I am stuck since I have no copy of vs_shell.msi and no way to recover it.

Any suggestions on how to get an x86 copy of vs_shell.msi or how to proceed from here?

Thanks,
Ray
# Posted By Ray Garrett | 9/19/08 6:26 AM
David Fekke's Gravatar Ray,

Go into Programs and Features control panel and uninstall the Visual Studio 2008 shell. After that you will be able run the patch tool.

Good Luck,
David.
# Posted By David Fekke | 9/19/08 9:26 AM
Ray Garrett's Gravatar Thanks,

That worked great. I had tried to uninstall the individual KB files, not the entire VS 2008 Shell.
# Posted By Ray Garrett | 9/19/08 9:41 AM
rl's Gravatar Resolved like above: get the file from SQL 2008 RC0 setup files.
# Posted By rl | 9/30/08 12:33 PM
Alberto's Gravatar Thanks! It helped too!
# Posted By Alberto | 11/6/08 11:56 PM
[Add Comment]
BlogCFC was created by Raymond Camden. This blog is running version 5.6.001.