Visual Studio .NET Beta2 FAQ [7/15/01]
1) Startup Error.
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Problem: When starting Visual Studio .NET, it returns the error:
"MS Development Environment has not been installed for the current user.
Please run setup to install the application."
Fix/Workaround: Run regedit and search for the key
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Licenses\C4B8C1BC-A36C-4723-AF48-F362BFAB9DF5]. If it
exists, then delete it.
2) Help links not working.
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Problem: Documentation links within Visual Studio .NET may return "Action
Canceled" or "Server cannot be not found".
Fix/Workaround: Delete your "Temporary Internet Files". You can do this
from within Internet Explorer. Select "Tools"."Internet Options" and then
select "Delete Files..." on the "General" tab. (Note: This has fixed the
problem for most people, but we are still tracking this issue down.)
3) Office XP RC1 reactivation.
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Problem: After Visual Studio .NET Beta2 is installed, Office XP RC1 gives
an error that it must be reactivated.
Explanation: Visual Studio .NET Beta2 cannot coexist on the same machine
with prereleased versions of Office XP such as Office XP RC1. Visual Studio
.NET can coexist with released versions of Office including Office XP,
Office 2000 etc...
4) Could not transform licenses file 'licenses.licx' into a binary
resource.
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Problem: After installing Visual Studio .NET, attempting to build an
application returns the following error:
"d:\inetpub\wwwroot\WebApplication1\licenses.licx Could not transform
licenses file 'licenses.licx' into a binary resource. File or assembly name
lc.exe, or one of its dependencies, was not found." During installation, the
.NET Framework SDK was unselected and, consequently, not installed.
Fix/Workaround: To correct this problem, select "Show All Files" from the
"Project" menu so you can see the "licenses.licx" file. Delete the
"licenses.licx" from you project. It will be regenerated automatically.
5) Can't edit or debug stored procedures.
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Problem: You can not longer edit and debug stored procedures with Visual
Studio .NET Beta 2 like you could with Beta 1.
Explanation: Beta 1 shipped with many Visual Studio .NET Enterprise
Developer and Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect edition features while
Beta 2 contains the features that will make up Professional Edition. For a
list of enterprise features see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/nextgen/technology/enterprisedefault.asp .
6) Properties window won't unhide.
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Problem: The properties window can be show after it is hidden. This is a
known bug in VS.NET B2.
Fix/Workaround: You can try a couple of things to make the Property Browser
come back out. If it is tabbed with other windows (such as dynamic help),
then un-autohide any window in the same tab set as the Property Browser. If
it is by itself in the autohide channel, try showing the Dynamic Help
window, autohiding and unautohiding it. If this doesn't work, you'll have
to reset your window layouts to their defaults. To get your windows back to
their defaults, select Tools.Options.Environment.General.Reset Window
Layout.
7) Can't see the menu or toolbar icons in the IDE.
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Problem: After running VS.NET B2 for a while you minimize and restore the
IDE and the menu and toolbar icons disappear. This is a known problem in
VS.NET B2.
Fix/Workaround: Close and restart the IDE.
8) Code wizards for C# don't work.
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Problem: If you try to add a method, variable, property, or indexer to a C#
class through ClassView, the wizard will not come up. This is a setup
problem, which occurs if you choose to not to install Visual C++ components.
Fix/Workaround: Rerun setup and select to install the Visual C++
components.
9) Installing the June Platform SDK breaks the VS.NET B2 debugger.
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Problem: After installing the June Platform SDK from the web installer, the
VS.NET B2 debugger no longer works. This is a bug in the Platform SDK web
installer, which is installing the Win64 debugger automatically when is
should be an optional install. The Win64 debugger in the June Platform SDK
isn't compatible with the VS.NET B2 debugger as per the June Platform SDK
readme.
Fix/Workaround: Rerun VS.NET B2 set to repair the installation of the
debugger.
10) Can't debug ASP.NET application.
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Problem: Attempting to debug an ASP.NET Web Application won't work.
Fix/Workaround: There are multiple things that could go wrong. Here is a
list of settings to check:
1. Make sure you have a valid web.config file and one in which the
compilation flag debug is set to true.
2. The web.config file must not have syntax errors. You can verify this by
running the app, by selecting 'Start Without Debugging' from the debug menu.
Any syntax errors will be displayed.
3. The user logged on must be a member of the Debugger Users group. If you
login as an administrator be sure that Administrator is in the group. When
debugging ASP.NET which runs as system, you need to make sure that the user
logged in has Admin privileges on the machine, as managed System processes
can only be debugged by admins.
4. A valid URL must be specified for the start page of the project. Invalid
extensions or project directory will result in error mentioned in #5.
5. If remote debugging to another machine, you need to make sure that the
remote debugging components have been installed on the remote machine.
6. The security settings of IIS also affect debugging. To check this, you
need to look at the settings for the default web site. To get at the Default
Web Site settings start up IIS manager by doing either
Start.Programs.Administrative Tools, select Internet Services Manager and
expand the machine node OR select My computer on your desktop, bring up
context menu, select Manage, expand Services and Applications. After
selecting the Default Web Site, right mouse click and select its properties.
Now select the Directory Security tab and click on the Edit button for
Anonymous access and authentication control. Both 'Anonymous Access' and
'Integrated Windows authentication' must be selected. If not, select them.
An alternative way of debugging your application would be to manually attach
to the process running your application. As an example consider a VB web
application that is running under aspnet_wp.exe. You could start the
application up by doing a Debug.Start without Debugging and then do a
Tools.Debug Processes. Now check the 'show system processes' to list
processes running under the system account. You can now select aspnet_wp.exe
and click on the Attach button. You will then have the choice of selecting
the program types you want to debug. You need to chose the Common Language
Runtime if your application is a managed only application for instance.
11) Can't add Web Reference.
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Problem: Attempting to add a web reference via the "Add Web Reference"
dialog doesn't work.
Fix/Workaround: The "Add Web Reference" dialog doesn't use the "Automatic
Proxy" settings as set in IE6. If you are behind a firewall, try putting in
the proxy server name and port number directly. To verify if the problem is
isolated to the Add Web Reference dialog, try hitting the URL from IE6 or
the wsdl.exe tool from the commandline. If it does appear to be a problem
with the "Add Web References" dialog, please post a bug report(see below for
instructions).
12) Windows 2000 hangs when opening Add Web Reference dialog.
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Problem: Without the latest S3 Savage video drivers installed for the IBM
T20 Laptop, your system may freeze when opening the "Add Web References"
dialog.
Fix/Workaround: Update to the latest S3 Savage drivers for the IBM T20.
You can get them from:
http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR-4JSQHB.html?lang=en_US&page=brand&brand
=IBM+ThinkPad&doctype=Downloadable+files&subtype=Cat#Video
13) SQL Query Analyzer Stored Proc debugging no longer works with VS.NET B2
installed.
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Problem: VS.NET B2 breaks SQL Query Analyzer debugging. SQL Query Analyzer
comes with SQL Server developer edition. This is a know problem with VS.NET
B2 and should be fixed in a later release.
Fix/Workaround: Do the following to fix the problem:
1. Start DCOMCNFG from the command line.
2. Double click SQL Debugger Registry
3. Select Identity Tab
4. Select 'The interactive User' (instead of This user).
14) Change list from Beta 1 to Beta 2.
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See the following docs, which are installed to your machine:
a) "Program Files\Microsoft.NET\FrameworkSDK\Docs\Change List - Beta1 to
Beta2.doc"
b) "Program
Files\Microsoft.NET\FrameworkSDK\Docs\APIChangesBeta1toBeta2.htm"
15) How to get Visual Studio .NET Beta2.
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There are several ways:
a) MSDN Universal subscribers can download it from
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/nextgen/beta.asp . You can sign up for
MSDN at http://msdnbuynow.one.microsoft.com/MSDN_Entry.asp. It should also
be in the next MSDN release.
b) You can order CD's from:
http://developerstore.com/devstore/product.asp?productID=7627&store=TOOLBOX_
NA (United States and Canada)
http://developerstore.com/devstore/product.asp?productID=7629&store=TOOLBOX_
INTL (Worldwide)
c) Visual Studio .NET Beta2 DVD's will also be in many popular developer
magazines later this summer.
16) How to report bugs on Visual Studio .NET Beta2.
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There are a couple ways to enter bugs:
1. Enter bugs at http://beta.visualstudio.net/Secured/BugReport.aspx .
2. Post a message to one of the newsgroups.
Tips on entering bugs:
1. Search the readme files to make sure it's not a known issue (see
bottom for list of readmes).
2. Provide the steps necessary to reproduce the problem.
3. Attach any necessary files required to reproduce the problem.
4. If you want to report a crash, choose to upload the Application Error
information (aka a Watson crash dump) when the crash dialog prompts you.
Once this is uploaded, an event will be written to your Application event
log with a unique ID for that crash. Providing this number in your bug
report is helpful (but not necessary). To find this crash ID number do the
following:
a) From "Start"."Run" execute "eventvwr.msc".
b) Open the "Application" node.
c) Look for the newest event with Source="Microsoft Development
Environment" and Event="1001".
d) Open that event and you'll see "Bucket" followed by the crash ID
number we're looking for.
