MSDN Library problem

[dw]

Hello, all. I have a problem with VS.NET 2003: Everytime it's starting up,
it brings up a window saying: "Please wait while Windows configures MSDN
Library for Visual Studio .NET 2003." It then takes a good 10 minutes to do
its configuration. I've uninstalled VS and MSDN and re-installed both; I've
run the repair on both, but no results. It's like the registry is messed up
and not getting cleaned with the uninstalls. I spend all day today
uninstalling/installing to no avail. It's very frustrating. The problem
seems to have started when I installed Visual Studio Web Developer 2005
Beta. That's been uninstalled along with .NET 2.0, but still no solution.
Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Scott Allen]

I had this problem once with a 2003 beta. It took a manual cleansing
of the registry to get everything back to normal. I can't find any
documents now to describe the process.

One tool you might be able to use is REGMON from sysinternals.com. You
can see what is being accessed and try to clean up - unfortunately,
it's a lot of work. I keep all the beta stuff on a virtual machine now
to avoid the headaches..

 

[dw]

Thanks, Scott. The beta tools caused headaches both on my home and work
systems. I now have them on a Virtual PC to keep my main system clean. Alas,
for this problem, it's too late. I'll download the regmon and see what I can
find out. Thanks.

 

[dw]

Would a registry tool like Tunup Utilities from http://www.tune-up.com/
help? I've used that before and it's the least destructive of all registry
cleaners.

 

[Scott Allen]

Hmm - could be - I've never used that tool.

Would a registry tool like Tunup Utilities from http://www.tune-up.com/
help? I've used that before and it's the least destructive of all registry
cleaners.

 

[dw]

Found something interesting: When I let VS.NET go through its process of
"configuring" the problem and then I run the Tune-Up utility, it shows the
problem keys in the registry. I'm planning to write them down and clean them
manually. The program cleans them, but then VS.NET sets about doing its
funky stuff.

My issue is this: Why isn't it clearly stated on the download page for the
beta tools that they could screw up our machines so bad we'd have to resort
to this kind of stuff? I know when we agree to the EULA we let them do
anything they want, but still, a little heads-up warning would be nice for
those of us dumb enough to think this stuff is safe to install on anything
other than Virtual PC.

 

[Greg Burns]

My issue is this: Why isn't it clearly stated on the download page for the

beta tools that they could screw up our machines so bad we'd have to
resort
to this kind of stuff? I know when we agree to the EULA we let them do
anything they want, but still, a little heads-up warning would be nice for
those of us dumb enough to think this stuff is safe to install on anything
other than Virtual PC.

the word BETA says it all

 

[Hermit Dave]

yes BETA products mean... this is what its going to look like but hey... we
havent finalised anything (specially when you refer to beta 1) and keep your
fingers crossed that it doesnt screw up you PC..

i have win 2k3 64 on a gig of ram with vs.net 2k5 and sql 2k5 beta 2.. runs
at 500+ megs plus without me doing anything... if i do anything .. it
complains about running out of virtual memory.. so one more thing... they
are not optimised... neither for processor nor for memory.

and lastly welcome to beta product testing... its fun... after a while you
keep your system clean by re-installing and then get onto using driveimage
etc to start fresh.

--

Regards,

Hermit Dave
(http://hdave.blogspot.com)

 

[dw]

Thanks, Greg and Hermit. I love Microsoft products; I use them every day and
could not get my work done without them. I guess I hadn't paid enough
attention to the word "Beta" -- nor was I using Virtual PC at that time. I
love beta products -- did beta testing for Corel some years back. You get to
be on the cutting edge of technology. I've learned a hard lesson to install
and use Virtual PC on all my systems before I go putting beta products on
them.