I recently developed a program in VB.net with Access Database. And I want to create setup file of it.
I'd searched on "How to create setup file". And I got that using "Deployment and Installing" we can. After that I'd install "InstallShield". But that option does not appear inside Visual Studio.
I'm using "VS Express 2012 for Windows Desktop".
Visual Studio Express 2012 does not support extensions, as such 3rd party products will not be able to provide additional functionality. The InstallShield LE page on MSDN spells this out clearly:
InstallShield Limited Edition is free for users of all Visual Studio editions except the Express editions.
Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531020.aspx
Your options are:
Install Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition (if you are allowed by the license) or buy Visual Studio Professional. These can be extended with either Wix or the Visual Studio Setup Package extension or Installshield.
Create a click-once installer
Use an installation system that is independent of Visual Studio and have it pick up your project output from a specific directory. You would have to author your installer outside of Visual Studio, e.g.:
NSIS
Wix and Wix Editor
I have a windows form project and I want to create an installation package for this project. How can I create a setup file in Visual Studio 2012 ? My project is without data base.
How to create a Setup package using Visual Studio 2012.NET?
Microsoft released the Visual Studio Installer Project extension in April of this year, the catch is it's for VS2013, not VS2012.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2014/04/17/visual-studio-installer-projects-extension.aspx
The 'lite' InstallShield option remains in VS if you need something with more flexibility.
Advanced Installer also has a free version that includes an extension for VS. This is a commercial tool but the extension is included in the free edition as I said, for more advanced features you need to purchase a Professional or higher licenses and edit the project direct from Advanced Installer GUI, not from VS. (but you can still use the project in the VS solution, so you get the MSI built at the end of your build process)
Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) are not supplied with VS 2012
There are several solutions for you:
You could use InstallShield instead.
If you don't want or
can't use InstallShield for any reason, you could try WiX. This
toolset builds Windows installation packages from XML source code.
If you only use Windows Presentation Foundation (.xbap), Windows Forms (.exe), console application (.exe), or Office solution (.dll) you could look at ClickOnce. To use this you should right click on the project file in the solution explorer and select "Publish" from the pop-up menu.
Alternatively you can use previous version of Visual Studio (2010).
Just upgraded to Visual Studio 2012, connected to my TFS solution, upgraded all the projects from v4.0 to v4.5. Solution compiles and runs fine. Super.
Now I'm adding new code but compiler errors are not listed in the Error List output window. I only see errors related to .dll files not being found.
e.g. Error 1 Could not copy the file "C:\SourceCode\<snip>Library.dll" because it was not found. C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets
Well of course it can't be found, I put the line:
thing bob = new thing();
into a class.
Unfortunately this error is not reported during compilation.
Even the detailed comiler output shows nothing after the csc.exe task:
6>Task "Csc"
6> C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Csc.exe <snip>
6>Done executing task "Csc".
If I run the csc.exe task in a cmd window you can clearly see the exception:
Microsoft (R) Visual C# Compiler version 4.0.30319.17929
for Microsoft (R) .NET Framework 4.5
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
State\ConditionalAction.cs(16,13,16,18): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'thing' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
State\ConditionalAction.cs(16,29,16,34): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'thing' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
Has anyone seen this problem before or have any ideas?
EDIT more evidence
It seems that 'hard' compile errors are being reported i.e. by removing the semi-colon from the line of rubbish gives me a compiler error:
thing bob = new thing()
Error 2 ; expected C:\\ConditionalAction.cs 16
The error to do with the missing type, however, is still not present.
EDIT 2 more evidence
It appears that VS 2012 is unable to correctly identify that the project has an error with the missing type when starting to run and debug the MVC app (F5).
I just removed the offending code, ran the app, re-inserted the offending code, re-ran the app and VS merrily ran the previously-compiled version of the application without complaint.
I have had problems with visual studio, when upgrading to visual studio professional 2012.
Firstly, checking fundamentals.
Are you using the computer as a user with Administrative rights?
I suspect you are, but if not, you need to have administrative rights.
Have you checked if any files are being blocked by your firewall?
When I switched to the full version of Avast I find I have to disable the File System Shield It loves to remove my executable files when I try to run my visual studio projects.
Ensure you are creating your projects in 4.5 Framework.
What I did, was I ended up uninstalling EVERYTHING that was associated with both Visual Studio downloads. If you are able to remove and save your project files elsewhere and then bring them back. Go through all your program files to see if there is anything hidden in the wrong folder and check your C drive.
Which meant downloading and reinstalling (fresh):
Install Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable Package (arm.exe, x64.exe and x86,exe)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 SDK
Please read this quote from MSDN about Visual Studio 2012 update 3
Note Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server (TFS) installation
mechanics are different. The Visual Studio update installs on top of
whatever is already installed on the computer. The TFS update is a
full layout that replaces whatever is installed on the computer.
Before you try to apply the TFS update, make sure that you have a full
backup of your current databases. If the TFS update installation
fails, you will be unable to restart the update or roll back to the
earlier version of TFS without performing a restore procedure.
Go to this page for more information about the Visual Studio 2012 Update 3.
Here is also useful link Configuring Programs for 64-Bit (Visual C++).
I installed Visual Studio 2012 and at a later date Update 2. After installing Update 2, when I load any project, I get the following error:
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
The 'ProviderPackage' package did not load correctly.
The problem may have been caused by a configuration change or by the installation of another extension. You can get more information by examining the file 'C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ActivityLog.xml'.
Continue to show this error message?
---------------------------
Yes No
---------------------------
After locating the ActivityLog.xml, I see the following set of errors:
<entry>
<record>300</record>
<time>2013/04/23 18:32:54.002</time>
<type>Information</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>Begin package load [ProviderPackage]</description>
<guid>{5F2E5E42-4192-4D79-A0D8-1D881E808829}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>
<record>301</record>
<time>2013/04/23 18:32:54.012</time>
<type>Error</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>SetSite failed for package [ProviderPackage]</description>
<guid>{5F2E5E42-4192-4D79-A0D8-1D881E808829}</guid>
<hr>80131522</hr>
<errorinfo>Method 'GetHostedIntellisenseTypes' in type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Progression.DTEWrapperCached' from assembly 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.GraphProviderPackage, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' does not have an implementation.</errorinfo>
</entry>
<entry>
<record>302</record>
<time>2013/04/23 18:32:54.012</time>
<type>Error</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>End package load [ProviderPackage]</description>
<guid>{5F2E5E42-4192-4D79-A0D8-1D881E808829}</guid>
<hr>80131522</hr>
<errorinfo>Method 'GetHostedIntellisenseTypes' in type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Progression.DTEWrapperCached' from assembly 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.GraphProviderPackage, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' does not have an implementation.</errorinfo>
Google searches do not reveal an exact match on my issue. I've tried searching the packages on the install ISO and cannot locate a package that needs to be repaired...
F:\packages>dir /s *provider*
Volume in drive F is VS2012_ULT_MSDN_ENU
Volume Serial Number is 4A21-C8BD
Directory of F:\packages\SSDT
07/26/2012 11:30 AM 780,288 DbSqlPackageProvider.msi
1 File(s) 780,288 bytes
Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 780,288 bytes
0 Dir(s) 0 bytes free
Any other ideas?
Close Visual Studio.
Open a Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2012 (as administrator).
Type devenv /setup.
Restart Visual Studio.
Possible duplicate of Visual Studio 2012 error: Package 'Visual C++ package' failed to load
See Visual C++ package: failed to load?????
This is Aaron's (Aaron Reed) answer from above, just copied as an answer instead of part of the question:
Fixed it... Fixed it... Fixed it...
Opened Programs and Features (run: appwiz.cpl)
Sorted list of installed apps by: Install Date
Filtered list by adding "SQL" to the upper right search filter
List item
I installed VS2012 on 4/1/13, so I went through each listed SQL item in the list, and right click --> Repair
From there I ran VS2012 and opened the target Solution file without issue.
My list:
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier App Framework
Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - enu (11.1.20627.00)
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Management Objects (x64)
Microsoft System CLR Types for SQL Server 2012 (x64)
Microsoft System CLR Types for SQL Server 2012
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Management Objects
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Transact-SQL Compiler Service
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Command Line Utilities
Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools Build Utilities - enu (11.1.206...
Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 SP1 x64 ENU
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Language Service
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier App Framework
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Transact-SQL SpriptDom
This worked for me -
In order to fix the issue one needs to clear the Visual Studio cache under:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache
Thanks go to blog post SetSite failed for package [Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editor.Implementation.EditorPackage].
Usually this can be fixed by clearing the Visual Studio cache under:
Visual Studio 2012: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache
Visual Studio 2013: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache
I fixed this by uninstalling or removing:
Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - enu (14.0.50325.0)
I hope this helps :)
Worked for me.
Window7 SP1 + VS 2013
Open a Developer Command Propmpt for VS 2012 (as administrator).
Run devenv /setup.
An even quicker fix is to simply repair the Microsoft SQL Server in the list. That fixed my problem.
Uninstalling/Repairing SQL Server Data tools is the only thing which worked for me, thanks to wayne.blackmon comment.
Picture below
For me the ActivityLog.xml stated
<errorinfo>Access to the path 'C:\Users\Klas\Documents\Visual Studio
2015\ArchitectureExplorer' is denied.</errorinfo>
When I examined this folder I realized that the entire folder structure here
C:\Users\Klas\Documents\Visual Studio 2015
had permission set so that my user had no write permissions. I added Full Control rights to my user for this folder and everything below.
After that, the message went away. Also, when I started Visual Studio it created lots of subfolders to this folder.
I had the same issue in Visual Studio 2013 for Windows 8.1.
The previous answers didn't work for me. I had to repair Visual Studio and then reboot my machine.
I was getting this error on Visual Studio start up:
the 'visual studio component model host package' did not load correctly...
After that bunch of other The '' package did not load correctly... error messages.
I realized I don't have enough free space on my C drive, where the Visual Studio were installed.
I opened up some space and restarted the Visual Studio, solved the problem.
Not sure if it has anything to do with the free space on disk though.
In my case the problem appeared after I installed Visual Studio 2015. From that point nor 2015, nor previous versions of Visual Studio would load.
The problem was the PATH environment variable exceeding the MAX length.
I shortened it to less than 2048 and restarted the machine. Visual Studio started loading, but with some errors still. Lastly run the devenv /setup, and all is back to normal.
I just had a similar error (on Windows 7. I installed Visual Studio 2015 Professional and then after that, several "...package did not load correctly" messages started showing up when I ran Visual Studio 2012).
What fixed my issue was to repair "Microsoft Studio Tools for Applications 2012".
Run "appwiz.cpl" (Control Panel → Programs → Uninstall a program
Right-click on "Microsoft Studio Tools for Applications 2012. Select "Change", then click "Repair".
After this, I can open up Visual Studio 2012 without those error messages.
I had a similar error. After I updated to VS2012.U2, the problem went away. TFS 2012 update 2 can't be removed without removing TFS. While I had an issue with upgrading from TFS2012.U1 to U2, I have found TFS2012.U2 to be worthwhile.
It was the problem with access rights to my %USERPROFILE% directory (because of the failure with the PC). Setting permissions to full access fixed it.
Another suggestion,
Run as admin, and restart the VS application.
Apply package update.
Reboot.
Hope this helps!
From MSDN forums:
Please open Windows Explorer, and navigate to <Visual Studio Installation Path>\Common7\IDE
Devenv.exe /SafeMode: Launches the IDE in safe mode loading minimal windows.
Devenv.exe /ResetSettings: Restores the IDE's default settings, optionally resets to the specified VSSettings file.
Devenv.exe /ResetAddin: Removes commands and command UI associated with the specified Add-in.
Devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs: Clears all SkipLoading tags added to VSPackages.
If still no help, I suggest you try repairing your Visual Studio installation or uninstall it and then reinstall it. If you want to reinstall it, I am afraid that you need a DVD or a fine Internet.
Doing the first three steps works for me.
I got "lucky" and restarted Visual Studio 2013 and it worked. I have had other errors in which deleting the temp cache items cleared it up.
Side note. While Visual Studio 2015 is not perfect as of yet, and NuGet has become less friendly to use IMO, if my computer is restarted by the company domain network administrators OR especially when there is a computer losing power with a brown-out of some loss of power Visual Studio 2013 becomes a bit a "fun" to fix while Visual Studio 2015 projects for months seem to just open just fine as if nothing happened when I login.
In my case, I solve this problem by removing the Read-only attribute of the folder "Visual Studio 2015" in <C:\Users\myuser\Documents>.
I'm using Visual Studio 2012, update 1 on a Windows 8 machine. When I try to start a new win32 project using the application wizard something weird appens:
the windows that welcomes to the wizard has three empty bullets under "these are the current project settings". Both the cancel and the finish button do not work.
The folder for the application is created but no files inside.
please help!!
I solved my problem forcing a "clean" install of VS2012. ('clean' means that also the shared packages were uninstalled). Presuming that the installer I used to install VS2012 was on d:
D:\vs_premium.exe /uninstall /force
Once reinstalled, the problem was gone.
I am running Visual Studio Express 2012 for WP on Macbook via Parallels.
I did the update of VS today and could not load my project (HTML App, #C) nor create new projects afterwards.
The solution was to go to Windows program uninstall for Visual Studio Express 2012, BUT choose option "Repair". It took about the same time as the update but I was able to create new projects afterwards (my existing own app project from November 2012 also works).
Before I "repaired" the installation, I have removed manually from VS->Tools->Extensions and Updates a few packages added "Nu Get Package Manager and Packager". I am not sure if the latter is really needed.
Additional info: My VS 2012 Express for Windows8 installation worked and works w/o issues.