Aaron Stebner's WebLog
Thoughts about setup and deployment issues, WiX, XNA, the .NET Framework and Visual Studio
Why you should check the Installed property in the LaunchCondition table of an MSI
Recently, I was looking at an MSI that installs a set of Visual Studio project templates. This MSI...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 11/04/2006
Mailbag: How are images displayed for custom tiles on the Media Center Start menu?
Question: I have read through the collection of posts that you wrote that describe how to customize...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 11/03/2006
Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 has been released
This morning, the Windows XP Embedded team announced that the final release of the Windows XP...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 11/02/2006
Centralized article for customizing the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista
I have found myself digging through my blog archives several times in the past couple of weeks to...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 11/01/2006
Customizing the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista
This article will serve as a central repository for topics that I have written about Windows Media...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/31/2006
.NET Framework 3.0 setup log files
The installer for the .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly named the WinFX runtime components) chains...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/31/2006
Mailbag: How to install Microsoft Report Viewer 2005 in silent mode
Question: I have seen some of your other posts regarding how to install various parts of Visual...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/26/2006
How to add x64 build configurations to a Visual Studio 2005 solution
Last week, a customer asked me a question about the FileWriter MSAS sample application that ships in...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/26/2006
New hotfix available for Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005 - October 2006 rollup
Today is the day for the monthly release of new Windows hotfix packages and updates, and there is a...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/24/2006
Mailbag: How to set the NoImpersonate flag for a custom action in Visual Studio 2005
Question: I have built an installer using the Visual Studio 2005 setup project wizard. It installs...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/23/2006
File-based algorithm for detecting Windows Media Center version
A while ago, I posted an item describing how to use a registry value to detect what version of...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/23/2006
2 more new Media Center applications for Windows Vista - Big Screen Headlines and Big Screen Contacts
Niall Ginsbourg is at it again. The developer from Mobilewares, who previously created Big Screen...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/22/2006
New MSDN forum launched for .NET Framework setup and deployment issues
A new MSDN forum was opened yesterday to specifically discuss issues related to .NET Framework...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/21/2006
Application compatibility warnings when launching Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista RC2
I installed Windows Vista RC2 a couple of weeks ago and started working on some of the remaining...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/17/2006
Sample code for launching Windows Media Center and browsing to a specific experience
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a description of an algorithm that can be used to launch Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/15/2006
Mailbag: How does Media Center decide which extensibility application is launched by SendMessageTimeout?
Question: I saw your previous post describing an algorithm for launching Windows Media Center and...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/14/2006
How to control the ordering of custom strips in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista
I have previously written blog posts describing how to add up to 2 custom strips to the Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/13/2006
Small update to Visual Studio project template examples I previously published
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article describing how to create MSI-based setup packages for...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/12/2006
RC2 build (5744.16384) of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista is now available
We have posted the RC2 build of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista on the Microsoft...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/12/2006
New Windows Media Center Presentation Layer (MCML) application now available - Big Screen Weather
Niall Ginsbourg from Mobilewares (who has also created the Big Screen Photos Flickr photo browser...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/10/2006
How to prevent the Windows XP welcome screen from appearing after installing the .NET Framework 1.1
Some of you have noticed an installation issue with the .NET Framework 1.1. If you have a Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/06/2006
Updated version of Reporting Add-in that fixes package load failures in Visual WebDev 2005
A while back, I posted an item describing a possible package load failure when installing the...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/02/2006
How to create setup packages for Visual Studio project templates and starter kits
When I started working on the Windows Media Center SDK setup for Windows Vista, I did some research...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 10/01/2006
How Windows Installer interacts with UAC in Windows Vista
Robert Flaming has been posting a series of articles describing how Windows Installer interacts with...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/30/2006
Algorithm for launching Windows Media Center and browsing to a specific experience
A while back, I posted an item on the Media Center Sandbox blog that described how to directly...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/28/2006
Visual Studio 2005 SP1 beta now available for download
I noticed a post on Soma's blog (vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft) earlier...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/26/2006
New Windows Media Center XBAP application now available: Big Screen Business
Niall Ginsbourg from Mobilewares (the same person who created the Flickr photo browser XBAP...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/25/2006
Important note about using RegisterMceApp and RegisterApplication
A couple of folks on the Windows Media Center team tried out the Veronica's Radio sample that...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/21/2006
Forum post for Windows Communication Foundation (Indigo) RC1 installation issues
A friend of mine sent me a link today to an MSDN Forum post with a list of known issues and...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/20/2006
Mailbag: Creating an installable layout for non-English Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
Question: I found your blog article describing how to create an installable network layout for the...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/19/2006
How to prevent Windows Media Center from launching multiple copies of your application
I posted an item on the Media Center Sandbox site today that I wanted to link here as well in case...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/17/2006
Using the Q helix UI to create a custom streaming radio application
Charlie Owen posted an item on the Media Center Sandbox site today that I wanted to draw your...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/15/2006
How to directly launch a Windows Media Center application from Visual Studio 2005
I wrote this post on the Media Center Sandbox blog earlier tonight that I wanted to link to here as...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/14/2006
Real world example of a Windows Media Center application setup built with WiX
I have previously posted an article and a follow-up blog post describing how to use WiX to build MSI...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/12/2006
Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista RC1 is now available for public download
This afternoon, we posted the RC1 build of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista (build...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/11/2006
What not to do when creating an MSI-based setup
A couple of days ago, I described a setup failure that I ran into and outlined how I approached...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/09/2006
New Windows Media Center add-in registration custom action DLL
Niall Ginsbourg from Mobilewares (the same person who is working on the Flickr photo browser for...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/08/2006
Case study: How I approach debugging and fixing a setup failure
I received a mail from a customer this week regarding an installation failure that proved to be...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/08/2006
Updated drivers to fix AMD dual-core video playback glitching in Windows Media Center
A while back, Dave Fleischman posted a link to a processor update package published by AMD that has...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/05/2006
Updated example for building a Windows Media Center add-in setup package using WiX
I heard from a customer this weekend who was trying to follow the instructions that I posted a while...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/05/2006
Solving setup errors by using the SubInACL tool to repair file and registry permissions
A while back, I wrote a blog post about a .NET Framework 2.0 beta 2 installation problem that was...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/04/2006
A couple of more random thoughts about Windows Vista
I posted an item a couple of days ago describing my experiences with using Windows Vista, and I...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 09/03/2006
How to detect old versions when deploying the .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly WinFX)
I received an interesting question from a customer this weekend. They are working on a setup package...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/31/2006
International Windows Media Center EPG error reporting sites
A while back, I posted a link to a site that allows you to submit problem reports for Windows Media...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/30/2006