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How to create an installable layout for Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions

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The following options can be used to download and assemble a folder structure that can be used to install one of the Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions.

Option 1: Download and burn or extract the CD image (easiest option)

The first, and easiest option is to utilize the Manual Installation Instructions for Express Editions page on the MSDN site. This site provides direct download links for ISO and IMG files for each of the Express Editions:

Once you have downloaded the desired IMG or ISO file, you can either burn the image onto a CD and then copy the contents to your local hard drive or extract the contents to your local hard drive directly using a tool such as IsoBuster.

Once you have copied the contents to a local hard drive, you can share out the folder on a network and install it from there if you chose to.

Option 2: Manually assemble the equivalent of the CD image (advanced option)

If you need to optimize bandwidth or for some other reason cannot use option 1, you can use some advanced steps to reverse engineer the Express Edition setup data files and manually download the individual pieces you will need to create a network installation point. If you use these steps, you can optimize your download size by only including the optional components you want to install (meaning you can skip SQL Express and MSDN if you choose to not install them during Express Edition setup). You can also optimize your download size based on the configuration of the machines you will be installing on. For example, if you know you will not need to install on any x64 systems, you can skip downloading the x64 components for the .NET Framework 2.0, SQL Express and the remote debugger. Also, if you know that the systems you will install on already have prerequisites such as Windows Installer 3.1 or the .NET Framework 2.0, you can skip downloading those components.

The following steps will allow you to manually assemble an installable layout for an Express Edition. In this example, I will use Visual WebDev 2005 Express Edition (English), but equivalent steps can be used for the other Express Editions and non-English languages as well. For other Express Editions, you will need to change the download location used in steps 1 and 5 below.

  1. Download the web download bootstrapper for Visual WebDev Express Edition and save it to your local hard drive
  2. Create a new folder named c:\visual_webdev (or one of your own choosing)
  3. Extract the contents of the web download bootstrapper to the folder c:\visual_webdev by running vwdsetup.exe /t:c:\visual_webdev /c
  4. Go to c:\visual_webdev and open the file baseline.dat in a text editor such as Notepad
  5. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [vs_setup.dll] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51422
  6. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 5 and choose to save the file ixpvwd.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev
  7. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu
  8. For each of the prerequisites and optional components listed below, follow the set of additional steps listed below to download them and place them in the correct location

Windows Installer 3.1

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\msi31
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp90] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51430
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\msi31

.NET Framework 2.0 (x86)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp18] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51424
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file dotnetfx.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework

.NET Framework 2.0 (x64)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework\x64
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp27] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51431
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file netfx64.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework\x64

SQL Server Express (x86)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\SSE
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp96] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51433
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file sqlexpr32.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\SSE

SQL Server Express (x64)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\SSE
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp31] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51434
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file sqlexpr.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\SSE

MSDN Express

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\MSDNExpress
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp30] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51429
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file msdnixp.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\MSDNExpress

Remote Debugger (x64)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\RDBG and then another new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\RDBG\x64
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp73] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51432
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file expdbgsetup.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\RDBG\x64

J# Redistributable (note - this is only needed for Visual J# Express Edition)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\JSharpRedistCore
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp21] section of baseline.dat. In this example, the desired URL is https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51426
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file vjredist.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\JSharpRedistCore

Additional notes for non-English Express Editions

If you want to create an installable layout for a non-English Express Edition, you will need to use different URLs than the ones listed above. The URLs can all be assembed using the prefix https://go.microsoft.com and the data stored in the URL value for the section in the file baseline.dat that corresponds to the component in question.

In addition, you will also need to download the language pack for the .NET Framework 2.0 for non-English Express Editions. This can be done with the following steps:

.NET Framework 2.0 language pack (x86)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp20] section of baseline.dat. The desired URL will vary based on what language you are installing.
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file langpack.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework

.NET Framework 2.0 language pack (x64)

  1. Make a new folder named c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework\x64
  2. Open a web browser and build a URL by typing https://go.microsoft.com/ and appending the data stored in the URL value in the [gencomp34] section of baseline.dat. The desired URL will vary based on what language you are installing.
  3. Navigate to the URL that you created in step 2 and choose to save the file langpack.exe to the folder c:\visual_webdev\wcu\dotnetframework\x64

Advanced note about setting default checked state for optional components

You can configure the default checked state for the MSDN Express and SQL Express optional components using the DefaultSelected and WebDefaultSelected values in baseline.dat. Setting them to 0 will cause the setup UI to appear with the checkbox unchecked for the item in question, and setting them to 1 will cause the setup UI to appear with the checkbox checked for the item in question. The default selection state only applies to optional components for the Express Editions, so setting these values for components other than MSDN Express or SQL Express will not have any effect.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2006
    Last week, someone asked me about how to perform automated installations of the Visual Studio 2005 Express...

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2006
    A few folks (both inside and outside of Microsoft) have contacted me asking for instructions for how...

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2006
    Now that I have posted items about how to create a network install point for a Visual Studio 2005 Express...

  • Anonymous
    March 31, 2006
    From Aaron Stebner, setup guru.

    How to silently install Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions
    How...

  • Anonymous
    April 11, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 19, 2006
    it seems to me a problem, on the package of installation, code 2711
    sorry for my english.

  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2006
    Hi Shaka - What product are you trying to install when you get this 2711 error?  This error means "the specified feature was not found in the feature table" and I haven't heard of this kind of error before in any of the VS 2005 Express Editions.  Please let me know more details about your scenarios so I can try to narrow it down and help you out...

  • Anonymous
    May 26, 2006
    it was problem of the language of the package of installation that was lowering. it already solves it. thanks for the aid

  • Anonymous
    September 13, 2006
    I´m trying to follow this guide with the spanish version of Visual Express ( VWD, VB, VC#, VC++, VJ# ).

    But the links in the baseline.dat have the same LinkId numbers than the english version.
    So when i download this files, i get the English versions ( Ixpvwd.exe ) and when try to install i get the 2711 error message.

    Also a note, I did the Visual Web Developer online installation, and searching in a temporary location and copy de right Ixpvwd file before the temp files deletion.
    When I see the properties of Ixpvwd.exe , can verify that is the right Spanish (ESN) Version.
    So i just copy this file and the wcu folder an did a success installation in my laptop and my  computer at home.

    I don know what i´m doing wrong. Thanks !

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2006
    Hi Hmart - You're right about the link IDs being the same for English and non-English versions of the Express Editions.  You have a couple of options here to solve this:

    1.  If you are downloading the packages on a Spanish version of Windows, it should automatically redirect to the correct version of the products.

    2.  If you want to use a non-Spanish version of Windows to download the packages, you will need to add an additional argument to the end of each URL that you use.  You need to specify clcid=0xC0A at the end of the URL after the link ID.  For example:

    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=51433&clcid=0xC0A

    The value 0xC0A is the hex value 3082, which is the LCID value for the Spanish version of Microsoft products.

    Can you give these options a try and see if they work for you?

  • Anonymous
    September 19, 2006
    Question:
    I found your blog article describing how to create an installable network layout for the Visual...

  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2007
    Is it possible to slipstream Express SP1 into this install? That would be really handy...

  • Anonymous
    July 18, 2007
    Hi Superpig - You can use instructions like the ones at http://blogs.msdn.com/heaths/archive/2006/12/16/slipstreaming-visual-studio-2005-service-pack-1.aspx to create a slipstream install point for Visual Studio 2005 and SP1.  Those steps will work for the main VS editions as well as the Express editions.

  • Anonymous
    September 05, 2007
    Hi Aaron, great blog and very helpful. However, when installing VS C++ 2005 Express edition on an x64 server in unanttend mode I first receive an 'unknown publisher' and then an access denied error (Not a valid 32-bit application). This is the path syntax: \InstallVisualStudio2005ExpressFullInstallIxpvc.exe /q:a /c:"msiexcec /i vcsetup.msi VCEXTUI=1 ADDLOCAL=ALL REBOOT=ReallySuppress /qn" Reason for trying this method is that I have 50 machines in a MCC to install and I really don't fancy updating them by hand ;-) Thanks for your help. (Next step to try for me is group policy) Pete

  • Anonymous
    September 06, 2007
    The comment has been removed