How to install Visual Studio 2005 on XP with just SP1

November 30, 2005 · 1 min read

Where I work there's a firewall application required in some parts of the network that doesn't play nicely with XP SP2.  So we're still on SP1 while the vendor sorts out the problem.  Meanwhile I still need to get work done, and I would much rathar be doing that work on Whidbey than Everett!

When trying to install Whidbey, it halts with a notice that SP2 is required to continue the installation.  So I discovered a hack to get the application installed on XP when SP2 isn't onboard.  Obviously this is in no way supported by Microsoft, but it does all appear to work, at least for Winforms and ASP.NET development.

  1. Copy your DVD or two CD set to a folder on your hard drive so you can edit one of the files.
  2. In the Setup folder is a file called vs_setup.pdi.  In its properties make sure that the Read Only attribute is not set.  Then open it with Notepad.
  3. Locate the fourth section, titled something like [Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition - ENU].
  4. The second line item there should be gencomp6.  Comment this line by placing a pound symbol in front of it, so that part of the file looks like this:

[Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition - ENU] gencomp95 #gencomp6 gencomp7

  1. Simply save the file, and run setup.exe.  Everything should work fine.
This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Lorin Thwaits

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