Installing .NET Framework 4 beta on XP

[NickThissen]

Hi,

I have tried a few times now to install the Visual Studio 2010 beta, but it always fails on the installation of .NET Framework 4.0.
I'm using Windows XP Media Center Edition, which is probably why.


It tells me before installation:

The .NET Framework version 4 cannot be installed because the .NET Framework version 1.0 is already installed on your computer. For more information, see the <A HREF="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135490">Readme file</A>.

And in the link:

2.1.1.1 The .NET Framework 4 Beta 1 cannot be installed if the .NET Framework 1.0 is installed

To resolve this issue:

1) In the program installation section of the Windows Control Panel, uninstall the .NET Framework 1.0.

2) Install the .NET Framework 4 Beta 1.

Note: You cannot install the .NET Framework 4 Beta 1 on operating systems that have the .NET Framework 1.0 built in.

Unfortunately, there is no .NET Framework 1.0 entry in the Control Panel list. It starts at 1.1. Does that mean I've got 1.0 built in, and I cannot possibly install Visual Studio 2010? Is this only a limitation in the beta, or will it be present in the final version as well?

This website says 1.0 is built in in the XP:MCE, but I can use a registry 'hack' to allow me to install anyway. I'm a little hesitant about that though...

If this limitation is going to be in the final version as well that would be a real pain... I would have to buy a new OS to use VS2010 which is not something I'm going to do... (I can get VS2010 from my university for free, but no operating systems, so...)

[techgnome]

I don't know... but this is good to know... my primary dev machine at home is XP:MCE .... I have a spare XP Pro system I can try this on....


*mental note to self... try this when you get home*

-tg

[Shaggy Hiker]

Wow. This is the first time that a framework is incompatible with the very existence of earlier versions. Why would MS do that?

[techgnome]

I didn't get the chance to check this, but I wonder if it has to do with the "BETA" part of it... not sure though. Seems counter intuitive... the people that should be playing with the beta are developers, and they more than any one else are likely to have FW1.0 installed.

-tg

[NickThissen]

But the problem isn't that FW1 is installed, you can just uninstall it. The problem is that XP:MCE comes with FW1 by default, and there's no way to delete it as far as I could find. There is some kind of cleanup utility I tried in the past to force FW1 to be removed, but it screwed up all the frameworks and I had to use the restore point I luckily remembered to make to restore the damage.

I do hope this is just for the beta, because I'm looking forward to work with VS2010. My university told me that we will be able to get it for free, but since I'm not going to get an OS to install it on that would not work lol...

[DeanMc]

Hmmm that is strange, it deffo works on vista anyway, i have it for a few weeks now!

[NickThissen]

Well, I went ahead and did the registry 'hack' like the website says and I've managed to install it.

I must say, I don't like the new Visual Studio one bit. The GUI probably just takes getting used to, but I can't get used to the yellow caption bars for tool windows etc. It's completely the negative of the default (blue) caption color on XP, lol.

The code editor is very slow and the syntax highlighting is lost sometimes, for example when using code snippets. Intellisense is too slow, it doesn't keep up with my typing. When I make a mistake and have to backspace a lot, it is also slow and it ends up deleting more than I wanted after I released the backspace key.

Finally, the text looks blurred. I don't like that either. In VS08 the text is all sharp and crisp, exactly the way I like it, but the text in VS10 is like anti aliased, and just appears blurry. Maybe it's just the way it looks in XP, I can remember similar effects where it looked just fine on Vista, but not on XP.

Oh yeah, the font.... *#$*?! I changed it back to courier new instantly lol, what were they thinking?

I'm hoping these are just beta issues (they probably are).


Oh yeah (finally the real purpose of this post ), the one thing I did like was the fact that the editor now colors class names blue/green, like in C#. Isn't there any way to enable that in VS08??

[chris128]

The blurry text you mentioned Nick is due to the GUI being made using WPF. They say that the blurry text issue will be fixed in WPF in the next BETA (or RC) of .NET 4.

Oh and yeah I noticed the code editor gets very confused sometimes, specially when you use LINQ

[JuggaloBrotha]

I've used VS2010 a little, not very impressed with it so far, the whole color scheme just looks crappy and the toolbox's work differently which feels odd.

I hope they make the IDE function more like VS 2008 does by the time they release it.

[penagate]

I must say, I don't like the new Visual Studio one bit. The GUI probably just takes getting used to, but I can't get used to the yellow caption bars for tool windows etc. It's completely the negative of the default (blue) caption color on XP, lol.

I think it looks great. I'm glad they've moved away from the previous look with gradients going in every possible direction and clutter everywhere.

Oh yeah, the font.... *#$*?! I changed it back to courier new instantly lol, what were they thinking?

That Courier New is an awful abomination, which it is.


What I want to know is: Does it take all day to install, like VS08 did?

[chris128]

Yeah it takes a pretty long time..

[NickThissen]

What's wrong with Courier New? I'm not saying I love it, but it suites code perfectly in my opinion. It seems to be what most programs, and even forums ([code ] tags)) use.


Actually, it installed pretty quickly with me. I did install the framework separately though, maybe that's why, but it was definitely faster than VS08!

[techgnome]

"What I want to know is: Does it take all day to install, like VS08 did?" << -- took me a couple of hours..... I started the install, then wandered off to go watch some TV... came back about 2 hrs later (admittedly, I have no idea how long it sat there waiting for the reboot), quick reboot, and about another 30 minutes later I had VS2010 up and running.

-tg

[JuggaloBrotha]

Consolas Font Pack for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or 2008

On my winXP w/ SP3 system at home, start to finish (including the VS 2008 SP1 cd) it only took 20 minutes to install VS 2008.

The install also had to install all 3 Frameworks too, I didn't get a chance to install them before hand (which does speed up VS's install because those are steps that are usually skipped)

[chris128]

That seems odd as my quad core PC (8 GB RAM and 10K RPM SATA drive) took a lot longer than that to install VS 2008 last night... so you must have a pretty damn powerful PC!

[JuggaloBrotha]

That seems odd as my quad core PC (8 GB RAM and 10K RPM SATA drive) took a lot longer than that to install VS 2008 last night... so you must have a pretty damn powerful PC!

Dual core @ 3.53GHZ each, 4gb ram and a 5400 rpm 750GB hdd.


Much, much less powerful than yours, although I was installing it from the image files via daemon tools instead of actual dvd's.

[chris128]

Ahhh well there you go then, that will make it much faster as its not having to wait for the DVD drive to read all the time. Thats a good idea though, I might just make an image of it and use a virtual disc drive next time

[JuggaloBrotha]

Ahhh well there you go then, that will make it much faster as its not having to wait for the DVD drive to read all the time. Thats a good idea though, I might just make an image of it and use a virtual disc drive next time

I'm the other way around, everything I get from MS is in an iso file and if I want an actual cd/dvd I have to burn the iso to a disk.

[penagate]

I'm the other way around, everything I get from MS is in an iso file and if I want an actual cd/dvd I have to burn the iso to a disk.

Yes me too but for some reason the VS installer took forever whereas everything else is relatively quick.

What's wrong with Courier New? I'm not saying I love it, but it suites code perfectly in my opinion. It seems to be what most programs, and even forums ([code ] tags)) use.

I don't know... it just has this awful typewriter feel to it and I find the elongated serifs make text rather difficult to read. It's also rather light and doesn't stand out from the background as much as a properly rendered screen font (like Consolas, or Lucida Console).

I use 'DejaVu Sans Mono'.

Also, most forums (like this one) use the default monospace font, which you can set in your browser preferences.