Can Delphi 2006 be Installed After Delphi 2007 is Already Installed?

Question

During rebuild after a computer crash, I re-installed Delphi 7, then Delphi 2007. We skipped installation of Delphi 2006. However, now I would like to install Delphi 2006 before Embarcadero discontinues allowing for download of the latest version of D2006.

Is it possible to install Delphi 2006 on this computer without having an adverse impact on the other two installations?

My only concern is the potential problem of mixup in the SYSTEM PATH variable, where each version of Delphi uses the system PATH value to remember the location of the BPL files. Then the system PATH statement holds multiple BPL path locations created by each Delphi installation. However, each version Delphi only finds and uses the FIRST BPL path found in the list of paths - which always happens to be the most recent install. (Delphi installs insert - rather than append - the BPL path references at the beginning of the current system PATH value.) If this happens, then it is possible, for example, for Delphi 7 to reference the BPL files of Delphi 2007. Of course, that's not good at all. This is something that I know how to work around - if it is the only issue.

I'm hoping that the answer is not "uninstall Delphi 2007 first." That is painful for me as it takes significant time to re-install all the add-on components.

Answer 1

I have installed Delphi 5, Delphi 2006, Delphi 2007 and Delphi 2009 in various orders on several computers (laptop, work machine, home desktop, etc.) and have been fine.

Answer 2

I believe since 2007 is based on the 2006 version, that installing 2006 after 2007 is installed will most likely cause some problems. If you absolutely have to have a copy of 2006 for testing purposes, I strongly recommend setting up a virtual machine using VMWare or Virtual PC. This will allow you to test against 2006 directly...if you have 2006 and 2007 installed on the same machine, then your not testing 2006... your testing 2006 with 2007 installed.