Error with Visual Studio 2008 setup

Question

Every time I run the Visual Studio setup I encounter the following error message "A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components. Canceling setup.". I also tried running the setup via the control panel, which results in a ever-so-meaningful "path not found" (but the setup did execute further).

I did try removing several patches as statet on MSDN, reinstalling SP1 but no effect.

There is also a "Hot Fix for Visual Studio 2008" which handles exactly that case - but it didn't work either.

I'm don't want to remove VS completely because I'm afraid that the setup will fail then as well - and I need VS for work.

I'll make a full backup of my pc and try removing VS later. Maybe than it will work. If not - I will have to reinstall my pc :(

Unfortunately the web isn't helping much here.

Any help? Ideas? Anything?

Answer 1

It's a pain, but I'd try a full uninstall and reinstall.

If VS isn't working then you have nothing to lose by uninstalling it and reinstalling it from scratch. Even if it is working, a fresh install (of anything) is almost always preferable to a patched and hacked install.

If you can run VS, then go to Tools->Import and export settings, and export all your settings. This same menu item will allow you to import your settings after the reinstall, allowing you to quickly get back to a fully working setup.

Answer 2

It turns out that the solution was to deinstall the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 first, then add the missing components and then reinstall the SP1 again.

No problems during setup anymore.