Can't install Visual Studio 2008 after having beta version

Question

When trying to install Visual Studio 2008 I get the following message straight away:

"You must uninstall all pre-release products in a specific order before you can continue with setup."

And then it gived me this link on how to do that.

I've been working on this problem for quite some time now, uninstalling the components as best I can (my list did not actually match microsoft's list), and I can find no trace of the beta software of 3.5 framework anywhere.

However, I just remembered something I had to "install" to make my AJAX 1.0 continue to work after installing 3.5 beta 2 - a batch script provided by ScottGu. I don't know enough to understand what it actually does, but maybe this is something I have to undo in order to make the installation work?!

I'm looking for a solution to undo what the batch did, and if that doesn't help I need more tips on how to locate what the problem might be, so that I can finally install Visual Studio 2008.

The content of the batch from ScottGu:

@ECHO OFF

ECHO Disabling publisher policy for System.Web.Extensions.
IF EXIST %windir%\assembly\GAC_MSIL\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions\3.5.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.cfg (
    REN %windir%\assembly\GAC_MSIL\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions\3.5.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.cfg policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.cfg.disabled
    IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
        ECHO On Windows Vista this script must be run as administrator.
        GOTO :END
    )
)

ECHO Disabling publisher policy for System.Web.Extensions.Design.
IF EXIST %windir%\assembly\GAC_MSIL\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.Design\3.5.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.Design.cfg (
    REN %windir%\assembly\GAC_MSIL\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.Design\3.5.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.Design.cfg policy.1.0.System.Web.Extensions.Design.cfg.disabled
    IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
        ECHO On Windows Vista this script must be run as administrator.
        GOTO :END
    )
)

:END
PAUSE

Answer 1

For me I had to uninstall VSS Report Services for SQL Server. Then uninstall everything SQL Express related, then uninstall Visual Studio. Clean out the registry hive for VS 9.0 and 9.0EXP. THEN it would reinstall. The VS 2008 SP1 RC attempted to update SQL Server Express to 2008 as well. That screwed up a lot of stuff on my box.

I have also read about Silverlight tools causing a conflict. If you installed an RC of them - get it out as well.

The only thing that batch file is doing is overwriting some policy files from 3.5 back to 1.0. Probably because the VS 2008 installer doesn't expect them to have already been updated.

And hopefully this goes back to the old adage - never install Microsoft prerelease on anything by a VM.... (I never do this though)

Answer 2

Maybe there is something here that will help you: Visual Studio 2008 InstallFest

I wrote that when having trouble installing Visual Studio 2008 on a "dirty" pc.

Answer 3

I had a different problem - could not uninstall the team suit version. This SO post and this tool helped me with automatic un-installation, after what I was able to install VS 2008 developer edition.