After uninstalling WiX 3.11 and downgrading to 3.9, one project still wants 3.11 - visual-studio-2013

WiX version 3.11 was installed but was uninstalled. WiX version 3.9 was then installed. During the time that 3.11 was present an empty WiX project was created. After 3.9 was installed the project was completed. At build time, an error is issued indicating that WiX version 3.11 must be installed.
We use WiX to generate installation packages. There are multiple versions of Visual Studio in use, 2013, 2017 and 2019, to accommodate various products. When WiX 3.11 was installed it was observed that VS 2013 stopped recognizing WiX projects. 3.11 was uninstalled and 3.9 re-installed. Previously existing WiX projects were again recognized and could be built by VS 2013 but the one WiX project that had been created in VS 2017 while 3.11 was in effect is still insisting on having 3.11 installed at build time. I've looked at the WiX project file and don't see why it is insisting on having 3.11 present. Does anyone know how to convince it to use the installed 3.9?
The WiX project loads in both VS 2013 and VS 2017. VS 2019 insists that the WiX project is an incompatible project type. I can live with that for now but when either VS 2013 or VS 2017 attempts to build the setup project the following error is issued:
The WiX Toolset v3.11 (or newer) build tools must be installed to build this project. To download the WiX Toolset, see http://wixtoolset.org/releases/

Other respondents suggested restarting VS and rebooting. This did not fix the question. I copied the the project to a safe location and then deleted the original from the solution, TFS and disk. A new WiX was created and the previous Product.wxs file's contents were copied into the newer project's. It built and thus the problem was addressed using the time honored tradition of burning it down to the waterline and starting all over. I would much have preferred to have discovered the offending data within the original project file that was telling the system to utilize 3.11 but that, obviously, didn't happen. Maybe next time.

I believe it has something to do with the fact that it was created under 3.11. This means the code for 3.11 is not compatible with 3.9. If this is the case, you might just want to delete the project (not the solution), and start over with the 3.9 framework.
It might also have something to do with the Extension that is added to Visual Studio.

.wixproj: I would open the Visual Studio project file: Name.wixproj and check the content. I see sections indicating checks for version in there, but I am not up to speed 100% with what each section mean and how to fix this specific issue. It is probably well known and solved on discussion forums somewhere.
File Diff: One ad-hoc solution would be to create a new project with WiX 3.9 and then use a file compare tool such as Beyond Compare to migrate whatever settings you actually need from the old project (WiX 3.11 format). You should be able to do this with the project open in Visual Studio. It will prompt to reload, do so and test build? Then iterate until you have a heartbeat with all settings migrated?

Related

Visual Studio Authoring Extensions / SCOM: Another version of this product is already installed

I'ma bit stuck. Been using Visual Studio 2013 Community edition forever, to create and edit custom SCOM Management Packs in a local GIT Repository. I downloaded VS2019 (and 2017, just for luck), with a view to start using that, but it won't recognise any of my SCOM (MPPROJ) projects.
I figured I just need to update my version of "System Center Visual Studio Authoring Extensions v1.10.201.0" with the currently available download of "System Center Visual Studio Authoring Extensions v1.4.1.0", but this will not install, with the message "Another versin of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel"
Any attempt to so this, results in "The installed product does not match the installation source(s). Until a matching source is provided or the installed product and source are synchronized, this action cannot be performed" leaving me with a 'Browse' dialog box to find the original MSI"
Not sure what to do.
I currently have VS 2013, VS 2017 and VS 2019 all installed on the server, and both VS 2017 and 2019 will not recognise my SCOM Project files (labels them as 'Incompatible').
How can I continue working on my SCOM MPPROJ files in VS 2017 or 2019??
Ok, this was a few steps to fixing
Ran a repair in Control Panel>Programs & Features on the old VSAE install.
Successfully uninstalled VSAE
Reinstalled new 1.4.1.0 VSAE (x64) - Wierldy states it's v1.10.218.0 in Programs & Features
Existing SCOM Projects unable to open (new or existing) without error "Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.TemplateWizardInterface..."
Opened VS Installer and used 'Modify' to install the 'Modelling SDK' component for VS 2019.
New error on SCOM projects:"Expected 1 exports with contract name....microsoft.systemcenter.authoring.presenter.ipresenterservice"
Opened VS Installer and ran a More>Repair on VS 2019.
Can now create a new SCOM Project, however existing SCOM projects have to be 'Reload'ed in the VS GUI to restore their SCOM MP file structure and remove the "Incompatible" status (Annoying when you have dozens of Projects).
Phew.
It's worth mentioning that before I ran these steps, I DID install MicrosoftProgram_Install_and_Uninstall.meta.diagcab and fed it the Uninstaller regkey GUID for the old VSAE that was installed. It didn't seem to fix anything, but did run a bunch of cleanup activities, so that MAY have also been a contributing factor to this resolution. Worth trying if the Repair doesn't work in first step.

Why is my MSI uninstalling after installing?

I've created an MSI with Visual Studio 2010 using the Deployment Project template. It used to work, but now it has started acting up when installing over an earlier version - i.e. upgrading. I have set RemovePreviousVersions to true, but what is actually happening is that it removes "previous" version after installing the new version, effectively removing the new version also. In the MSI log file I see evidence of this. (Feel free to examine it)
Shouldn't normal installation procedure be to 1. uninstall previous version, 2. install new version? Anyone have any explanation of this?
I wasn't sure whether it was a match but you indicated it was. There's a bug in the VS2010 version of the Setup project feature that strikes when you moved the project from VS2008 to VS2010. Quoting from the KB article:
This problem occurs because a different hashing algorithm is used to create the GUIDs in Visual Studio 2010. When you install the MSI file that is created from the Visual Studio 2010 Setup project, the MSI file determines that the GUID has changed and removes the files and registry keys for the installation path based on the sequence of the project.
In this scenario, the files and registry keys for the installation path disappear unexpectedly.
There's a hotfix for it, follow the KB article link for the download and the usage instructions.

"This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio"

I was getting the below message from Visual Studio 2010.
"This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio"
One situation resulting in this error has already been posted here at Stackoverflow, but that question has been closed. I'm thinking it's a fairly generic problem. Since I have found a "solution", I'll post this question, and my solution as an answer.
If the message
This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio
is due to an attempt to open a project targeting .Net 4.5, then the "solution" or workaround is to edit the .csproj file and change the TargetFrameworkVersion from "v4.5" to "v4.0". That at least allows the project to be loaded, although it may result in compiler errors if the program is dependent on 4.5 features.
VS 2012 has different project type support based on what you install at setup time and which edition you have. Certain options are available, e.g. web development tools, database development tools, etc. So if you're trying to open a web project but the web development tools weren't installed, it complains with this message.
This can happen if you create the project on another machine and try to open it on a new one. I figured it out trying to open an MVC project after I accidentally uninstalled the web tools.
I just got the same error message with a couple projects after installing Visual Studio 2015 Update 3. For me, the solution was to install .NET Core
In my case it was an incompatible Project Type. Editing project file and removing ProjectTypeGuids node resolved the issue of loading the project (I had already re-targeted the framework version as advised here).
Probably the project type is not supported in the (most likely) NEW version of VS, so you will have to adjust (update) the code to work properly (if possible), but at least you can see the content through VS.
I Resolved the issue by deleting the files in the below folder
%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache
Source: https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/70388/how-to-fix-incompatible-issue-after-visual-studio-2015-update-3
As for me, I realized there was another web project in the solution that my VS2017 was loading fine, so I copied over the ProjectTypeGuids element of it over to the project that wasn't loading. Its diff was:
- <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
+ <ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
After this, it loads. Don't ask me why.
If you are getting the same error for a project which is actually an extension (.vsix), installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 SDK does the trick.
Go to tools -> Extensions and updates -> Online -> Search for project installer -> download
And relaunch Visual studio.
After installing Update 3 for Visual Studio 2015, I suddenly got the "This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio" error message while opening my Cordova project (.jsproj Javascript project file)
To solve this:
Go to Programs & Features
Select the Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 installation and click Change
Click Modify
Install "HTML/Javascript (Apache Cordova) Update 10" of the Cross Platform Mobile Development section
For me, I got this same error in VS 2015 and just installed the VS 2015 update 1, though from another answer, VS is actually up to Update 3, now (after which, they got the error and had to install .NET Core). Had issues when it hit certain packages, like the Windows SDK ones, and had to point the installer back at the paths in my original CD, and for some, even that didn't work and had to skip them and re-download from an internet-connected computer, transfer them over, and run them later manually (computer was not connected to the internet to be able to download updated versions of the packages), but after doing all that and doing a reboot, the error was gone and my project loaded fine.
I had this issue and after hours of uninstalling and reinstalling I found out the issue in my instance.
The reason why I got this was down to the fact that I didn't have the correct extension.
In my case the ASP.net project (my startup) was the incompatible project and this was because I didn't have the following:
Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools
Micrsoft ASP.NET Web Frameworks and Tools
It was a simple case of going into extensions and updates under the Tools menu
I had this error and found it was due to the presence an 'Import' XML tag inside the .csproj.user file. Once I removed it, Visual Studio could open the project again.
What most people forget it is that the files of visual studio are just text files, that have some peculiars configurations that will show to the program how to open it. that is, we can change this because it's just a text in some file in there in your project folders.
Well, knowing this, what we have to do is very simple!
The first step is knowing what kind of project it is this project that stay unload. (for example: Class Library)
The Second step is create a new one (Class Library) because you know that your visual studio will create a version supported by himself. Unload this one and click in "Edit csproj".
It's in this file that we can found the configuration that tell to VS how this proj will be loaded and his name is ProjectGuid, this serial number has a variation according the type and version of project.
Now, look at your "ok project", copy the "ProjectGuid" TAG, paste on csproj that unloaded, and pay attention to the little differences and make this files almost equals, except for the tags ItemGroup that represent the references of the project.
Doing that, save all files and close your VS and open again, now your project should load normally.
I hope that this informations help somebody to understand a bit more how the VS works and help solve the problems when necessary.
I checked if i could create a new solution and was unable because SSAS,SSIS and SSRS weren't there as options.
I downloaded SSDT from here and installed and it worked...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssdt/download-sql-server-data-tools-ssdt?view=sql-server-2017
In case you came here looking for the issue with ".smproj" file, it is because you are missing SQL Server Analysis Services(SSAS). To over come this, install SQL Server Data Tools(SSDT) in your system, restart your Visual Studio and it will work.
Thanks.
This is my answer, I think it's useful. Please follow below steps:
1.First check your Visual studio version is 2012, 2015 or 2017 etc.
2.Your project is developed in 2015, but your visual studio 2012, then visual studio 2012 should not open the which are developed in visual studio 2015 projects.
3.If developed project visual studio 2012 and you have visual studio 2012, open the project but here need to check one option as per below
a) Target Framework - Open your project ".csproj" file with notepad++ and search with "TargetFrameworkVersion" and observe target framework value.
b) Open any existing project in your visual studio - Select project at 'Solution Explorer' - Right click - Properties - Application -Select Target Framework - Observe highest your framework which you have
c) 3.a and 3.b frameworks both are should same otherwise applications are not open
d)If your target framework less than the project framework should install the latest's
e) above options do not work just Simply have another option modify the "TargetFrameworkVersion" value in '.csproj' file which is have in your visual studio.
Ex: in my visual studio target framework 4.0 but in '.csproj' file have TargetFrameworkVersion - 4.5, You need just change 4.5 to 4.0 and open the project
This issue might be caused when using VS 2015 with Update 3 installed on one PC and without update 3 installed on another. This was the problem in my case.

WIX UI Installer Project in Visual Studio, Now Mange Updates?

I have a fresh WIX UI Install project in VS which compiles down into an MSI. Everything is working great with it.
It installs/uninstalls the files I want successfully. For example, it drops 3 DLLs into a Program Files folder, installs a Windows Service, and GAC's a DLL.
Now let's say I install on this in a given environment. Then one of our DLLs change and we need to upgrade this install without affecting other files already installed (such as the service) So my thought would be I would need a patch/upgrade MSI that would target that one DLL and just overwrite that particular file.
What is the simplest way to accomplish this? Do I need VS projects essentially for each patch/update MSI? Below is my current 2 WIX related projects (installer + custom action)
For updating just the DLL a patch is recommended. Visual Studio doesn't support patches, but you can try using WiX: http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix2/patch_building.htm
Please note that patches have some restrictions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367850(VS.85).aspx
A MSI which overwrites just one file is a bad mistake because you are not using the Windows Installer update mechanism.
If you want a MSI, it will have to be a major upgrade. A major upgrade will automatically uninstall the old version before installing the current one.

TFS 2010 Build - Do I need to install Visual Studio 2010 on TFS 2010 Build Server

I have the following error on the build server for code that compiles and passes tests fine locally.
(150): The imported project
"C:\Program
Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets"
was not found. Confirm that the path
in the declaration is
correct, and that the file exists on
disk.
I've added the WebApplications folder from my local machine to the appropriate path on the build server but I'm still getting the same error on build.
I believe the recommended approach with TFS2008 was to install VS2008 in it's entirety on the build server. Is this still the case with TFS2010 and VS2010 accordingly? a.k.a Sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Pretty much, especially if you plan on using other features like MSTest. You can try just adding the targets file but you'll probably still have some missing dependencies. You could go through the whole process of fixing the dependencies as you go along but it's probably easier just to install VS 2010 and be done with it.
This blog post seems to describe a way to do what you want without having to install additional software on the build server, if all you need is the .net compilers. It does not cover C++ compiler setup.
I discovered that if you're going to do just "standard" (i realize that's open to interpretation) web apps and non-web apps (e.g. services), you can get away with installing just Visual Studio 2010 Shell, plus Visual Studio 2010 SP1 on the build server. That will get you the missing .targets files.
Since a full VS install is required for advanced features, does anyone know if the build-server-install license cost is waived?

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