Visual Studio Administrator Guide

You can deploy Visual Studio 2010 on a network. However, target computers must meet the minimum installation requirements.

Supported Operating System Releases

The target computer must have one of the following operating system releases:

  • Windows 7

  • Windows Server 2008 R2

  • Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2

  • Windows Vista Service Pack 2

  • Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

  • Windows XP Service Pack 3

To find the download locations for these operating system releases, see Service Packs on the Microsoft Support Web site.

Important

You cannot install Visual Studio 2010 on a hard drive that has been encrypted with BitLocker. To decrypt the hard drive, open the Control Panel and select BitLocker Drive Encryption. For more information about BitLocker, see Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Frequently Asked Questions

Why Install Service Packs?

Product updates are distributed by using service packs. Service packs may contain improvements to system reliability, program compatibility, security, and more.

Detection and Servicing Keys

Detection subkeys in the registry let you determine whether a Visual Studio product is already installed on a computer. Servicing subkeys let you detect whether a service release of the product is installed.

The following table lists the detection and servicing subkeys for different Visual Studio products.

In the table, LCID represents the locale ID (LCID) for your installation. For a list of valid LCIDs, see Locale IDs Assigned by Microsoft on the MSDN Web site.

In the listed subkeys, dword:00000001 means true, and dword:00000000 means false.

Product

Key

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\VSTSCore\LCID\Install

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\VSTSCore\LCID\SP

Visual Studio 2010 Premium

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\VSTDCore\LCID\Install

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\VSTDCore\LCID\SP

Visual Studio 2010 Professional

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\PROCore\LCID\Install

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\VS\Servicing\10.0\PROCore\LCID\SP

Avoiding Restart During Setup

During the setup process, you may be prompted to restart the computer because the .NET Framework 4 and the Windows Installer 4.5 components must be installed before Visual Studio can be installed.

To avoid this restart, you can pre-install the .NET Framework 4 and Windows Installer 4.5. The component locations are listed in the following table.

Component

Directory

Unattended Installation Command

Windows Installer 4.5

Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable on the Microsoft Download Center Web site.

See Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable.

.NET Framework version 4

WCU\dotNetFramework

dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe /q /norestart /ChainingPackage "ADMINDEPLOYMENT"

Windows Installer 4.5 Hotfix

KB958655 on the Microsoft Support Web site.

For information, see Update to MSI4.5 on the Windows Installer Team blog.

See KB958655.

Error Return Codes

The following table lists important error codes.

Return Value

Setup Succeeded

Description

0

Yes

Successful installation.

3010, 1641

Yes

Successful installation. Reboot is required to use the product.

3015, 1615

In process

Installation in process. Reboot is required for setup to continue.

1602

No

Installation canceled.

5100

No

Installation blocked. A pre-release version or something that resembles one is not letting setup continue. To continue, uninstall the pre-release version and then restart Setup.

All other values

No

Error encountered during product installation.

Specifying Customer Feedback Settings

You can configure if Visual Studio enables customer feedback on individual computers by changing subkey settings under this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\VSSetup\ProductNameValue\10.0.30319.01\.

Note

Replace Product Name Value by using the value for VSSWProdName that is specified in the setup.sdb file, which is located in n:\setup\ on the installation media. For example, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\VSSetup\Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - ENU\10.0.30319.01\.

The following subkeys are available in the key. For all of the subkeys, dword:00000001 means true, and dword:00000000 means false.

  • "VSSWUXEnabled" sets whether to hide the SQM customer feedback information and not send it.

  • "VSSWUIDefaultChecked" sets whether the customer feedback check box is selected.

  • "VSSWUIDisabled" sets whether the customer feedback check box is disabled.

Topic

Description

How to: Create and Run an Unattended Visual Studio Setup

Shows how to install Visual Studio in unattended mode.

How to: Deploy Visual Studio Using Microsoft System Configuration Manager (SCCM)

Shows how to install Visual Studio by using Microsoft System Configuration Manager (SCCM) SCCM.

Deploying Visual Studio Components Individually

Shows how to install Visual Studio components individually.

Installing Visual Studio

Provides links to topics and information that describes how to install Visual Studio.