HitXP » Manual Installation of Visual Studio 2008 Components

Ever faced a scenario where your Visual Studio 2008 installation was aborted in between since one of its components did not install successfully?

If that failed component was not really that important for your development work, then how nice it would be if it were possible to install the remaining components!

Can it be done? yes, it can. It is possible to install visual studio 2008 components manually through command prompt. My Visual Studio 2008 installation failed because one of the components Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK R2 for Smartphone did not install successfully. Since this component was not important for my developer requirements, and since there were still other important components pending to be installed, I had to look for ways to manually install the other remaining components.

Below is the complete list of all Visual Studio Components, and the corresponding command to install that component from the windows command prompt – the way Visual Studio Installer installs it. Note that if you are using Vista then you will have to launch the command prompt with ‘Run as Administrator’ option. Happy Installing

Disclaimer: This worked for me, try it at your own risk! I got these commands from an unattended installation of Visual Studio 2008 setup file.

Mandatory Visual Studio 2008 Components

Component: Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1
Folder: WCU\msi31
Command: WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe /quiet /norestart

Component: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Folder: WCU\dotNetFramework
Command: dotnetfx35setup.exe /q /norestart /lang:ENU

Component: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 64bit Prerequisites
Folder: WCU\64bitPrereq\x64
Command: vs_bsln.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft Document Explorer 2008
Folder: WCU\DExplore
Command: dexplore.exe /q

Component: Microsoft Web Designer Tools
Folder: WCU\WebDesignerCore
Command: WebDesignerCore.exe /Q /install

Optional Visual Studio 2008 Components

Component: Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2
Folder: WCU\NetCF
Command: NetCFSetupv2.msi /qn

Component: Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5
Folder: WCU\NetCF
Command: NetCFSetupv35.msi /qn

Component: Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office system (version 3.0 Runtime)
Folder: WCU\VS Tools for Office
Command: vstor30.exe /q

Component: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System Runtime
Folder: WCU\VS Tools for Office
Command: vstor.exe /q

Component: Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5
Folder: WCU\SSCE
Command: SSCERuntime-ENU.msi /qn

Component: Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Design Tools
Folder: WCU\SSCE
Command: SSCEVSTools-ENU.msi /qn

Component: Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 For Devices
Folder: WCU\SSCE
Command: SSCEDeviceRuntime-ENU.msi /qn

Component: Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK R2 for Pocket PC
Folder: WCU\WindowsMobileSDK
Command: MagOrcasPPC.msi /qn

Component: Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK R2 for Smartphone
Folder: WCU\WindowsMobileSDK
Command: MagOrcasSP.msi /qn

Component: Microsoft Device Emulator version 3.0 for Vista
Folder: WCU\ARM
Command: vs_emulator_x64_vista.exe /q

Component: Microsoft Device Emulator version 3.0 for Other Platforms
Folder: WCU\ARM
Command: vs_emulator.exe /q

Component: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (x86)
Folder: WCU\SSE
Command: SQLEXPR32.EXE -q /norebootchk /qn reboot=ReallySuppress AddUserAsAdmin=1 addlocal=all instancename=SQLEXPRESS SCCCHECKLEVEL=IncompatibleComponents:1;MDAC25Version:0 ERRORREPORTING=2 SQLAUTOSTART=1 /watsongenman=SQL???.mft

Component: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (x64)
Folder: WCU\SSE
Command: SQLEXPR.EXE -q /norebootchk /qn reboot=ReallySuppress AddUserAsAdmin=1 addlocal=all instancename=SQLEXPRESS SCCCHECKLEVEL=IncompatibleComponents:1;MDAC25Version:0 ERRORREPORTING=2 SQLAUTOSTART=1 /watsongenman=SQL???.mft

Component: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Remote Debugger x64 only:
Folder: Remote Debugger\x64
Command: rdbgsetup.exe /q

Component: Microsoft Windows SDK for Visual Studio 2008 Tools
Folder: WCU\WinSDK
Command: WinSDK_Tools.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft Windows SDK for Visual Studio 2008 Headers and Libraries
Folder: WCU\WinSDK
Command: WinSDK_Build.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft Windows SDK for Visual Studio 2008 Win32 Tools
Folder: WCU\WinSDK
Command: WinSDK_W32Tools.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft Windows SDK for Visual Studio 2008 .NET Framework Tools
Folder: WCU\WinSDK
Command: WinSDK_NetFxTools.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft Windows SDK for Visual Studio 2008 SDK Reference Assemblies and IntelliSense
Folder: WCU\WinSDK
Command: WinSDK_RefInt.exe /Q USING_EXUIH=1

Component: Microsoft SQL Publishing Wizard
Folder: WCU\SQLPub
Command: SqlPubWiz.msi IsInvokedFromVS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress /qn