The Cost of Installs Pt III Software and Technology

Friday, September 16 2005

After reinstalling Visual Studio 2003 (while I could try diagnosing every single possibility, I just needed the machine up and running as soon as possible), the problem persisted - "Could not create automation server" whenever I added a project to a solution, failing the operation. Somehow something was broken during the process of uninstall a prior CTP of SQL Server 2005 (and the .NET 2.0 runtime), and installing the newer version.

In any case, I eventually tracked it down to the scripting engine being broken, so I downloaded the 5.6 scripting engine. Of course the MSI was blissfully unaware, and thus belligerent towards, Windows Server 2003 (which I use as a development/test workstation), so I had to run it in an XP compatibility mode, but that solved the problem. This is entered in the archives just in case someone in the future has this problem.

IT Software Development

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About the Author

Dennis Forbes is a Toronto-based software architect. While focused primarily on the .NET and SQL Server worlds, Dennis frequently ventures outside of this comfort zone into game development and image processing. He has been published in several industry magazines, has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and has been interviewed by NPR.

He is a vice president and lead software architect at an innovative New York City hedge fund back-office services firm.

Dennis has been working on solutions for the financial, telecommunications, and power generation markets for over 15 years.