Aaron Stebner's WebLog
Thoughts about setup and deployment issues, WiX, XNA, the .NET Framework and Visual Studio
How to monitor progress and cancel .NET Framework 3.0 setup from a separate process
A white paper was published on the MSDN site today describing a new feature of .NET Framework 3.0...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/30/2006
Registry settings to control visibility of Windows Media Center mouse controls
There are 2 new settings available in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista that can be used to...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/29/2006
Build 5536.16385 of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista is now available
We have posted the 5536.16385 build of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista on the...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/28/2006
Using multiple MSIs to add a custom strip and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu
I have previously posted topics about creating custom strips on the Windows Media Center Start menu...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/27/2006
Updated version of Yougle (formerly YouTubeMce) now available for download
I previously posted a description of a new add-in for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 called...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/26/2006
Mailbag: Error codes for Document Explorer and J# redistributable package setups
Question: I am running into a problem while trying to install Document Explorer 2005 as part of my...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/26/2006
Mailbag: How to author an MSI that orders tiles in a custom strip in Windows Media Center
Question: I read your previous post about customizing the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/25/2006
How to configure post-build events for setup/deployment projects in Visual Studio 2005
While researching a previous blog post, I discovered a way to configure post-build events for...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/24/2006
Mailbag: How to perform a silent install of the Visual C++ 8.0 runtime files (vcredist) packages
Question: Visual Studio 2005 includes redistributable setup packages to install the Visual C++ 8.0...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/23/2006
How to control the ordering of tiles in custom strips in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an item describing how to add up to 2 custom strips to the Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/22/2006
Step-by-step instructions to create a Media Center application setup package in Visual Studio
Anthony Park has been working on a Windows Vista version of his MCEBrowser application. As part of...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/22/2006
Interesting scenario with capitalizing Greek strings in Windows Media Center
We were investigating a bug in the Greek version of Windows Media Center for Windows Vista this past...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/18/2006
Building and installing setup packages that require .NET Framework 1.1 on Windows Vista
I have run into this issue a couple of times recently while trying to install some of the currently...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/17/2006
Adding HD DVD and Blu-ray movie playback in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista
I'm happy to welcome a new contributor to the Media Center Sandbox site - one of my colleagues Peter...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/15/2006
Why not include the Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions in Windows Vista?
An interesting "philosophical" question was posed recently that I just noticed over this past...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/15/2006
Mailbag: How can I customize an MSI in the Visual Studio setup/deployment project?
Question: I am using the Visual Studio setup/deployment project to create an MSI to install my...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/12/2006
.NET Framework 3.0 (WinFX runtime) administrator mode and deployment readme
I previously posted an item describing the .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly known as the WinFX runtime...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/12/2006
Bug that blocks install of non-English Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista x64
A bug was discovered recently in the x64 .NET Framework 2.0 language pack setups. This bug will...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/10/2006
Official lists of language codes, country codes and LCIDs
I have previously written a few blog posts describing how to use Visual Studio IDE language...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/09/2006
How to make Visual Studio 2005 ignore return codes from pre-build events
While working on some Windows Media Center development scenarios over this past weekend, I ran into...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/08/2006
Adding custom tiles to built-in Windows Media Center Start menu strips
Last week, I posted some instructions explaining how to create custom strips on the Windows Media...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/07/2006
Mailbag: How do I fix problems preventing installing the .NET Framework 2.0 MSI directly
Question: I saw your previous post about deploying the .NET Framework 2.0 using the MSI directly. I...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/07/2006
Benign error messages appear when running ngen update on Windows Vista
If you have tried to update native images on a Windows Vista beta 2 or later build by running...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/06/2006
More new Windows Media Center development topics have been posted on the Media Center Sandbox
I have posted a couple of new items on the Media Center Sandbox site in the past week or so that I...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/05/2006
Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista
As those of you who have seen Windows Media Center in Windows Vista already know, there has been a...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/04/2006
Checking for the .NET Framework at application runtime, not just at setup time
I posted some updated sample code last night that can be used to detect whether or not the various...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/03/2006
MSDN Magazine article with details about new globalization features in Windows Vista
A while back, I posted an item introducing the beta version of the Microsoft Locale Builder for...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/03/2006
Updated sample .NET Framework detection code that does more in-depth checking
I previously posted some sample code to detect the version(s) and service pack levels of the .NET...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/03/2006
New location for Sonic CD/DVD burning log file in Windows Vista
A while back, I posted instructions describing how to cause the Sonic CD/DVD burning engine in...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/02/2006
How to fix Visual Studio 2005 setup projects on Windows Vista post-beta 2 builds
I ran across a mail thread today describing some problems that folks have run into while trying to...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 08/01/2006
Registry tweak for mini-guide behavior in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista
I ran across a thread on one of the team discussion aliases today that described a registry tweak...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/31/2006
2 interesting new Media Center add-ins - Flickr photo browser and YouTube browser
I had a chance to try out a couple of relatively new Windows Media Center applications this past...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/31/2006
Update Rollup 2 setup failure when installing KB903157 (also known as KB895572)
Over the past couple of weeks, I have heard from a few customers who have run into an issue...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/29/2006
Post-beta 2 Windows Media Center development tips
We recently released a couple of post-beta 2 builds of the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/28/2006
New downloads for Windows XP Embedded - .NET Framework 2.0 component and resource documentation
There have been a couple of new items released in the past couple of weeks for Windows XP Embedded...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/27/2006
New hotfix available for Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005 - July 2006 rollup
Today is the monthly release of new hotfix packages and updates to Windows Update, and there is a...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/25/2006
Mailbag: How to perform an unattended installation of Visual SourceSafe 2005
Question: I have seen your documentation related to deployment and unattended installation of Visual...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/24/2006
Mailbag: How to run .NET Framework setup in reduced UI mode
Question: Windows Installer has a reduced UI mode that can be invoked by running msiexec.exe /qr....
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/24/2006
Troubleshooting problems while installing .NET Framework 2.0 hotfix MS06-033 (KB 917283)
Microsoft recently released a hotfix to address a vulnerability in ASP.NET for the .NET Framework...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/21/2006
Repairing the Windows Installer service on a 64-bit OS
A customer recently contacted me due to a problem they were experiencing while trying to install the...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/20/2006
Creating an installable layout for Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions with SQL Express SP1
I previously posted an article describing how to download and create an installable network layout...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/20/2006
5472.5 and 5456.5 builds of the Windows Media Center SDK are now available
I posted an item on the Media Center Sandbox site earlier today that I wanted to make sure everyone...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/19/2006
Mailbag: What is the complete list of valid language codes for Visual Studio IDE language switching?
Question: I saw your blog post demonstrating how to enable Visual Studio IDE language switching....
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/19/2006
Using custom actions versus using launch conditions in an MSI
I ran into an interesting issue when I was working on some of the very early builds of the Windows...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/17/2006
Mailbag: What version of the .NET Framework can be used with what version of Visual Studio?
Question: I have the .NET Framework 2.0 installed. Can I make Visual Studio .NET 2002 work with it...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/16/2006
List of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles related to installing and using an Xbox 360 Media Center extender
I have posted a few items related to issues I've seen with Xbox 360 PC setup. Ever since I did, I've...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/14/2006
A note about the logging switch in .NET Framework 2.0 setup
I previously posted a couple of blog items (here and here) where I mentioned the verbose logging...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/13/2006
Eliminating redundant pre-installation checks when deploying the .NET Framework 2.0
A few days ago, I wrote a blog entry describing the prerequisites for the .NET Framework 2.0 and how...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/12/2006
How an add-in setup package should detect the version of Media Center
I was recently looking at an application compatibility bug reported by a Windows Vista beta program...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/12/2006
Beta version of Feature Pack 2007 for Windows XP Embedded is now available
I wanted to pass on some exciting news that was posted this morning on the Windows Embedded team...
Author: Aaron Stebner Date: 07/10/2006