Visual Studio 6

[pthomas]

Does anyone know how, or has ever done an unattended install of Visual Studio 6? Yeah, I know its not .NET, but we still use it quite a bit at our company (old dogs....).

Any pointer would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

Paul

[pthomas]

Did some quick googl-ing and ran across this whitpaper by MS for a silent install:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=195828

Hope that helps a few of you out there!

Paul

[peachy]

Yes, I've read this article. But has anyone come across a silent unattended install for VS 6 Professional? The file ACost.exe doesn't exist on my setup CD.

[Stuntgp2000]

Hello everybody,

I googled & googled without finding any way; Moreover, I need also to Slipstream Service Pack 5 & 6 Into Visual studio 6 CD to avoid endless restarts.

[pthomas]

Ok, I think this is about what you need to do to get visual studio 6 running with a fully unattended install AND have it update to service pack 6:

1) Make sure you fulfill the MS Java requirement for VS6. I choose to have my install first install MSJavaVM v3810 from the easy to use unattended package which you can get here:

http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/applications/msjava.htm

Put that file in the same folder as where the VS6 install files will soon be.

Ex:

c:\VS6

2) Put the visual studio install files all in the VS6 directory. If you have more than 1 cd, simply copy them all in the c:\VS6 dir and just say yes when it warns that the destination has the same folders.

3) download and extract Service Pack 6 (extract by simply running the downloaded file). Create the folder and extract the files in c:\VS6\VS6UpdateSP6\

if this link doesn't work then search MS.com

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/download...ad/default.aspx

4) Prep the VS6 install...read this guide:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=195828

You will need your install code/key...although I don;t think this version of VS cares if its valid or not...

5) create the batch file to run the install process....install.bat. Place this file in the c:\VS6 dir. The file contents should look as follows:

@echo off

title Visual Studio Automated install

echo.

echo  Installing MS Java Virtual Machine v3810

start /wait MSJavaVM_3810.exe

echo.

echo Installing Visual Studio 6.0

start /wait smsinst.exe /k <product number>

;Create RunOnce registry entries to kick off the SP6 update automatically

;on next reboot

SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx

REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing Visual Studio Service Pack 6..." /f

REG ADD %KEY%\010 /VE /D "Kicking off the install...." /f

REG ADD %KEY%\010 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\VS6\VS6UpdateSP6\setupsp6.exe /q1" /f

and now all you should have to do is run that install.bat file and go get munch on a snack.

*NOTE* you must reboot before you install the service pack!!!!!! I didn;t figure out a way to do this yet via a batch file (can;t use shutdown -r -t 0 because the smsinst.exe file kicks off another program and then quits so this would restart the PC while the install is still going).

Hope this helps,

Paul

PS- the batch file method hasn;t been fully tested, but it will soon. I'll post updates if anything changes.

[Stuntgp2000]

Impressive pthomas,

Thank you

however, to get everything update SP5 must be applied first then SP6

Source : Microsoft

Service Pack 6

Microsoft Service Pack 6 for Visual Basic 6.0, Visual C++ 6.0 with Visual SourceSafe 6.0d addresses known issues with Visual Basic 6.0, Visual C++ 6.0 and Visual Source Safe 6.0. This service pack does not contain fixes for Visual InterDev 6.0, Visual FoxPro 6.0, and Visual J++ 6.0, as the mainstream life-cycle for these products has ended. This SP replaces Service Pack 5 for developers using Visual Basic 6.0, Visual C++ 6.0, and Visual SourceSafe 6.0. Developer using Visual InterDev 6.0, Visual J++ 6.0, and Visual FoxPro 6.0 should continue using Service Pack 5. 

[pthomas]

Ah, I missed that one. I must have read over the "cumlulative update" part to quickly. Just looking at the file sizes proves your quote is true.

SP5 ~ 100MB

SP6 ~ 60MB

Will hopefully test it all tomorrow!

Paul

[pthomas]

...Testing almost done....adding in the finishing touches. And yes, it installs both service pack 5 and 6 upon reboot...

working on reboot issue currently.

Paul

[pthomas]

Ok, here's the actual batch file that I used to complete the install, reboot when needed and also install service packs 5 and 6 after the reboot. Place the batch file in the same dir as the rest of the vs install files the two service packs (5 and 6) should also be in the vs install folder as "sp5" and "sp6".

I chose to go with Sun Java because the MS java package would just never die if it was already installed and the VS install would never kick off.

:: Install Visual Studio 6.0 and service packs... plus Sun Java (required)

@Echo off

:: instal the Java core only with IE integration

echo  Installing Sun Java 1.4.2.05

::start /wait j2re-1_4_2_05-windows-i586-p.exe /s /v"/qb ADDLOCAL=jrecore IEXPLORER=1"

:: To hide install stuff, use /qn. n for nothing, b for basic UI

:: Trick acmboot.exe into thinking that GUI setup has already run

::Running Regedit and merging in registry setting

start /wait regedit /s vs6.reg

if errorlevel 1 exit 1

:: Install Visual Studio 6

start /wait acmboot.exe /qn1 /k <insert your product number here>

if errorlevel 1 exit 1

:: !!!! Prepare the Service Packs to run after next reboot !!!!!

:: Move the VS updates to the base c:\

:: This just makes it much easier for me since I'm using SMS to push the install out

::so I don't really know what dir the package starts in

MOVE SP5 %systemdrive%\

MOVE sp6 %systemdrive%\

::Move cleanup.bat file to base c:\

MOVE cleanup.bat %systemdrive%\

:: Create RunOnce registry entries to kick off the SP updates automatically

:: on next reboot. Numeric values for start order must be higher than

:: 9003. VS uses 9003 for its updates.

SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx

REG ADD %KEY%\9005 /VE /D "Updating to Service Pack 5" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\9005 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\SP5\setupsp5.exe /q1" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\9010 /VE /D "Updating to Service Pack 6" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\9010 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\SP6\setupsp6.exe /q1" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\9015 /VE /D "Removing Service Pack Install Files" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\9015 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\cleanup.bat" /f

start /wait shutdown -r -t 15 -c "Rebooting to finish VS6 install. Service Packs 5 and 6 will be installed after the reboot"

exit 0

Now to answer possible questions. The Java package I used here can be gotten here:

unattended.msfn.org.....

The mentioned VS6.reg file:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\6.0\Setup\Visual Studio 98\SetupWizard]

"aspo"=dword:00000000

That file is used to help us trick the installer so that we do not need to run the GUI. That way we can start the install from the acmboot.exe file instead of setup.exe.

This method has proven to work on windows XP PCs, it failed on a Win 2k box, couldn't find shutdown or REG command or some crap, but I'm pretty sure it would work on others. It its unattended with the exception that after VS finishes installing and it reboots the system, you have to manually logon. After you logon, the RunOnceEx registry keys take effect and VS runs its after-install scripts followed by SP5 and then SP6.

I would have liked to make it automatically logon as local admin one time and then after wards have it logoff. The logoff part is easy, I just place the "shutdown -l" command at the 2nd to last line of the cleanup.bat file

Contents of cleanup.bat:

@echo off

del /f /q %systemdrive%\sp5

del /f /q %systemdrive%\SP6

rmdir %systemdrive%\sp5

rmdir %systemdrive%\SP6

del /f /q %systemdrive%\"Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Java Web Start.Ink"

rmdir /s /q %systemdrive%\"Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Java Web Start"

del %systemdrive%\cleanup.bat

::Log the system off

shutdown -l

EXIT

Hope this helps a few of you, now onto the next big package.... .NET

Paul

[peachy]

Question: This is for the Enterprise version and not the Professional version, correct? Or should I try it with my Pro version, anyhoot?

[devil270975]

Just a quicky, why install sp5 then sp6, sp6 supersedes sp5, why waste all that time doing both when 1 is enough

[Stuntgp2000]

Thanks pthomas,

Really I don't know how to thank you ?

Thank you again

[Zeiss2020]

Well as I understand it if you are using VS6 as a whole you must install SP5 & SP6.

So that VC++ 6 is undated, as SP6 does not update it. Just my two cents worth.

[pthomas]

This is for the Enterprise edition. I'd expect it to work fro Pro also unless you're missing the acmboot file.

Also, both service packs are needed if you want all features of VS to be up to SP6. Apparently when MS got to SP6 they didn;t coonsider it a huge service release and quit on the whole "each service pack contains the fixes of all the ones below it", which is a bunch of crap! You can verify this based on filesize and also on the MS site whitepaper that mentions what all SP6 includes and what it does not.

Paul

[girish1026]

[quote name='pthomas' post='188501' date='Sep 13 2004, 09:31 AM']This is for the Enterprise edition. I'd expect it to work fro Pro also unless you're missing the acmboot file.

Also, both service packs are needed if you want all features of VS to be up to SP6. Apparently when MS got to SP6 they didn;t coonsider it a huge service release and quit on the whole "each service pack contains the fixes of all the ones below it", which is a bunch of crap! You can verify this based on filesize and also on the MS site whitepaper that mentions what all SP6 includes and what it does not.

Paul[/quote]


Hi pthomas let me know the download link for SP5 for Visual Studio 6.0

Thanks