Visual Basic Q&A

Symptoms
When you run a setup program that was created using the Application SetupWizard, you receive the following error message:

Failure writing to the system registry. The registry may be corrupt, or
you may not have the required permissions to write to the registry.
Resolution
As the error message indicates, the problem may be due to a corruptregistry or incorrect permissions to write to the registry. In addition,the problem occurs on computers running Windows 95 when the Setup programtries to add an entry to a registry key and the key will exceed 64K in sizeas a result. Registry keys are limited to 64K in Windows 95.

Symptoms
Installation macros can be used throughout the steps of the Package andDeployment Wizard (PDW) to install files to specific locations. Thisarticle documents the available installation macros and what the macroswill equate to during the installation process.
Resolution
These macros will be used by both Setup.exe and Setup1.exe to install filesto common system directories. These macros may be modified after thedistribution set has been created by modifying the Setup.lst file createdby the PDW. See the REFERENCES section of this article for additional information regarding Setup1 files and Bootstrap files.
$(WinSysPath)
This macro installs files to the System subdirectory under the Windowsdirectory. The paths below are typical paths to the Windows\Systemdirectory. This macro can be used for both Setup1 Files and BootstrapFiles.

\Windows\System (Windows 95 or later)\Winnt\System32 (Windows NT 4.0 and later)
$(WinSysPathSysFile)
This macro installs files to the System subdirectory as well, but thefile is installed as a shared component and is not removed when theapplication is removed. The paths below are typical paths to theWindows\System directory. This macro can be used for both Setup1 Filesand Bootstrap Files.

\Windows\System (Windows 95 or later)\Winnt\System32 (Windows NT 4.0 and later)
$(WinPath)
This macro installs files to the directory where Windows is installed.The examples below are typical paths to the Windows directory. Thismacro can be used for both Setup1 Files and BootStrap Files.

\Windows (Windows 95 or later)\Winnt (Windows NT)
$(AppPath)
The application directory specified by the user, or the DefaultDir valuespecified in the Setup section. Valid only for Setup1 Files.
\path
A hard coded path, for example, “c:\mydir”. This is only available bymodifying the Setup.lst file. Valid only for Setup1 Files.$(CommonFiles)
This macro installs files to the Program Files\Common Files folder.Valid only for Setup1 Files.

\Program Files\Common Files\
$(CommonFilesSys)
Installs files to the \System folder under Program Files\Common Files.Valid only for Setup1 Files.

\Program Files\Common Files\System
$(ProgramFiles)
Installs files to the \Program Files directory. Valid only for Setup1Files.

\Program Files
$(MSDAOPath)
Installs files to the location stored in the Registry for Data Access(DAO)Components.
$(Font)
Installs to the \Font subdirectory under the Windows directory.

\Windows\Fonts

Symptoms
When you run a Setup that was created using the Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW), you receive one of the following error messages:

Cannot start main setup program! (CreateProcess() returned error code 0×000000C1H)

VB6stkit.dll is not a valid Windows NT image

The system could not locate the file ‘<Temp Folder>\Msftqws.pdw\Vb6stkit.dll’. Would you like to browse for the file yourself?

The system could not locate the file ‘<Temp Folder>\Windows\Temp\Msftqws.pdw\St6unst.exe’. Would you like to browse for the file yourself? where <Temp Folder> is the Windows\Temp folder on Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me or the folder specified by the TEMP environment variable on Windows NT.
Resolution
If the symptom occurs on all target computers where you run Setup, the cause of the problem is most likely one of the following: A damaged diskette.A damaged setup file. If the symptom only occurs on some target computers, the cause may be one of the following: Left-over files from a previous installation attempt.A machine-specific issue.

Symptoms
When you run Visual Studio .NET Setup, you receive a “Setup Failed” error message when Visual Studio .NET Setup completes. No other error messages appear. The following string appears in the log file VSMSILOG*.txt (located in the Temp folder):

MSI (s) (54:F0): Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=VSCA_AddShareAndPermissions.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8,ActionType=1025,Source=BinaryData,Target=AddShareAndPermissions,)MSI (s) (54:F0): Creating MSIHANDLE (1263) of type 790536 for thread 2800Action ended 15:41:08: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.
Resolution
This behavior occurs when the Home Directory in Internet Information Service (IIS) for the Default Web is missing or inaccessible because of permission issues. The missing or inaccessible Home Directory causes the Visual Studio .NET Setup custom action AddShareAndPermissions to fail.

Symptoms
When starting the Microsoft Visual Basic Application Setup Wizard, a dialogbox appears with the following error message:

Invalid property value, an unexpected error has occurred.
If you click OK, the Setup Wizard terminates.
Resolution
When the Setup Wizard begins, a system configuration file is read. If thedevices listed in the configuration file cannot be located, the erroroccurs and the Setup Wizard terminates.