Building Visual Studio Setup/Deploy project asks to install 2010 shell integrated

Question

For the first time I'm creating Visual Studio Setup and Deploy project in which points to a Windows Service that will run on our VPS. Usually I use CMD to start/stop the service but was ideally looking for a more robust approach.

At the moment I'm seeing that I need to install an additional package (Visual Studio 2010 Shell Integrated)... In all honesty I'm not sure if it's really needed and if I can bypass the installation somehow. Most Windows Services will run on our VPS and will not be distributed to our clients.

Obviously I'd like to learn a new concept/method. Anyhow I suppose what I'm really asking is can any one help me understand why it's needed etc?

I've noticed there are a few older posts but as I'm using Visual Studio 2015, I'm sure the process will be different in some way. I have also looked through MSDN but not quite sure what I need to install.

Corody

even I'm facing this error. Buggy Microsoft Developers . – Jetport

Answer 1

I actually found a solution to this now over at Microsoft's Visual Studio Developer Community (Quoted relevant parts to prevent the likelihood of future dead links):

1- Open a cmd as admin.

2- Go to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSI Tools

3- run: regsvr32.exe /u mergemod.dll"

4- run: regsvr32.exe mergemod.dll"

I followed these steps, restarted VS2017 and it worked perfectly. No more request for the VS2010 Integrated Shell installer!

Outgeneral

Hi, I still have some legacy apps - I used this and worked perfectly. - Green tick, thumbs up / vote from me. – Corody

only working solution as of 2019, thank you so much – Onerous

what a hack! Worked perfectly for my Visual Studio 2019 (Visual Studio Installer Projects extension) as well :D ! Thanks a ton. developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/198143/… – Jetport

You are a savior Jane. It worked for VS 2008 as well. – Sora

Answer 2

Ok, So I'm still unsure to was is happening, a bug in Visual Studio?! Who knows.

Basically If I click Build on the set up project, it tries to install and crashes the machine BUT if I click Rebuild and then Cancel on the Dialog, it builds fine and I have access to the Setup file.

A strange one but never the less, I now have access to the install file, which I've installed on our VPS and is working like a charm.

Corody

Did you ever resolve the root problem? Ive been doing setup projects for years, continuing thru VS 2013 - 2015 with the plugin. But recently when one of my developers created a project and committed to source control, when I later tried to build it, I got the same issue. – Tautomerism

@codenheim I still have this problem! New hardware, installed VS and Installer plugin, worked Ok for awhile and then it returned. It's driving me absolutely nuts. Now if you cancel both popups and leave it for 20-30 mins it will eventually compile, never the less ridiculous as compilation should only take a few seconds. It makes me feel quite stupid that I cannot figure it out. I'll keep digging to find the answer, if you figure it out please let me know and please post an answer, I'll retract mine and award you. – Corody

@codenheim to note, the problem hit again after a win update. Looked through the updates and it appears nothing was installed that would impact VS/installer packages. I'm rewriting the whole platform to move away from Win Services. WPF > SignalR. – Corody

I had to build one of our apps yesterday in a pinch and i had to use 2013 due to the issue. The problem only exists on 2015-2017 for me. Soon as I resolve it I'll let you know. – Tautomerism

were you guys able to solve this, this started happening to me now – Teacher

@Teacher I still have this problem, fortunately we've migrated to Azure thus utilizing WebJobs. Alternatively if it needs to be on-prem... Then Azure Service Bus + Console App works amazingly well. As the previous comment VS13 maybe the solution. Please do post an answer if you find a fix. – Corody

@Teacher See my answer, I have just managed to find a solution to this that works :) – Outgeneral