BUG: Visual Studio 6.0 Setup Fails to Detect Internet Explorer Version

After installing Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 1 (as required by Visual Studio setup) and rebooting, Visual Studio setup fails to detect the newly installed version of Internet Explorer and forces you to install Internet Explorer again (and again--repeatedly).

Visual Studio setup checks the version of ShDocVw.dll to determine if the correct version is installed. Setup looks for ShDocVw.dll first in the Windows directory and then in the Windows\System32 directory. Setup installs Internet Explorer in Windows\System32. As a result, if an older version of ShDocVw.dll is in the Windows directory it will never be replaced and Visual Studio setup incorrectly determines that the latest version of Internet Explorer has not been installed.

Delete the older version of ShDocVw.dll from the Windows directory.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this bug and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Setup looks for version 4.72.3110.3 or higher of ShDocVw.dll.

Visual Studio setup should look for ShDocVw.dll in the correct place first.