FIX: Visual Studio .NET and MSDN files corrupted during installation

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This article was previously published under Q318945

SYMPTOMS

When you install Visual Studio .NET (VS .NET) or its components, including the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Library, problems may occur during installation or when you use VS .NET or the MSDN Library.

This problem can also occur if third-party software is not turned off by using Msconfig.exe during the installation, or if other applications are running during the installation.

Some of the common errors are the following:

Various files are missing or read errors during setup.
-or-
When you start VS .NET or the MSDN library, a dialog box appears with the following message:
```
"Help Update in Progress"
```
Typically, after this dialog box appears, you receive a Dr. Watson window or a dialog box with the following error message:
"Microsoft development environment has encountered an error and needs to close."

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs because one or more files are not read properly from the DVD-ROM during the file copy phase of the setup process; some files may become corrupted.

During some occurrences, you may receive an error message. During other occurences, you do not receive an error message and the file is copied without errors; however, a piece of the file is corrupted after the file is copied to your computer.

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RESOLUTION

The following are several methods to work around this problem.

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Update the driver

Contact the DVD-ROM manufacturer to verify whether an updated device driver is available. Contact the hardware manufacturer before you apply any updates because an incorrect driver update could damage the hardware. For more information about installing device drivers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

275499 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275499/ ) Troubleshooting device driver issues by using the Driver Information Database

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Disable DMA access

In some cases, you can resolve the problem by disabling direct memory access (DMA) for both the DVD-ROM drive and the local hard disk. For more information about how to turn off and turn on DMA, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

258757 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/258757/ ) How to enable Direct Memory Access (DMA)

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Install from a CD-ROM

Install the programs from a CD-ROM instead of from a DVD-ROM. For more information about how to receive a CD-ROM to replace your DVD-ROM, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

284230 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284230/ ) INFO: Replacing damaged or defective Visual Studio product disks

However, occasionally CD-ROMs also fail because of issues with the physical hardware and drivers.

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Install from a network share

To install from a network share, create a local folder share, and then use the xcopy command to install the programs without the interaction of the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drivers. To do this, type the following at a command prompt:xcopy <source> <destination> /V /H /Y /E
/V = verify
/H = hidden files
/E = sub folder including empty folders
/Y = suppresses prompting to confirm that you want to overwrite an existing destination file

To create the local installation points, follow the steps provided in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

Visual Studio .NET
307372 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307372/ ) How to create a network installation point for Visual Studio .NET setup
MSDN Library - January 2002 thru current releases
318453 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318453/ ) PRB: The network install point for the installation of the MSDN Library does not exist
MSDN Library - Oct 2001 and prior
271776 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271776/ ) How to create an MSDN Library shared install point on the network

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Copy help files to your hard disk to replace corrupted Files

Copy from the DVD-ROM to your hard disk only the help files that were corrupted when you installed the program.

Note This method will fix the immediate problem; however, it is possible that other files were corrupted at the same time as the help files. You may not know that other files were corrupted until unpredictable problems occur later.

When your receive the following dialog box message, Microsoft Help 2.0 is merging the indexes that exist in .HxI files:

"Help Update in Progress"

If these .HxI files are corrupted, then the merge cannot occur. The merge must occur for your computer to display the index for VS .NET online help or the MSDN Library.

To determine which files are damaged, compare the files on your computer with the files on the DVD-ROM. To do this, follow these steps:

At a command prompt, change the directory to the directory where MSDN is installed. For example:

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Msdn\1033"
Use the file compare command (fc) to compare all of the .HxI files in this directory with the files on the DVD-ROM.
- For %i in (*.hxi), type the following:
  fc /b %i "f:\program files\microsoft visual studio .net\msdn\1033\%i"
  -or-
  fc /b %i "f:\program files\microsoft visual studio .net\msdn\1033\%i" >> output.txt
For every match, the output of the fc command will be the following:
```
"FC: no differences encountered"
```
For every mismatch, you will see multiple lines of numbers that represent the mismatched data. For example:
```
"Comparing files act.hxi and f:\program...\1033\act.hxi

  00000218: 00 47

  ...

  000126DC: 00 6D

  FC: act.hxi longer than f:\program...\1033\act.hxi"
```
For the mismatches, try one of the following:
- Copy those specific files again (use the fc command to check the files after you do this).
  
  -or-
- Delete the files from the 1033 directory on your hard disk.
  
  Note If you delete the files, the files will not appear in your table of contents or in your index, and links to terms defined in the indexes of the files will be broken.

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Copy the DVD-ROM to your hard disk

Copy all of the files on the DVD-ROM to your hard disk, verify that the files were copied correctly, and then re-install from the hard disk copy.

Copy the DVD-ROM files to the hard disk. Use either a copy method that will verify each file as it is copied, or use the fc command to verify that the files were copied correctly (see the previous workaround "Copy Corrupted Help Files to Your Hard Disk" for how to do this). Any files that do not copy correctly must be re-copied and re-verified by using the fc command.
When you have copied all of the files to the hard disk correctly, run Setup.exe from the hard disk.

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STATUS

This problem has been identified as typically a problem in the driver software or firmware for some DVD-ROMs. This bug was corrected in Visual Studio .NET (2003) and the .NET Framework 1.1.

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REFERENCES

For additional information about the following topics, click the article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to replaced damaged media:
284230 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284230/ ) INFO: Replacing damaged or defective Visual Studio product disks
Known issues specific to the Dell SN-308 and SM-308b DVD/CDR combo drives:
320567 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320567/ ) Visual Studio .NET and Microsoft Developer Network files corrupted during installation from Samsung DVD-ROM
Creating network installation points for Visual Studio .NET:
307372 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307372/ ) How to create a network installation point for Visual Studio .NET setup
Creating network installation points for MSDN Library - January 2002 through current releases:
318453 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318453/ ) PRB: The network install point for the installation of the MSDN Library does not exist
Creating network installation points for MSDN Library - Oct 2001 and prior releases:
271776 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271776/ ) How to create an MSDN Library shared install point on the network
Known issues when running Windows 2000 Terminal Server:
307420 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307420/ ) BUG: Setup fails when you install Visual Studio .NET over a terminal service session from a mapped drive