This document describes how to "slipstream" Visual Studio 2005 (VS2005) SP1 into a VS2005 intaller, and some gotchas about burning this back out to an ISO.
In Microsoft admin parlance, "slipstreaming" a service pack or hotfix means adding that update to an existing set of install files, to create a combined installer that does everything in one step. Creating a slipstream installer can save a lot of time vs. doing separate installs per machine (or virtual machine.) In particular, Visual Studio 2005 SP1 is notorious for taking a long time to install as a patch.
I don't take any credit for these instructions, I'm just compiling them here for easier reference.
I'll further note that these instructions do not carry forward the version of the MSDN library found on the Visual Studio 2005 install media. There is a newer version available as a download from MSDN, dated April 2007 for the English version, which is recommended instead.
I'll assume that your root hard drive is "C:\", your DVD drive is "D:\", and that you are running as an Adminstrator.
You'll be copying the install files to your hard drive, and later extracting the service pack, so you'll need some folders for those files.
In a command prompt, go to C:\ and create the following folders:
mkdir c:\slip mkdir c:\slip\temp mkdir c:\slip\vs2005 mkdir c:\slip\sp1
These instructions assume that your original install media is a DVD. (You can also do this from an .iso downloaded from MSDN Subscriptions, though you'll have to extract the files out of the .iso with a tool like WinRar first.)
With Visual Studio 2005 in the DVD player:
msiexec.exe /a D:\vs\vs_setup.msi TARGETDIR=C:\slip\vs2005 /L*vx c:\slip\temp\vsinstall.log
SP1 is available as a download from MSDN: Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team Suite Service Pack 1
In a command prompt, go to the folder you downloaded SP1 to and run:
VS80sp1-KB926601-X86-ENU.exe /extract c:\slip\sp1
The "administrative install" above does not copy certain "bootstrap" files from the CD. These must be copied manually after slipstreaming, as Richard explains. We will create an "exclusion file" to prevent the replaced .CABs from being overwritten, and copy over the remaining files.
In a command prompt:
cd c:\slip\vs2005 echo .cab > exclude.txt xcopy d:\vs /h /i /r /s /exclude:exclude.txt
Out of the 100 files copied over, you will need to press N to prevent copying seven of them.
You now have a slipstream installer, on your hard drive. You can install from here, or burn out to DVD as described in the next section.
The version of the MSDN Library on the original Visual Studio 2005 install media is out of date. A four-CD version of the April 2007 update is available from Microsoft:
A version on a single DVD image is availble from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads site.
If you burn the resulting install files back out to a DVD, you must name label the disc DVD1
About midway through the Visual Studio install, a component called "htmllite.dll" is referenced. This file exists in the root of the installer files.
If you do subsequent installs from your hard drive, nothing special happens, but if you are installing from burned media, the disc label must be DVD1 or the install will repeatedly prompt you to enter the proper disc until you finally give up and cancel.
These workarounds are both pretty annoying, so it's best to get the DVD label correct in the first place.
Some versions of Visual Studio 2005 come with the option to install SQL Server Express as an optional component. This is a free, somewhat limited version of SQL Server 2005 that lets you develop database applications without a full SQL Server installation. Unfortunately, the pack-in version of this product is out of date and does not come with "SQL Server 2005 Management Studio Express", the corresponding GUI admin tool.
The version that you want is called Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services SP2. Note that while this is called an SP release, it is actually the full install and not a patch.
Download from MSDN: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services Service Pack 2
There is an additional SP1 for Vista that needs to be installed for Visual Studio 2005 to run on Vista, available here:
It is not currently possible to slipstream this Vista-specific update.
