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Running Redgate SQL tools on Windows Vista - level 100

I was a bit frustrated when I installed Redgate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare on Windows Vista. The apps crashed right away with no error message. I hate the way Vista hides the error message and invites me to the troubleshooting screen (it can't resolve the problem anyway).

SOLUTION: Redgate tools need .Net 1.1 in order to run. You'd think that Vista would be able to tell me that. I installed .Net 1.1, and the tools work great.

Published May 10 2007, 07:56 AM by Jeffrey Palermo

Comments

cmyers said:

Strange that Vista doesn't come with the 1.1 runtime. For years Windows carried around all 17 versions of the VB and C runtimes. I wonder why MS decided to skip .NET 1.1.

# May 10, 2007 9:10 AM

Samuel said:

I'm curious to understand why you think Vista should tell you that .NET 1.1 is needed to run the application. Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the application itself? Seems to me that the application's installer should check for prerequisites BEFORE even installing. IMO, I don't think that's Vista's fault.

# May 10, 2007 9:18 AM

Jeffrey Palermo said:

@Samuel,

Yes, it is the application's responsibility, and that was a mistake on Redgate's part not to detect it during the installer.

Vista has a new help center that is aimed at common resolutions to problems, but up to now, it has had no solutions. It seems that this problem (.Net 1.1 not being there) would be an obvious one that should be in that database.

# May 10, 2007 9:21 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

Jeffrey I ran into this problem a few months ago, and had a long thread of support on this with Red-Gate. It turns out that this is a DevExpress problem, not specifically red-gate, FWIW

# May 10, 2007 10:28 AM

Jeffrey Palermo said:

@Brendan,

Yeah, I saw that on some threads when I was searching.

# May 10, 2007 10:34 AM

Tom said:

for what it's worth i discovered firefly (www.getfirefly.net) the other day - for comparing data it's easier to use and much cheaper than redgate.

# May 10, 2007 6:23 PM

Tom Harris said:

Hi there,

the v5 versions of SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare are .NET 1.1 applications. We did test carefully that they work correctly on Vista machines with only .NET 2.0 installed. However, since the release, a few people have run into a crash on start up. The problem is caused by the .NET 2.0 version of some 3rd party components we use being loaded from the GAC.

SQL Compare 6 will be released early Q3 and will be a .NET 2.0 only build. A public beta will be available next week so keep on eye out on our website.

Thanks,

Tom

# May 11, 2007 7:17 AM

Darren Kopp said:

We didn't run into a problem here at work with sql data compare on vista.

# May 11, 2007 12:04 PM

About Jeffrey Palermo

Jeffrey Palermo is a software management consultant and the CTO of Headspring Systems in Austin, TX. Jeffrey specializes in Agile coaching and helps companies double the productivity of software teams. Jeffrey is an MCSD.Net , Microsoft MVP, Certified Scrummaster, Austin .Net User Group leader, AgileAustin board member, INETA speaker, INETA Membership Mentor, Christian, husband, father, motorcyclist, Eagle Scout, U.S. Army Veteran, and Texas A&M University graduate.