INFO: Troubleshooting Visual C++ Setup Problems Under Windows 9

• Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 4.0
• Microsoft Windows 95

SUMMARY

This article shows you how to troubleshoot problems that may arise as you are setting up Visual C++ under Windows 95. The majority of setup troubles are going to have their root in one of three things:

• Hardware incompatibility
• Hardware failure
• Device driver conflict (the most likely)

If you run into a problem or receive an error along the way, the cause and the steps to take are pretty much the same regardless of whether the error occurs during the installation or after the installation as you try to build programs.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

1. Determine which hardware device or device driver is causing the problem. To isolate the culprit, first look in the Device Manager. To find the Device Manager, point to the My Computer icon on your desktop, and click the right mouse button. Click Properties on the menu, and then select the Device Manager Tab. Be sure the View Devices by Type option is selected. This displays a tree control of the various hardware devices you have. Opening a given device on the tree control (by double-clicking it or by selecting it and clicking the the Properties button) shows the property sheet for the driver currently managing the device.

2. Open each device's property sheet. For each driver, check the device status message; you should see "Device is functioning properly." If the property sheet has a Driver tab, click it, and note the name of the driver file. If there is no Driver tab, the device driver is a standard driver, which is loaded internally by Windows 95. If you find a device driver that is malfunctioning and has a driver file, remove this driver and try again. If you find a standard device driver (no Driver tab on the property sheet) that is malfunctioning, check with the device's manufacturer to be sure there no third-party driver is required. Take careful note of whether or not your hard disk or CD-ROM uses third-party driver files, and what those file names are.

3. Start Windows 95 in a safe mode - that is with only those third-party drivers that are absolutely required for the computer to run and install Visual C++.

   a. Shut down your computer, and then restart it.

   b. When the screen says "Starting Windows 95 ..." press the F8 key to

         display the Windows 95 start-up menu.
   

   c. Select Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Network Support. This will boot

         Windows 95 into plain VGA mode, with no third-party drivers loaded.
         If you are installing from a local CD-ROM drive to a local hard-disk
         drive, select Plain Safe Mode, even if you are on a network.
   

          - If your problem is an unsuccessful installation, re-do the
            installation at this point. If this installation is successful,
            there is a good chance you can restart in standard configuration
            and build a sample successfully. If standard configuration builds
            fail, restart in safe mode and see if you can build a program. If
            you can build in safe mode, proceed to step 4 as though your
            original problem was a successful installation, but you cannot
            build programs.
   
          - If your problem is a successful installation, but you can't build
            programs, try building a sample under safe mode. If you can build
            the sample, then your task in step 4 will be to re-add drivers one
            at a time until you find the one that breaks the build process.
            Once discovered, you can contact the author to see if there are
            updates, or you can disable that driver when doing Visual C++
            builds.
   
          - If your CD-ROM or hard-disk drive was previously using a third-
            party driver, there is a good chance you will not be able to
            install in safe mode due to an inability to access either your
            CD-ROM or hard-disk drive. If that is the case, proceed to step #4
            for step-by-step clean boot instructions to load only the hard-
            disk driver or CD-ROM driver file and no others.
   
   

4. Arriving at this step probably means one of two things. You have installed and can build in safe mode, but cannot build in your regular configuration, or you could not access your hard-disk drive or CD-ROM in safe mode. In this step, you will clean boot again, but with step-by- step confirmation for each driver being loaded.

   a. Rename your System.ini file to something else, such as System.org

         (avoid .bak as a suffix). Second, copy (do not rename) System.cb to
         System.ini. The System.cb file is the "clean" System.ini that safe
         mode uses to boot your computer.
   

         NOTE: If you find that your mouse is not working when you boot using
         system.cb, adding the following may correct the problem:
   

            [boot]
            drivers=mmsystem.dll
            mouse.drv=mouse.drv
   
            [enh386]
            mouse=*vmouse
   
      b. Shut down your computer, and then restart it. When the screen says
         "Starting Windows95 ...," press the F8 key for the windows 95
         start-up menu.
   
      c. Select Step-by-Step Confirmation, then follow these steps:
   
         1) Answer Y to process the system registry.
   
         2) Answer Y to create a start-up log file. The log file can be
            helpful in diagnosing problems, such as VxD's that can't load.
   
         3) Answer Y to process your start-up device drivers (Config.sys). You
            will not be asked this question if Config.sys is not found.
   
         4) Answer Y or N to each driver as appropriate (answer Y to
            Himem.sys, Emm386.sys, Ifshlp.sys).
   
         5) Answer Y to process Autoexec.bat, or Y to load the Windows
            graphical user interface. You will be asked the first question if
            Autoexec.bat is not found, and the second question if it is.
   
         6) Answer Y to load all Windows Drivers. These are the internal
            Windows system drivers and are required.
   
      If you are at this step (step 4) because of an inability to access your
      CD-ROM or your Hard-disk drive in safe mode, attempt to complete the
      installation if it is not already complete, and build a program. If you
      still cannot build or install, then the conflict is probably with the
      very driver you need to access your hard-disk or CD-ROM drive. Note the
      name of the driver file involved, the date and time of the file, and the
      size in bytes. You may also be able to get a revision number by clicking
      the right button when the file is selected in the Windows Explorer and
      selecting Properties. With this information, contact your hardware
      vendor to see if they have an update or a patch you can acquire.
   
      A common symptom of CD-ROM or hard-disk drive drivers conflicting or
      failing is files becoming corrupt during what appears to be a successful
      installation of Visual C++. To verify the integrity of the files copied
      from the CD-ROM to the Hard-disk drive, use FC.exe; for information on
      how to do this, please see the following article in the Microsoft
      Knowledge Base:
   
         ARTICLE-ID: Q94653
         TITLE     : Using FC.EXE to Verify CD-ROM File System Drivers
   
      NOTE: For Visual C++ 2.x, there are two files, Msvcshl.dll and
      Spyxx.exe, in the Bin subdirectory that Fc.exe will report as
      different. These two files are modified as part of the installation
      process, and are therefore expected to be different. For Visual C++
      4.0, there are three files that are different: Msdev.exe, Msvccpp.pkg
      and Spyxx.exe. If any other files are found to differ, simply copying
      them from the CD-ROM drive may fix the problem.
   
      If setup is still failing, the CD-ROM driver is the one that is
      conflicting, and it is impossible to download a new CD-ROM device
      driver, there is a last resort that sometimes works. Boot to a plain MS-
      DOS mode. Copy the entire Msvc20 directory to a temporary directory on
      the computer's hard drive by using XCOPY. Then install from the
      temporary directory. Run "setup.exe /f" from the CD-ROM afterwards to
      set the Help file paths and other paths correctly. Finally, delete the
      temporary directory. Of course this "solution" requires that the
      computer have plenty of extra disk space available.
   
      If you are at step 4 because you can build in safe mode, but not in
      standard mode, begin adding the drivers you weren't loading, one by one,
      until the process breaks. If all drivers get loaded and the program
      still builds, your video driver may be at fault, or it may be a
      combination of two or more drivers being loaded simultaneously (and
      conflicting with each other) that is causing the problem. Once the
      culprit is found, again note the date and time, size in bytes, and
      possibly the revision number of the driver. Then contact the driver's
      manufacturer for an update or patch.
   
   

Creating a Hardware Profile

If you have to manipulate driver files individually, it may be useful to create a Hardware Profile, with only certain specified drivers loaded (sort of a custom clean boot). Hardware Profiles may be created and saved as follows:

1. Click My Computer using the right mouse button. Click the Hardware Profile tab, highlight Original Profile in the list box, and click the Copy Button, naming the new profile as you wish. This hardware profile is now an exact copy of your original or default configuration.

2. Click the Device Manager tab, and open up the property sheet for each device driver. Note the section called Device Usage. Clear the check box next to your new profile for each device driver you don't want to load when booting under your new profile.