Solved Errors after removing VS 2015 CE and reinstalling VS 2008

[pete barnes]

I had installed VS 2015 Community Edtion to replace my long-used VS 2008 awhile back, but I did not like it and uninstalled it; everythihg seemed to go OK on the uninstall, completed successfully. I then reinstalled my VS 2008 software, but after it installed, seemingly OK, it would not open any new or existing projects or anything other than code snippets and such. When I try to open a new or existing project, I get an error message:

[MSBuildToolsPath is not specified for the Tools Version "14.0" defined at
"HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild\Tools Versions\14.0", or the value specified evaluates to the empty string]

What is going on here? I tried doing a repair of my VS 2008 installation, it went OK no problems or errors reported, but same problem occurs.

If I knew exactly what this message was talking about, I could repair the Reg Key, but I don't know what it is looking for. The VS 2008 tools were installed, but that "14" looks like something from VS 2015 maybe.

Any help or suggestions?

Pete B

 

[Mellon Head]

The "14" is from VS 2015 and it's a leftover from the uninstall. It's causing VS 2008 to think it needs to open project files with VS 2015 and it can't find the executable to open them because it's been uninstalled.

There are two ways to fix this. Some registry editing (or a worse idea, using a registry cleaner). Or you can reinstall VS 2015 if you have the hard drive space. The two should happily coexist. At least VS 2105 and VS 2010 Pro do on my system.

 

[pete barnes]

Thanks for the reply, but....

One problem with that: I looked in the registry, and that key does not exist! So what the heck is going on, where is that error message coming from when I try to open a new or existing project in VS 2008?

Pete B

 

[Mellon Head]

It's probably coming from the Visual Studio Version Selector. Have you gone into Programs and Features and deleted everything related to VS 2015?

 

[pete barnes]

Thanks all for the replies. I finally got the matter solved, sort of, after much investigating keys etc.:

I completely uninstalled VS 2008, then reinstalled it, still had the problem. So then I installed VS 2015 as well, whaddya know now they both work!! I am just going to leave them both alone!! :=)

Pete B

 

[Mellon Head]

Glad you got it working. I'll bet anything it's that stupid project selector.

 

[pete barnes]

Well, after I got the software all reinstalled, I looked at the "missing" key, and it is loaded with about a dozen paths to tools, so I can see why it would be "missed". But at least I am all set now, thanks. To answer your original question, yes, I had deleted everything I saw that involved VS 2015, but I guess I may have missed something.

Thanks

Pete B