Report viewer package load failure when installing Visual WebDev 2005 to a non-default path

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I heard from a customer who was running into a package load failure error with the Visual WebDev 2005 Express Edition on a system that had never had any beta versions installed. The customer was able to narrow down the cause of this error and I wanted to pass on the findings in case anyone else runs into this issue.

There is an add-in available on the Visual WebDev Express downloads page that provides a set of ReportViewer controls for the Visual WebDev Express Edition. This add-in has a setup bug that causes a couple of files to be installed to an incorrect location if you have installed the Visual WebDev Express Edition to a non-default location instead of to the default %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8 folder. Those files end up causing a package load failure error in the Visual WebDev IDE.

I have looked at the MSI for the Reporting Add-in and confirmed that it will not behave as desired for a non-default install of Visual WebDev. I found a bug report on the MSDN product feedback site that is tracking this issue, and then I looked the bug up in our internal bug database. The setup package for this Reporting Add-in has been updated to correct the non-default install path issue, and it will be released to the web in the near future. In the meantime, you can use the following workaround if you are getting package load failures due to this issue:

  1. Uninstall the Reporting Add-in
  2. Uninstall Visual WebDev Express Edition
  3. Install Visual WebDev Express Edition to the default location
  4. Install the Reporting Add-in again

Fortunately, I recently found a link to a newer version of the Reporting Add-in that contains a setup fix so that it will not cause package load failures when installed to a non-default path.

<update date="1/11/2006"> I found the team that built the Reporting Add-in, so I added information about the availability of a fix for this issue </update>

<update date="10/1/2006"> Adding a link to the Reporting Add-in installer that contains a fix for this issue </update>