redistributables have gone missing

[chris_thomas]

Hello! I'm a brand new user with no IS 2008 Express experience, and am in the process of trying to migrate an ex-colleague's previous install project. It originally required the .net 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Express (not SP1) redistributables, but after first trying to compile the migrated project, I was informed that neither of these redistributables existed on my hard disk, so, I tried to download them using the redistributables step, but they didn't work. I then tried using the 'Redistributable Downloader' to try to get them and let it "Download the latest InstallShield redistributable list from Macrovision" which wouldn't let me get framework 2.0 because it was greyed out. Upon checking the redistributables list again, I've discovered that now .net framework 2.0 has been replaced with 3.0 and SQL Server 2005 Express has been replaced with SQL Server 2005 Express (SP1). We don't want to go to these later versions just yet.

Please can someone help me to restore .net 2.0 and the original SQL Express 2005 redistributables?

[DebbieL]

In InstallShield 2008 Express Edition, the prerequisite for SQL Server 2005 Express SP1 replaced the prerequisite for non-SP1 SQL Server 2005 Express. If you need to include the non-SP1 version, you may want to try doing this:
[LIST=1]

Download the .prq file for SQL Server 2005 Express from this location:
http://saturn.installshield.com/devstudio/setuprequirements/sqlexpress/Microsoft%20SQL%20Server%202005%20Express.prq
(This is the one that was shipped with InstallShield 12 Express Edition.)

Change the file extension to .prq if necessary. (The file might have an .xml file extension when you download it.)

Put the .prq file in the same folder as the other .prq files. The default location is something like this:
C:\Program Files\Macrovision\IS 2008 Express\SetupPrerequisites

Open your project in InstallShield 2008 Express.

In the Redistributables view, find the prerequisite that corresponds with the .prq file that you just downloaded. To add it to your project, select its check box. You can right-click the prerequisite and then click Download Selected Item if you want to download the redistributable files to your machine.

I'm not entirely certain that using a .prq file from InstallShield 12 Express will work in InstallShield 2008 Express, so you'll want to test your installation to make sure it works.

As for adding the .NET Framework 2.0 to your project: Open the Releases view. Select the release type (such as CD_ROM or SingleImage) that you want to release. Then, on the .NET/J# tab, you can add the 2.0, 1.1, or 1.0 version of the .NET Framework to your project.

[chris_thomas]

Thank you very very much Debbie!

I downloaded, renamed, and put the old prq in place, and the original SQL Express appeared alongside the SP1 version in the prerequisite list. I downloaded it successfully, and added it to the project. As for .net framework 2.0, I had assumed it would be a similar process, given that .net 3.0 also appears in the prerequisite list, but I hadn't realised it was an option that was available under the releases view. I've not actually needed to touch any of that (before now, it complained that SQL Express SP1 required .net 3.0, and I thought that I'd have to add .net 2.0 as a prerequisite), so the project has built sucessfully!

Thanks again!
Chris.