Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Upgrade Fiasco: silverlight_sdk.msi is unavailable …

Applying Visual Studio .Net 2010 SP1 is arduous at best. Mostly, I’m likely griping over the amount of time I’ve had to invest to apply a SP. I still love the tools but good grief already! Initially, when downloading the SP via the MSDN Web installer all appeared to be going smooth until this appeared:

Naturally, I did not have this file on my Computer. Nor was it available on the original VS.Net 2010 installation disc. So… I had to cancel out of the install. This process took hours and never completes. I let it run overnight and the “unwind it all” progress monitor appeared to be stuck 50% of the way through the uninstall.

Here’s the path I took to get silverlight_sdk.msi:

1. Download SilverLight 4 Tools to your Computer. Do not run this installer, download it and save it locally.
2. Locate the download and change the extension to .rar
   
3. Unpack it. Download WinRAR if you do not have it. WinZIP did not unpack this file for me on Windows 7, it must be WinRAR.
4. Search through the unpacked folder and you’ll locate the SilverLight_sdk.msi file.
   

Update – It’s Gonna Take A While!

The SP install is underway but it looks like it’ll take 3+ hours unless things improve. The process has taken an hour to reach about 1/3.

Updated Again

The Installation Process completed. Be prepared, the process takes 2 hours.