Installing Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition

I recently installed Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition on my laptop running Windows XP. In the past, I've had problems using Microsoft's Express Edition installers because of my unstable internet connection [1]. So this time I ignored the installers and just downloaded the All-in-One DVD ISO file [2].

The instructions for installing from the ISO file aren't very good. The best and easiest way that I found to do it was to use a free tool from Microsoft called Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. I used this tool to mount the ISO image to the Z:\ drive. When I went to My Computer and double-clicked on Z:\, the Visual Studio installation program ran automatically. After installation was done, I went back to Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel and clicked on the Remove Drive button to get rid of the Z:\ drive.

[1]	The installer is a small executable that allows you select which options you want, then automatically downloades the files you need. But if your internet connection konks out somewhere during the download process, you won't get very far, even after internet access gets restored.

[2]	Scroll down all the way to the bottom of the page and you'll see a section called "Offline Install".

Installing Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition
=============================================
.. labels:: visual studio, install

I recently installed `Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition`_ on my laptop running Windows XP. In the past, I've had problems using Microsoft's Express Edition installers because of my unstable internet connection [#]_. So this time I ignored the installers and just downloaded the All-in-One DVD ISO file [#]_.

.. _Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition: http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx

The instructions_ for installing from the ISO file aren't very good. The best and easiest way that I found to do it was to use a free tool from Microsoft called `Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel`_. I used this tool to mount the ISO image to the ``Z:\`` drive. When I went to ``My Computer`` and double-clicked on ``Z:\``, the Visual Studio installation program ran automatically. After installation was done, I went back to Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel and clicked on the ``Remove Drive`` button to get rid of the ``Z:\`` drive.

.. _Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=42
.. _instructions: http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/offline.aspx

.. [#] The installer is a small executable that allows you select which options you want, then automatically downloades the files you need. But if your internet connection konks out somewhere during the download process, you won't get very far, even after internet access gets restored.

.. [#] Scroll down all the way to the bottom of the page and you'll see a section called "Offline Install".