VB.NET compiled app setup for x86 platform won't run on Windows XP/Vista 32-bit - vb.net

Using VS 2010 Ultimate on my Windows 7 64-bit machine, I wrote a Windows Forms Application with Visual Basic and then compiled it with "Build" command specifically for x86 platforms ( I have tried assigning both "x86" and "Any CPU" on Active solution platform options in Configuration Manager). I have also made sure that TargetPlatform is set to x86 on Project Properties.
However, when I'm trying to run the .exe or the .msi file on my XP 32-bit machine, I get this message:
"This product is designed for x64 platform but is being installed on Intel. Obtain the correct setup from the manufacturer."
.NET Framework 4 client profile, which is a Prerequisite for my application, is also installed on the XP machine.
Does anyone have a clue for this? How can I fix this?
Thank you for your time.

I'm not sure about 2010, but in VS2008 it is sometimes necessary to go to Project Properties, Compile, Advanced Compile Options, and change the target CPU to from AnyCPU to x86.

Related

Why does A VB.NET DLL Addin for Inventor compiled on an Intel machine work on the Intel machine but not on AMD?

Im developing continually an inventor Addin in VB.Net in visual studio 2019 ,
i have multiple machine different builds , but once in a while some machine just don't want to load the Addin f.e. the current version i have now works on all machines except one AMD machine .
When i compile the same project with the same settings no changes at all on the AMD machine with ANY CPU build option it runs without problem . When i do it on my primary developing machine it does not work on this other computer.
I checked dependencies with dependency walker , i do not get any error messages .
When i make breakpoints in DEBUG mode and debug dll compilation in the first methods called in the "StandardAddInServer.vb" file it does not reach it on the AMD machine when it is compiled on the Intel machine. But in reverse it runs smoothly .
I have no idea what this could be and I'm only speculating that is has to do with AMD/Intel difference of the machines . Any help would be appreciated to come to a solution.
Inventor 2018.3.7 Professional Build 287 is on the Intel i7-4771 machine Visual Studio Community 2019 16.3.9 , .NET 4.8.03761
Inventor 2018 Professional build 112 is on the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X machine Visual Studio Community 2019 16.7.2 .NET 4.8.03752
Any more information which could be helpful will be provided gladly .
Well.... i tought lets make the maschines identical in regards to software .. i started installing inventor updates one by one at Version 2018.3.1 the Addin magically was working .... so i hope i help somebody if the , addin automatically unloads without any error , its probably autodesk inventors fault ...
Are you using ANY CPU ,or are you forcing the project to a given bit size?
If you don't set this, and leave it at ANY CPU? Well, if you launch the application from Visual Studio (such as installing on that target machine), then the application will run as x32 bits.
HOWEVER if you launch the program from the windows command line (command prompt).
Well, if you use the x64 bit command prompt, you get a x64 bit running - in-process program. If any of your external .dll's or libraryes are x32 (or not compiled with ANY cpu), or you using any un-manage code libraies (say like ghostscript or some such)? Then your program will run (or try to) as x64 bits.
However, if you launch a x32 bit windows command prompt (there are two of them - one is x32, and one is x64). So, if you launch the .net exe (your program) from a windows x32 bit prompt, then your program will run in-process as x32 bits.
So, be careful here. Using ANY CPU from Visual Studio will ALWAYS get you a x32 bit program - including debugging. But RUNNING the program (launching outside of VS) will not always be x32 bits.
And the above behaviours seems to explain your issues/problems on the AMD machine. It was NOT that you installed VS on that machine, but that using VS to launch your program in fact FORCED it to run as x32 bits.
Bottom line:
do NOT use ANY CPU unless that is exactly what you need, and that you are VERY sure any external libraries are also compiled as ANY CPU, or in fact that any external libraries doe NOT USE any un-managed code.
All in all? I would config your project to force run as x86 ALWAYS, and thus you not get some surprises of code not working.
I doubt very much that the AMD CPU is the issue, and installing VS only worked because of forcing your project to run as x32 as opposed to x64 bits. It has zero to do with AMD here.
You could try with a former framework version like 4.6.2. That should fix the problem. It could be that the newer service packs of Inventor can deal with addins created with newer .net versions. When 2018 Inventor was released, .net 4.8 was not available.
Was Albert wrote is true as well. If the architecture of your dll doesn't meet that of your host process, it can't be loaded. A 64bit process can use 64bit dlls only whereas a 32bit one can deal with 32bit dll only. A .Net project won't be compiled by Studio into fully functional machine code (nowadays you can do this as well), but intermediate code only, which will be compiled finally by the .net framework on the target machine. If anyCPU is selected, you don't have to provide different versions for different hardware because of this behaviour.

Can only see x86 in Wix Build configuration

I want to make a 64 bit installer for an office add-in. When I go into configurations of the installer I can only see x86 in the dropdown. Any ideas why x64 is not showing up?
Use Configuration Manager in Visual Studio to configure a x64 platform.

"interops made for a different target platorm." and "ActiveX not properly registered"

Thank you for any and all help... I've never seen this bug before... I have several vendor supplied DLLs for talking to a Signature Capture Device. We build our C# windows app platform target set to "any cpu" on an XP x86 machine. When the application is run on Win7 32-bit computer it works fine. When it is run on Win7 64bit computer it fails.
Running the Visual Studio 2010 debugger on Win 7 x64 in "Debug mode" works fine. Running in Release mode on Win7 x64 fails.
I can change the platform to target x64 then Release mode gives "interops made for a different target platorm." When I delete and recreate the interops for 64 bit target I get "ActiveX not properly registered".
Thank you in advance.
Make sure you module not depends of 32 bits libs.
Use Dependency Walker or Fuslogvw.exe to diagnose module load fail.
To interop 32/64 bits COM see Access x86 COM from x64 .NET
My solution was to change the Project->Properties->Build->Platform Target from "any cpu" to "x86". The application now runs on win7 64 bit and 32 bit and XP x86.

what are all requirements for run the visual studio 2010 vb projects

I developed the project in visual studio 2010. That exe file is not supported for other PC's.
which dotnetframework to be installed? other than dotnetframework is there any other requirements needed?
Are you sure it's not the CPU type you specified during compiling (x86 vs x64 CPU). If you compiled in 64-bit and a user only has a 32-bit processor (x86), your code won't run.
The .Net Framework should work on any PC-based system, but be sure to include it in your deployment or setup package. (you can provide Excel, .NET Framework, and many other packages with your package.)
You should also try to find out what error messages your users are receiving -- which will point you in the right direction.

Installing simplest plugin on German Windows XP

I'm trying to figure out why the simplest firebreath plugin wont install on a German Windows XP SP3. I'm running Windows XP as a virtual machine.
The event viewer in Windows XP tells me something about the Windows Installer aborting but not why. I'm logged in as the administrator.
The installer works on Windows 7.
For development I use Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and some one months old firebreath trunk.
Is this is known problem? What are the typical steps I could use to track down the issue?
Regards,
Christian
If you get an error saying module can't be found it means that you are missing a .dll file needed to make the plugin work. The most common if it works on most computers (or many) but not that one is that your .dll was compiled with a dynamic runtime, in which case you'll have to install the common runtime for whatever version of visual studio you compiled it with.
For example, the runtime distributable for vs2008 is at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29
Dependency Walker might help you to find out which dll is missing.