Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1, and Some of the Effects

Some of you might have seen an error like

Could not load type 'Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemTypeDeniedOrNotExistException' from assembly 'Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a'

(ref) or you might be using the Team Test Load Agent and see something like

Failed to queue test run 'username@MYCONTROLLER 2008-06-13 11:17:28': Object of type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.LoadTesting.LoadTestConstantLoadProfile' cannot be converted to type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.WebStress.WebTestLoadProfile'.

or some error related to “Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools…” (ref). Or, you may have a web test that runs fine on one machine but not on another.

If you’ve seen something like this, you’ve probably installed something out of order, or some users have Service Pack 1 installed and some don’t.  A proper install order looks something like:

  1. Visual Studio (Team Edition)
  2. Team Explorer
  3. Team Foundation 2008 October Power Tools
  4. Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1

If you install out of order, you’ll overwrite a portion of Service Pack 1 and get errors.  Simply re-apply Service Pack 1, and you’re fine.  If some of you have Service Pack 1 and some don’t, get everyone up to the same level. 

Also, if you’re running tests on the Team Test Load Agent, Visual Studio and the Team Test Load Agent both need to be at the same patch level.  E.g. if you apply Service Pack 1 to Visual Studio Test Edition, apply it to all the Team Test Load Agent controllers and agents that you’re using.

There are some things, like the Database Edition GDR, that require Service Pack 1 to be applied first.  If you don’t see Service Pack 1 as a pre-requisite, it’s a reasonable guess that it’s based on pre-Service Pack 1 code.