David's Blog

Creating a machine account login for SQL Server

You can create a machine account login for SQL Server with the . . . → Read More: Creating a machine account login for SQL Server

Deleting and purging items from Team Foundation Server

When you delete an item from TFS, it’s not actually permanently gone.

You can view deleted items by going to Tools > Options > Source Control > Visual Studio Team Foundation Server and checking the Show deleted items in the Source Control Explorer option:

You can then see folders and files that have been deleted, which allows you . . . → Read More: Deleting and purging items from Team Foundation Server

Manually schedule a disk check at next restart

You can schedule a chkdsk at reboot time for a drive by using the Windows command line utility fsutil.

You do this by setting the “dirty” flag for a drive, which marks the drive for a chkdsk when you next reboot.

Usage:

fsutil dirty query <volume pathname>

e.g.

fsutil dirty set C:

You can check if a drive has been marked as . . . → Read More: Manually schedule a disk check at next restart

Debugging MSBuild scripts

If you want to debug an MSBuild script from without Visual Studio, you need to use the /debug command line option.

The trick is that this option is not normally available; you need to set a registry key to enable it.

Enable the MSBuild Debugger

Under the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSBuild\4.0 key, create a string value called EnableDebugger with a value of . . . → Read More: Debugging MSBuild scripts

Generating a type library for Visual Basic 6 ActiveX Components

When generating setup code or isolation code (for Side by Side assemblies and Registration-free COM), VB6 ActiveX Components can be a little troublesome.

ActiveX exes in particular can be difficult, with the WiX heat tool and various SxS tools not being able to harvest COM registration information from them properly.

A good way of avoiding these problems is . . . → Read More: Generating a type library for Visual Basic 6 ActiveX Components

When System.Diagnostics.Process creates a process, it inherits inheritable handles from the parent process.

This post covers the cause of a bug I ran into at work.

Our application would check for available updates when it started, and if they were found, it would launch the installer directly and exit the application immediately, so that the installer could run without encountering file locks.

The installer was complaining our executable was still locked, . . . → Read More: When System.Diagnostics.Process creates a process, it inherits inheritable handles from the parent process.

.NET Decompilers

Reflector history

The de facto .NET decompiler has been Reflector for what seems like forever.

Reflector was originally developed by Lutz Roeder, and made freely available to the community.

It was acquired by Red Gate Software in August 2008, who promised to maintain it as a free product.

They reneged on this promise in February 2011, stating that Reflector would . . . → Read More: .NET Decompilers

How to check if the current user is an Administrator (even if UAC is on)

There may be a scenario where you want to determine from code if the current user is an Administrator.

One example of this which I have had to deal with is checking for software updates.

Say your application contacts a service to see if there is a newer version of the application available; if so, you can download . . . → Read More: How to check if the current user is an Administrator (even if UAC is on)

Error building project when referencing native assembly dependency in app.manifest

If you’re using an app.manifest, and defining assembly dependencies (i.e. for SxS / Side by side / Reg-free COM etc), you may encounter this error when you build the project:

Could not find file ‘AssemblyName, Version=x.x.x.x, PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxxxxx, ProcessorArchitecture=x86, Type=win32′.

This is even when the native assembly is in place where the project can find it.

Example

For example, . . . → Read More: Error building project when referencing native assembly dependency in app.manifest

Running .NET 2 Runtime applications under the .NET 4 Runtime

In some situations, you might want to run a .NET 2 Runtime application (.NET 2, 3.0, 3.5 SP1 etc) under the .NET 4 Runtime – without recompiling.

You can configure your app to execute under the .NET 4 runtime by adding these lines to the executable’s configuration file, under the root configuration element:

Because the security . . . → Read More: Running .NET 2 Runtime applications under the .NET 4 Runtime