Could not find required file 'setup.bin'

Question

I\'m unable to build a Setup Project in VS2010, for a Windows Service project. It fails with this error:

Could not find required file \'setup.bin\' in

Answer 1

MY SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM: cannot publish, because setup.bin cannot be found

When using the PUBLISH wizard in vs2008, the application cannot be published because setup.bin cannot be found.

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The short answer is:

Paste the engine folder into the location that is indicated in the ERROR message in the vs2008 IDE.

The engine folder can be found in the Microsoft SDKs folder.

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The long answer is:

In my case, vs2008 was looking for setup.bin in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\engine\.

This location was indicated in the error within the vs2008 IDE.

The engine folder did not exist at the above location, because the engine folder was not there.

The engine folder was in fact at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Engine.

This engine folder location was found by searching the registry for an occurrence of setup.bin

I copied the engine folder from Microsoft SDKs folder and pasted it into the Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0 folder.

This folder copy resolved the problem and allowed me to publish an app.

Here are the specific steps I took:

1. Search the registry for setup.bin

2. When setup.bin is found in the registry, inspect the key and note the folder location of setup.bin (in my case this was C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Engine)

3. In the VS2008 IDE, look in the ERROR window and note the folder location for the setup.bin error (in my case this was C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\engine\)

4. The vs2008 IDE was expecting setup.bin to be in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\engine\, but this engine folder did not exist

5. Copy the engine folder from C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Engine, and paste this folder into the IDE folder at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\