Can't uninstall books Online CTP Preview

It shows in Add/Remove Programs. I had ASP.NET 2.0 installed and Add/Remove Programs tells me I need 2.0 before I can Install Books Online. But I'm trying to Uninstall Books Online. I uninstalled 2.0 with no effect. I reinstalled 2.0 with no effect. I searched Program Files and the Register and can't find Book Online. It won't go away. How to get rid of it? Thank you.

There is no Books Online dependency on ASP.NET. However, the CTP versions of SQL Server (including Books Online) do have a dependency on a specific version of .NET Framework 2.0. That is, the version of .NET Frameworks 2.0 required for the June CTP is different than the version of .NET Framework 2.0 required for the September CTP. The specific version of .NET Framework 2.0 must be installed and available when you uninstall SQL Server or Books Online. This is an unfortunate side effect of one beta application having a dependency on another beta application.
Please try these steps to get your CTP version of Books Online uninstalled.
1. Uninstall the version of .NET Frameworks you have installed now.
2 Install the .NET Frameworks 2.0 version that is appropriate for the CTP version of Books Online you have installed by using one of the following links.

For the September CTP, select the download link to the version of .NET Frameworks available from this site : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ADC75E35-7245-4038-9B8A-B8FABAEC16DA&displaylang=en

For the June CTP, select the download link to the version of .NET Frameworks available from this site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f0d182c1-c3aa-4cac-b45c-bd15d9b072b7&DisplayLang=en

If you're not sure which CTP version of Books Online you have, right-click in any BOL topic and select View Source. Search for the words "Topic built:". The date after that phrase will either be a September or June date.

3. From Add/Remove Programs uninstall Books Online.
4. From Add/Remove Programs uninstall .NET Frameworks 2.0 installed in step 2.

Regards,

|||Thanks for taking the time to respond. After going to bed at 4 AM, again, and awakening from a nightmare I resolved to cut my losses, reformat the hard drive and start fresh. The first thing I installed, after Windows and all my drivers, was dot Net 2.0 and the SQL 2005 Server 180 day Evaluation program. Seems to be working fine.

I would recommend this to anyone if their situation permits. Now I have a clean machine, which provides a comfortable feeling. It will take many more hours to reinstall and reconfigure all my programs, but that dwarfs [[edit - oops, is dwarfed by ]] the time already wasted. I'm not blaming Microsoft, and I understand that this was Beta software. This 919 Meg download takes an hour and a half, but it includes the 2005 version of Visual Studio, which is a beautiful program. Many thanks to Microsoft for their fine work. Looking forward to the upcoming 2005 road show in Olando.|||

Hi Steve,
I'm glad you were able to resolve the problem. I know starting from scratch can be time consuming, but as you pointed out, when going from beta software to production code, it's definitely worth starting with a clean machine (even on a test machine).

If possible, you might consider using something like Virtual PC for testing future beta applications.

Regards,
Gail

|||Your instructions were much more precise than the "read me" file. Could the read me be improved?

The trouble is too many variables. Incomplete instructions require guessing, blind allies, recovery, trying something else, etc. The advantage of a read me file is that it can be updated.

I spent probably 24 nonproductive hours with this and a similar Beta problem a couple weeks ago. Productive time, learning something new, is fine. Time going around in circles due to arbitrary idiosyncracies is different. For example, I don't mind the 8 hours I spent the other day debugging a javascript. Specific Beta version dependencies is arbitrary information.

Thanks again.|||I'll check into getting the readme modified.

Thanks,|||

Gaile,

I had the exact issue. Your help above sold my issue perfectly. All I did was install only the .NET Framework I needed and my BOL uninstalled just fine.

Thanks,

Scott