"The project type is not supported by this installation" ???

[Bill Fuller]

I downloaded the sample code for the Windows Workflow article in the
December 2006 edition of MSDN magazine. However, when I attempted to start
the solution, I get an error for each of the three projects in the solution
stating that "The project type is not supported by this installation."

Hmmmm.... I have installed Visual Studio 2005 with SP1, Framework 3.0,
Visual Studio extensions for WCF/WPF/WF... what else is left???

The error message is rather ambiguous and gives no hint as to what "type" it
is looking for.

Any suggestions?

 

[Bill Fuller]

OK... I found the problem. If this happens to anyone else here, check your
GAC for the following:

System.Workflow.ComponentModel.dll
System.Workflow.Activities.dll
System.Workflow.Runtime.dll
Microsoft.Workflow.VSDesigner.dll

It turns out there is a critical, not-well documented nuance to installing
WF into VS 2005. If "Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow
Foundation (EN).exe" is not run in its own folder, it APPEARS to install
succsessfully, however you will see that "Microsoft.Workflow.VSDesigner.dll"
is NOT in your GAC, causing this error (thank you for the heads-up,
Microsoft).

The solution is simply to run the WF install in its own directory and all
will be well.