Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Uninstall

The Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate was uploaded for MSDN subscribers this morning.  It should be generally available on February 10th.

In order to install the RC, however, you must first uninstall the Beta 2, if you have it.

There are dire warnings about what might happen if you mess up the uninstall.  Here is the order in which I did it on my Windows 7 machine (as it happens, while I was introducing my three children, for the first time, to The Matrix):

1.  I uninstalled all my Silverlight 4 bits.  I’m not sure if this is strictly necessary, but according to Gu’s blog, SL 4 won’t work with the VS 2010 RC anyways until the next SL drop.

2.  If you have Team Explorer installed, as I did, you will need to uninstall the Microsoft Team Foundation 2010 Object Model.

3. Uninstall Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 (whichever version you have – mine was the Ultimate).

4. Now for .NET 4 itself.  I tried to uninstall Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Muti-Targeting Pack, but got a message that this had already been uninstalled and the entry subsequently disappeared from my Programs and Features window.

5. Uninstall Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended.  A warning comes up stating that some of your applications may no longer work if you continue in your misguided path.  Ignore the warning and plow forward.  A reboot is required.

6. Uninstall Microsoft .NET 4 Client Profile.  A reboot is required.

At this point I was able, finally, to install my shiny new version of Visual Studio 2010.  For kicks, I built a quick Hello World project using SL 3.  I also ran a previous SL 3 project.  No problems to report, and the RC IDE does seem much more responsive than the Beta 2.  Gu’s blog does mention, however, that there are problems with multi-touch using the .NET Framework 4 RC.

… oh, and the full uninstall of the beta 2 and installation of the RC takes, in case you were wondering, approximately as much time as watching The Matrix from the opening credits up to the point where Mr. Smith is run over by a train.

Addendum (2/12):

I’ve been having a problem with the RC crashing whenever I type too fast.  I have a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch which installs a service called “WTouch Service”.  By disabling the service, as well as the Wacom drivers, I was able to make the issue go away, sort of.

Addendum (2/17):

Finally a patch has been released for the Intellisense issues.  Download here.