Visual Studio products are not supported on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server (272707)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual C# .NET (2003)
  • Microsoft Visual C++ .NET (2003)
  • Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (2003)
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
  • Microsoft .NET Framework SDK 1.1
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2003), Enterprise Architect Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2003), Enterprise Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2003), Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0
  • Microsoft .NET Framework SDK 1.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio, Enterprise Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 97
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual C# .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Enterprise Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Professional Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Learning Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++ .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2003), Academic Edition
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows 7.0
  • Microsoft Visual J++ 1.0
  • Microsoft Visual J++ 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual InterDev 1.0
  • Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2002), Enterprise Architect Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2002), Enterprise Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2002), Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2002), Academic Edition
  • Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 6.0c
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, Professional Edition 3.0
  • Microsoft Visual J# .NET 2002
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
  • Microsoft Visual C# 2005
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
This article was previously published under Q272707

SUMMARY

Visual Studio and the products that are contained in Visual Studio have not been tested and are not officially supported when you run them in a Terminal Server client session using Terminal Server on Windows NT 4.0.

Visual Studio .NET and Visual Studio 2005 products are not supported on WinNT 4.0 Terminal Server. They are supported on NT 4.0 with Service Pack Pack 6a and Windows 2000 Terminal Server or later.

Visual Studio 6.0 is supported on Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services.

The system requirements for Visual Studio 6.0 are:
  • Microsoft Windows 95 or later -or-

  • Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or later -or-

  • Windows 2000
The system requirements for Visual Studio 97 are:
  • Windows 95 or later -or-

  • Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (Service Pack 2 recommended) or later -or-

  • Windows NT Workstation 3.51 with Service Pack 5

MORE INFORMATION

Terminal Server is available on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition. Windows Terminal Services are also on Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server. Terminal Server/Terminal Services allows a Windows Server to act as a terminal server for multiple, simultaneous client sessions. Although you can successfully install and run Visual Studio on a terminal client, the behavior of Visual Studio in this environment is not guaranteed on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition.

Various problems have been reported in this environment. For example, after you install Visual Studio 6.0 on Terminal Server, you cannot open the Help system. If you press the F1 key to access Help in a Visual Studio product, such as Visual C++, a Help System dialog box appears with the following error message:
Attempting to use an invalid help file
NOTE: These issues are moot if you are using Windows Terminal Services, which are available on Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server. During the installation of Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio 2005, the Windows Component Update may prompt you to update Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server to Service Pack 6a, even though Service Pack 6a does not exist.

Visual Studio .NET and Visual Studio 2005 are not supported on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server, only on Windows 2000 Terminal Server or higher.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Visual Studio

195878 PRB: MSDN Help Cannot Find msdn*.col File on Terminal Server
240302 PRB: MSDN Library Setup Fails on Terminal Server in Execute Mode
240301 HOWTO: Use the MSDN Library Successfully with Terminal Server
232060 HOWTO: MDAC Setup Troubleshooting Guide

Visual Basic Specific

196201 INFO: Visual Basic Is Not Supported on Terminal Server 4.0
194776 HOWTO: Install a Visual Basic Application on Terminal Server

Visual C++ Specific

272755 INFO: Visual C++ Is Not Supported on Terminal Server 4.0
200983 HOWTO: How to Install Visual C++ on Terminal Server

Visual FoxPro

272756 INFO: Visual FoxPro Is Not Supported on Terminal Server 4.0
219956 PRB: Too Many Files Open Running VFP on Windows Terminal Server
258537 FIX: CONFIG.FPW Setting for Terminal Server Environment
268558 Visual FoxPro on Terminal Services Cannot Start Two Wizards
249716 HOWTO: Use NetRemoteTOD to Obtain Date/Time Info from a Server

Visual InterDev

272758 INFO: Visual InterDev Is Not Supported on Terminal Server 4.0
256197 PRB: Visual InterDev 6.0 Debugging Fails Under Terminal Server

Visual J++

272759 INFO: Visual J++ Is Not Supported on Terminal Server 4.0

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/4/2006
Keywords:kbvs2005applies kbvs2005swept kbhowto kbConfig kbinfo kbServer kbsetup kbSysSettings KB272707 kbAudDeveloper
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