I got this odd error message from an internal web service today that stumped me for ~30 minutes. It was:

"aspnet_wp.exe could not be started. The error code for the failure is 80070545. This error can be caused when the worker process account has insufficient rights to read the .NET Framework files. Please ensure that the .NET Framework is correctly installed and that the ACLs on the installation directory allow access to the configured account."



I took a look on some forums and blogs and other users who encountered this error said that they checked permisisons on the framework, the temp directory, the ASP.NET Temp directory and the application path. I did the same. Everything was ok, but the app was still broken. Other users said to uninstall and reinstall .NET 1.1 and that fixed it. I didn't think that was necessary.


How to fix it...

I did some more poking around and noticed that the .NET framework that was executing this was 1.1. It should have been 2.0. Like below:

***Update***:  This problem still intrigued me, so it was looked into some more. It seems that some how a recent install (either WSE 3.0 or AJAX) has caused an issue. All of our 1.1 apps were not responding. Because this server we were working with is a testing box we were able to elevate the permisisons of the ASPNET user higher than "user" and the apps started working again. We elevated the ASPNET user to "Administrator" for the time being. We plan to replace this box in the very near future (few weeks) so its not that big of an issue for us since only developers have access to the system, and, well, its a test system. :) Please note, this is not a desirable thing to do in a production environment.

I've been on the hunt for a good .NET wiki that was open source and I think I've finally found one. The folks over at ScrewTurn Software have developed ScrewTurn Wiki.

Its GPL'd, built on .NET 2.0, does not require SQL Server 2005, works in a medium trust enviroment (that means that you hosted types can use it!) and has many other features which are listed here. The only two things that you'll need are:

1. IIS5 (or better) with .NET 2.0 installed.
2. One write enabled directory in the root of the wiki

If you need to see it in action, check out the .NET Tiers website. The guys over at .NET Tiers are also using this for their site.

This is definately something that can come in handy in the corporate world when you don't have something like SharePoint installed (which offers built in Wiki support).

At work, we just upgraded our machines to Quad Xeon x64 machines with four gigs of ram. NICE..... :) But for some reason the manufacturer loaded 64 bit XP, even though we requested Vista. We upgraded it to 64 bit Vista quite easily, problem solved.

I did run into an issue while installing Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005. I was attempting to install the SP1 Vista Update and I kept getting this error that told me that the proper "patches" were not in place, therefore the SP1 Vista Update would not install. To resolve this error you have to actually install SP1 (the regular one) and then the update. IMHO the documentation isnt that great in this area, I got confused...  See for yourself:

"For developers using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista, Microsoft provides an update to Service Pack 1 called Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista. This update builds on the improvements made in SP1 and delivers a first class experience for developers wanting to take advantages of the new features in Windows Vista."

I was taking this as "this is the SP if you're on Vista".

So... to upgrade to SP1 on Vista... do the following:

1. Install SP1

2. Instal The SP1 update for Vista

3. Get you're code on...

Problem

The .NET Framework reference in the most recent release of Tree Surgeon has an old reference to .NET 2.0 Beta 1. This is in the NAnt.exe.config file.

This will produce results that will not compile when using the <msbuild> task of the NAntContrib Tasks.

Fix

Open the file located in "ProjectName/Tools/nant/NAnt.exe.config" file.

Find this:

<framework 
   name="net-2.0" 
   family="net" 
   version="2.0" 
   description="Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Beta 1" 
   runtimeengine=""
   sdkdirectory="${path::combine(sdkInstallRoot, 'bin')}" 
   frameworkdirectory="${path::combine(installRoot, 'v2.0.40607')}" 
   frameworkassemblydirectory="${path::combine(installRoot, 'v2.0.40607')}"
   clrversion="2.0.40607"
>

Then replace it with this:

This will fix the issue and allow you to remove the <solution> task from the default build file that is included in each project generation.

You will now be able to utilize the <msbuild> task in the NAntContrib. See below:

I've been using Notepad2 for quite awhile now and was recently introduced to Notepad++. I love saving time by launching Notepad2 by typing "n" into the command line. I save all the "otepad"s through the day. Its small, but hey, I learned it from Scott Hanselman, aka: the master of productivty.

After installing Notepad++ I realized I would never use it unless I could launch it with the same quick draw speed as of my favorite Notepad2. I had to type "Notepad++" in the command window to get it going. No! I had already eliminated the "otepad" and now I had two more characters on that same annoyance.

I fixed that annoyance by making a change to this registry key ...

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Notepad++.exe]

I was able to change it to "nn" (yes, I'm still secretly attached to Notepad2 as we speak, but I'm weaning off of it). Now, I can fire up Notepad++ through the command line with a quick "nn".

Here's the registry file if you want to do it yourself.

Download

Notepad++RunFromLettersNN.zip (.35 KB)