Question

In short I’m looking for the executable names and registry paths to the InstallDir key for each of the Visual Studio 2012 Express editions.

They are (minus the RC label)

• Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web
• Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012

The registry path will be in the HKLM hive and be something like:

{HKLM}\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\????\11.0

The executable names is probably different for each edition if previous versions of VS Express are anything to go by.

For completeness, here’s the edition number, version, solution version and HKLM relative registry path of each of the previous versions of Visual Studio .Net from 2002 up to 2012.

public class VSType
{
    public VSType(){}
    public VSType(string edition, string version, string solutionVersion, string hklmRegistryPath) {/*...*/}
    public static VSType VS2002 = new VSType("2002", "7.0", "7.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\7.0");
    public static VSType VS2003 = new VSType("2003", "7.10", "8.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\7.1");
    public static VSType VS2005 = new VSType("2005", "8.0", "9.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\8.0");
    public static VSType VS2008 = new VSType("2008", "9.0", "10.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\9.0");
    public static VSType VS2010 = new VSType("2010", "10.0", "11.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\10.0");
    public static VSType VS2012 = new VSType("2012", "11.0", "12.00", "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\11.0");
}

public class VSExpressType : VSType
{
    public VSExpressType(VSType vsType, string name, string exeName, string hklmRegistryPath) {/*...*/}

    // 2005  ***********************************************************************
    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2005CSharp = new VSExpressType(VS2005,
        "Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition",
        "VCSExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VCSExpress\\8.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2005VB = new VSExpressType(VS2005,
        "Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition",
        "vbexpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VBExpress\\8.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2005Web = new VSExpressType(VS2005,
        "Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition",
        "VWDExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VWDExpress\\8.0");

    // 2008  ***********************************************************************
    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2008CSharp = new VSExpressType(VS2008,
        "Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition",
        "VCSExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VCSExpress\\9.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2008VB = new VSExpressType(VS2008,
        "Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition",
        "vbexpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VBExpress\\9.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2008Web = new VSExpressType(VS2008,
        "Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition",
        "VWDExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VWDExpress\\9.0");

    // 2010  ***********************************************************************
    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2010CSharp = new VSExpressType(VS2010,
        "Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express Edition",
        "VCSExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VCSExpress\\10.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2010VB = new VSExpressType(VS2010,
        "Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Express Edition",
        "vbexpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VBExpress\\10.0");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2010Web = new VSExpressType(VS2010,
        "Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express Edition",
        "VWDExpress.exe",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VWDExpress\\10.0");

    // 2012 ***********************************************************************
    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2012WIn8 = new VSExpressType(VS2012,
        "Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8",
        "EXENAME",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\REGISTRYPATH");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpress2012Web = new VSExpressType(VS2012,
        "Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web",
        "EXENAME",
        "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\REGISTRYPATH");

    public static VSExpressType VSExpressTFS2012 = new VSExpressType(VS2012,
                "Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012",
                "EXENAME",
                "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\REGISTRYPATH");
}

Answer 1

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8

• Exe Name: VSWinExpress.exe
• Reg Path: {HKLM}\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VSWinExpress\\11.0

Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web

• Exe Name: VWDExpress.exe
• Reg Path: {HKLM}\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\VWDExpress\\11.0

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012

• ExeName: TfsMgmt.exe for the Management console
• Reg Path: {HKLM}\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\TeamFoundationServer\\11.0

Note that there is no InstallDir directly under the TFS\11 path. Instead there’s an InstalledComponents node with a list of compents that are installed and InstallPath keys for each.

Also note that on 64 bit PCs, the keys will be under the {HKLM}\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\ node.