Ruthlessly Helpful

Update 2012-06-04: It still amazes me that not a thing has changed to make it any easier to download FxCopSetup.exe version 10 in the nearly two years since I first read this Channel 9 forum post: http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/561743-How-I-downloaded-and-installed-FxCop As you read the Channel 9 forum entry you can sense the confusion and frustration. However, to this day the Microsoft Download Center still gives you the same old “readme.txt” file instead of the FxCopSetup.exe that you’re looking for.

Below I describe the only Microsoft “official way” (no, you’re not allowed to distribute it yourself) — that I know of — to pull out the FxCopSetup.exe so you can install it on a build server, distribute within your team, or to do some other reasonable thing. It is interesting to note the contrast: the latest StyleCop installer is one mouse click on this CodePlex page: http://stylecop.codeplex.com/

Update 2012-01-13: Alex Netkachov provides short-n-sweet instructions on how to install FxCop 10.0 on this blog post http://www.alexatnet.com/content/how-install-fxcop-10-0

Quick, flash mob! Let’s go liberate the FxCop 10.0 setup program from the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 version 7.1 setup.

Have you ever tried to download FxCop 10.0 setup program? Here are the steps to follow, but a few things won’t seem right:

1. [Don’t do this step!] Go to Microsoft’s Download Center page for FxCop 10.0 (download page) and perform the download. The file that is downloaded is actually a readme.txt file.

2. The FxCop 10.0 read-me file has two steps of instruction:

FxCop Installation Instructions
1. Download the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 version 7.1.
2. Run %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\FXCop\FxCopSetup.exe to install FxCop.

3. On the actual FxCop 10.0 Download Center page, under the Instructions heading, there are slightly more elaborate instructions:

• Download the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Version 7.1 [with a link to the download]
• Using elevated privileges execute FxCopSetup.exe from the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\FXCop folder

NOTE:

On the FxCop 10.0 Download Center page, under the Brief Description heading, shouldn’t the text simply describe the steps and provide the link to the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 version 7.1 download page? That would be more straightforward.

4. Use the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 version 7.1 link to jump over to the SDK download page.

5. [Don’t actually download this, either!] The estimated time to download on a T1 is 49 min. The download file is winsdk_web.exe is 498 KB, but under the Instruction heading the explanation is provided: The Windows SDK is available thru a web setup (this page) that enables you to selectively download and install individual SDK components or via an ISO image file so that you can burn your own DVD. Follow the link over to download the ISO image file.

6. Download the ISO image file on the ISO download page. This is a 570 MB download, which is about 49 min on a T1.

7. Unblock the file and use 7-Zip to extract the ISO files.

8. Navigate to the C:\Downloads\Microsoft\SDK\Setup\WinSDKNetFxTools folder.

9. Open the cab1.cab file within the WinSDKNetFxTools folder. Right-click and select Open in new window from the menu.

10. Switch over to the details file view, sort by name descending , and find the file that’s name starts with WinSDK_FxCopSetup.exe … ” plus some gobbledygook (mine was named “WinSDK_FxCopSetup.exe_all_enu_1B2F0812_3E8B_426F_95DE_4655AE4DA6C6”.)

11. Make a sensibly named folder for the FxCop setup file to go into, for example, create a folder called C:\Downloads\Microsoft\FxCop\Setup.

12. Right-click on the “WinSDK_FxCopSetup.exe + gobbledygook” file and select Copy. Copy the “WinSDK_FxCopSetup.exe + gobbledygook” file into C:\Downloads\Microsoft\FxCop\Setup folder.

13. Rename the file to “FxCopSetup.exe”. This is the FxCop setup file.

14. So the CM, Dev and QA teams or anyone on the project that needs FxCop doesn’t have to perform all of these steps copy the 14 MB FxCopSetup.exe file to a network share.

That’s it. Done.

Apparently, a decision was made to keep the FxCop setup off Microsoft’s Download Center. Now the FxCop 10 setup is deeply buried within the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Version 7.1. Since the FxCop setup was easily available as a separate download it doesn’t make sense to bury it now.

Microsoft’s FxCop 10.0 Download Page really should offer a simple and straightforward way to download the FxCopSetup.exe file. This is way too complicated and takes a lot more time than is appropriate to the task.

P.S.: Much thanks to Matthew1471’s ASP BlogX post that supplied the Rosetta stone needed to get this working.