Can not uninstall Microsoft Device Emulator 3.0 on 64 bit Vista / Server 2008
I recently upgraded from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 on my Quad Core server.
Note keyword was upgraded. Other than having to grab Vista Drivers for the 3 NVIDIA graphics cards, was relatively painless.
Visual Studio 2008 Beta Version was already installed. It ran fine for the last week or so but I decided to revisit the Ajax coding in one of my projects and found that with the latest bits for the Ajax Toolkit (targeting .Net 3.5) - too many issues occurring (after all everything worked fine targeting 2.0 and using the 2.0 Toolkit bits). I deduced that probably not having the RTM version of VS was the most likely culprit (SPs and hotfixes had been installed on top of the VS Beta so...), or at least responsible for the inability to properly debug.
I was able to uninstall all the previous components that were recommended on the blogs with the exception of Microsoft Device Emulator 3.0 (X64). This naturally did not allow the install of Visual Studio to install the remote debugger and other related X64 components. I tried the tool for removal, tried installing both the 32 and 64 bit versions of the Device Emulator...nothing would work.... For whatever reason the Control Panel on Server 2008 would not allow the uninstall of the previous 3.0 version of the Device Emulator...
Here is how I fixed it:
In the Documents and Settings\All Users\Microsoft\ directory delete the folder: Microsoft Device Emulator
Next use RegEdit to find all occurances of Microsoft Device Emulator in the registry and delete the entries (about 25 total)
Reboot
Either Re-Install/Repair VS 2008 or after launching VS 2008 installer - select / deselect an option under "Add Additional" and the installer should be able to install the remote debugger.
You should now be able to launch the remote debugger when using a X64 Vista or Longhorn (Windows Server 2008) OS...
Also note that when using the Ajax Toolkit that is targeted for .Net 3.5 - you must also make sure that the System.Core, System.Web.Extensions, and System.Web.Extensions.Design - references added - target version 3.5 and not version 2.0.
If the only issue is that can not rid the Emulator - the steps above should fix your problem and save you a ton of effort... The running of the VS 2008 Beta removal tool did nothing that was referenced on some of the blogs really did not work for me...It took approximately 3 de-installs, re-installs of VS 2008, 3 attempts to install the Device Emulator separately hoping it would fix the uninstall issue (wouldn't install or de-install the app)..when none of the normal tactics seemed to work I resorted to old school tactics as not being able to attach a debugger is well - I wasn't going to do a complete re-install of the OS...
Hopefully this saves someone the same frustration....