After trundling happily along with DX8.1 for a while on my laptop, I decided to make the jump to DX9. I installed the SDK, but I ended up typing in the include path into the search path for executibles rather than include directories. I deleted the include path straight away, but also deleted ($VSInstallDir)\bin. And that''s where my problem started. VS.net 2003 now won''t compile anything, giving me the error "Error spawning Cl.exe". I tried using the Repair Installation option on the disk, and although it restored the line I deleted, it still gives me the same error. I also tried running CL.exe from the command line, and it gave me some bumph about "mspdb71.dll" not being present, even though after I searched for that and confirmed it is present on the PC. Is there anything I can do to fix this without completely deleting and then reinstalling it, or am I going to have to delete and completely reinstall the thing?

I don''t know a lot about .NET, but it sounds like you''re going to have to reinstall completely...but I can''t say I completely understand what happened.

Did you delete the \bin folder in your .NET directory? Because that is, uh....bad.


"TV IS bad Meatwad...but we f***in need it"

If you''re a girl under the age of 12, and you''re high on marijuana...don''t ride your bike. -TRUTH

I didn''t actually delete the bin file from the hard drive... just the search path for executibles, it should have been restored when I used the repair option in the VS.net installation disk.

It all appears to be down to the fact that cl.exe won''t run because of this mspdb71.dll which it insists is missing but is still there. I may have to go and delete the entire thing and reinstall it, after all.

Since you actually know that you removed the exact include path entry ($VSInstallDir)\bin, why don''t you simply add it in again??

I used the Repair option on the disk, which has added it in again, but it appears there''s some dll-related problem. I''ll probably see if I can think of any other solution, and then if not reinstall.