Error Code: 66A when installing the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 for Windows Vista

I installed Visual Studio 2005 on Vista recently and got an error when attempting to open a new project. Not to worry, I rememeber a friend mentioning that I need to install Visual Studio 2005 SP1. I quickly downloaded Visual Studio 2005 SP1 for Windows Vista and install it, but it complain that it can’t find the Visual Studio 2005 software. Windows update also attempt to install Windows Studio 2005 SP1 for Windows Vista during the OS updates, which I assume to be the same file I just downloaded. It however failed to install, the updater list “Error Code: 66A”.

It turns out that there are actually two Visual Studio 2005 SP1. There’s Visual Studio 2005 SP1, which you have to download and install first. Afterwards, you can you Windows updater to install Visual Studio 2005 SP1 for Windows Vista. The SP1 for Windows Vista will not install until you first install SP1. Once I installed Visual Studio 2005 SP1 first, the error code went away when I installed Visual Studio 2005 SP1 for Windows Vista.

To further the confusion, Visual Studio 2005 SP1 has a separate updater for Visual Studio 2005 Express and Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite. Use the express installer for Visual Studio 2005 express, and the team suite installer for everything else.