Web Test Recorder pane not functioning when recording a web test

Hello,

I'm running into a problem trying to record a webtest:

- In VS2008, when I select "Test->New Test" and then "Web Test", the browser is displayed but the Web Test Recorder pane is not displayed in the browser. I select "View->Explorer Bar->Web Test Recorder 9.0" from the browser menu to display the Web Test Recorder pane, however no URLs are logged in the pane. When I try to click "Stop" in the Web Test Recorder pane, the following error is displayed:

"Unable to load DLL 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.RecorderBarBHO90.dll': The specified module could not be found"

I was able to record web tests for the first week or so after install VS2008, but the error above started occuring today.

I've tried uninstalling VS2008 and re-installing but I'm still having the same problem. Also, I have VS2008 installed on a 2nd machine that shares a network drive (for my projects) with the machine above and it is also having the same problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Sean

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Can you check to see if Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.RecorderBarBHO90.dll is in the GAC? Please also search the registry to find refrences to this DLL, IE finds it through COM registration
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Andy - I'm not sure what "GAC" is could you please explain? The DLL does exist in this directory:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE

I'll also check the registry to see if it's defined there.

Thanks.

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Ok, I checked the registry and the DLL is defined in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT->AppID->QualityTools.RecorderBarBHO90.dll
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OK, hopefully we will not need to check the GAC anyway.

Can you do the following...

In IE (are you using IE7 or IE6?) go to Manage Add-Ons

Look for "Microsoft Web Test Recorder 9.0 Helper", make sure it is there and enabled, if it is disabled, enable it and try again.

If it is not there it is possible that some anti-spyware package has removed it.

If the entry is there, and enabled, you will need to use regedit.

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects

Take a look, you should find this entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{E31CE47F-C268-41ba-897B-B415E613947D}

(if it is not there, perform the following procedure for each entry there, as it is possible that the BHO was registered under a different class id)

Now cross-check in

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E31CE47F-C268-41ba-897B-B415E613947D}

You should find

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E31CE47F-C268-41ba-897B-B415E613947D}\InprocServer32 with a default value of something like : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.RecorderBarBHO90.dll

That is how IE finds the helper.

Now double check that the file is at the location above

If all that fails, try sending me the result of the following procedure...

The GAC is a place that .NET puts executables that need to be shared between applications. The file we are talking about here needs to be accessible to IE, and we normally put it in the GAC.

It is a special place, gacutil can list the content.

Go to the start menu, find Microsoft Visual Studio / Visual Studio Tools / Visual Studio Command Prompt

In that window type "gacutil /l", send me the results for all entries starting with Microsoft.VisualStudio