Is it possible to install Windows Phone 7 tools in VS2010 Pro without Express

Question

I have VS2010 Pro installed through DreamSpark. I really don't want anything more than I need on my PC, but the WP7 SDK insists on installing VS Express for development.

Can I just install the SDK without VS Express?

Answer 1

When you install the Windows Phone 7 development tools "Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone" will always be installed but if you have another version of Visual Studio installed no shortcuts to the Express version are installed and it's not supported by the "Visual Studio Version Selector".

"Add or Remove" programs does not support a way to uninstall VS Express so any uninstall would have to be done manually.

VS Express is actually very small when you consider the components it shares with the full version so you woudn't save a lot of space if you did remove it. And, actually, if you were that short of diskspace you've got bigger issues.

My recommendation is to just ignore it if you don't need it.

I also, occassionally, find it useful to have installed (I also have VS Ultimate installed) as it makes it easier to open sample apps and demos (downloaded from the net) which were created with the express version. It saves manually editing the solution files.

Answer 2

You can proceed with the install without concern for Express. The install knows you've got Pro and will leave this as your Visual Studio environment.