29 Dec 08 Bluetooth: This installer be run on Windows Vista only

“This installer be run on Windows Vista only”

That is the exact error message that my friend’s Dell Inspiron 530 with Windows Vista Home Premium had when I tried to install an IOGear Bluetooth Adapter (Model GBU221). The device is just a Broadcom device that IOgear has slapped their logo on and the setup was from Broadcom themselves. Going online for a solution proved to be fruitless, various people had this error and some of the solutions were so ridiculous that I wasn’t even going to attempt it.

When attempting to exit the installer a nice little Visual C++ runtime error popped up. Big clue here folks. A quick visit to Vista’s “Programs & Features” option in the Control Panel (come on Microsoft what was wrong with Add/Remove Programs. When I select Classic mode on the left pane I expect Classic wording too) showed me that Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 runtime was installed not once but twice. One was ~460kb and the other was ~2mb. It seems that Dell has created a small problem in their install image. Perhaps they were trying to install both 2005 and 2008 but decided to install 2005 twice. Not sure really. However this could explain that the only other people getting this error (so far at least) are Dell owners. Another reason that anything Dell continues to suck, but that’s a topic for another time.

Solution time:
I proceeded to download Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) and Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86). Removed both runtime packages then rebooted, installed (2005 first, then 2008) the two downloaded runtime packages, rebooted but of course once more and suddenly the setup recognized I had Windows Vista and no more runtime error.

Ah the joys of Vista and Dell….

Tags: bluetooth, broadcom, dell sucks, microsoft, problems, Vista