Install Microsoft Document Explorer

Mark Berry June 14, 2011

If you ask Visual WebGui 6.4’s installer to include documentation in the install, it looks for Microsoft Document Explorer. But Document Explorer is no longer included in Visual Studio 2010 (complaints, Microsoft’s story). So where can I get Document Explorer?

A comment in this thread recommends installing Document Explorer from the Visual Studio 2008 media. But what if you are using Visual Web Developer Express? I couldn’t find Document Explorer on the VWD 2008 media.

After some hunting around, I found that Commerce Server offers a “prerequisite cabinet (CAB) file” that includes Document Explorer 2005 (DExplore.exe). I downloaded one 34MB cab file, extracted DExplore.exe and installed it. After that, Visual WebGui no longer complained about the missing Document Explorer.

To find the CAB files:

1. Download and open the Commerce Server 2007 Quick Install Guide.
2. The CAB files are listed at the end of the section on installing prerequisites. Search for “The locations for the CAB files are as follows:”.
3. Select and download the CAB file.
4. Extract DExplore.exe and install it.
5. Save the DExplore.exe installer somewhere; you never know how long these links will work!

Direct links to the English CAB files:

Server 2008 32-bit:  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=63706
Server 2008 64-bit:  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=63730

The 32-bit installer worked fine under Windows 7. Visual WebGui documentation is available in the Document Explorer:

Alternatives

If all you need is Visual WebGui documentation, these alternatives may be easier:

• View Visual WebGui documentation online.
• Download the documentation as a .chm file:  search this page for “Visual WebGui Documentation”.

2 Comments

1. Clay Gillman   |  June 17, 2011 at 6:00 am

   Thank you. I was looking all over for this.

   
2. Extremely thankful   |  October 05, 2011 at 2:53 am

   This is exactly what I needed. Been looking for this all ower the web.