Yay for Microsoft!

OK, so here's what happened:

• I'm working on an application that uses the CredUI. To do so, I need to include WinCred.h. No problem, right? Except that WinCred.h didn't ship with VS.NET 2003. In order to get it, I need to download the Platform SDK.

• So I do just that. I download and install the Platform SDK, then try to start Visual Studio.

• Except VS doesn't start. Instead it gives an error: "MS Development Environment has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup." I search all over the net, looking for a solution.

• I spend all day trying different things: uninstall the .NET Framework manually, uninstall, reinstall, slaughter a goat and soak the computer in its blood - nothing works.

• I notice that it only gives this error for my user account. Not for any of the other user accounts that I have set up. So I move my profile to a different folder, creating a default profile for my user account. I figure removing any filesystem documents unique to me and changing out my registry hive would do it, right?

• But it doesn't. Finally I give up and delete and recreate my account to get a different SID, and that worked.

But that's a whole day down the drain, and I never found out what the problem was. If anyone happens to find out, do let me know!