VS2005/VSTO will not recognize Outlook 2003

[Alex]

Help! I can't get my VS2005 Pro/VSTO 2005 install to recognize Outlook 2003
in order to create an Outlook add-in. I installed everything from scratch
onto a Windows XP Pro laptop. When I tried to create an Outlook Add-in
project, I got a VS2005 error dialog noting:

"Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 SP1 or newer is not installed on this
computer. You must install a version of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 that
supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System
projects."

At this time I had a complete Office 2003 install with 100% of the
recommended Microsoft Update patches and service packs applied. I installed
from fresh ISOs downloaded last week via my MSDN subscription. I could run
Outlook and according to its About dialog it was SP2.

I even tried uninstalling Outlook 2003, re-installing it, installing Office
2003 SP1 (at which time Outlook's About dialog noted "SP1"), and I still get
this error.

This is highly frustrating. What black magic do I have to work to get
something this simple working?!? I hope Outlook add-in end users don't have
these kinds of install headaches!!! Maybe the followup question would be
"which versions of Outlook 2003 support MS VSTO 2005 projects?"

I'd hate to write a cool add-in only to find out that a minority of Outlook
users can actually use it. I appreciate any help with this issue, or pointers
on whom I can contact at Microsoft to resolve this matter ASAP.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

For VSTO 2005 you need Office Professional or above. Did you install the
Office 2003 PIA and Outlook 2003 PIA at minimum? Those aren't installed by
default.