I’ve solved the issue but I’m posting this in case someone else runs into the same problem. Before installing SF v1.7.3.1, I started with a fresh Windows 7 64-bit image and fresh installs of VS2005, VS2008, & VS2010 (I need to keep the previous VS releases for SQL Business Intelligence Studio). After the SF install finished I was able to see the MicroFour dlls in the add reference dialog of VS2005 & VS2008, but not VS2010. The  problem is caused by the SF setup program not adding a registry key giving the path to the SF dlls in  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NetFramework\v.2.0.50727\AssemblyFoldersEx. This prevents VS2010 from seeing the SF assemblies. AsssemblyFoldersEx has sub folders for each version of the CLR which allows VS2010 to filter the assemblies based on the CLR version that is being targeted in a particular project.  A key with the assembly path is added to HEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NetFramework\.NetFramework\AssemblyFolders which allows VS2005 & VS2008 to see the assemblies. The same issue exists in the 32-bit version of Windows 7 but the registry paths are different

Since I haven’t seen a post from anyone else experiencing this problem my first guess would be that it has something to do with the fact that I have three versions of VS installed prior to running the SF setup program. I haven’t tried it but the setup program may add the correct paths if only VS2010 is present of the system.

So if you install SF on VS2010 and can’t see the SF assemblies in the add reference dialog, check the registry. If the AssemblyFoldersEX key is missing, just add it and problem solved.

Thanks for the heads up Larry. I'll make sure Trent knows about this too.

I'd would be curious as to what else may have been in your environment because the most common setup tested (including several I have done recently) are on Windows 7 64-bit machines with VS2010.  In fact, we tested almost an identical scenario as you just described the other day, minus VS 2005 (which should not affect the install).

This seems strange, but I am glad that you are working.  If you can come up with a static reproduction I would love to know about it as I have not yet seen a problem with this setting that you mentioned until your post here.

Trent ,

Thanks for looking at the issue. I can’t isolate the cause, but whatever it is in my environment it is consistent. I’ve uninstalled and re-installed SF a number of times and it always adds the assembly path to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders but not to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727\AssemblyFoldersEx. After I manually add the key to AssemblyFolderEx everything works fine so there is no need to spend more time on it. But if anyone else finds the SF assemblies missing from the VS add reference dialog, they should check the registry for a missing key.

Thanks, Larry.