by Alan S.
20. January 2011 12:56
What a nightmare. I had recently built a new development machine and installed all of the software from scratch. I even got the latest version of Visual Studio 2010 and installed it. I thought I was on my way!
Well, the horror began when I tried to install SQL Server Express 2008 R2. Every time I tried to install or repair, I kept getting a .NET error:
“System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for userSettings/Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.LandingPage.Properties.Settings: Could not load file or assembly 'System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.”
I would then close the window and attempt to find the root of the problem. There’s just something about seeing an error, any error, on a fresh install that bugs the crap out of me. Anyway, after a lot of time spent getting nowhere I decided to try the install one last time. Sure enough, the same error came up. But then I noticed the “Continue” button in the dialog window and thought, “What the heck?”
Surprisingly, it worked! After doing additional research with my new found knowledge, I discovered this seems to be a pretty common problem. So, If you have a setup that includes Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2010 and are trying to install SQL Server Express 2008, just remember to click “Continue” and all your troubles go away! 
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