I installed a newer version of VistaDB 2.x than what is in SourceSafe and in my project’s reference, and when I tried to run the app in Visual Studio 2005, it was asking me for the newer version of VistaDB.Provider.dll (2.20.25.0). And since my project only had reference to 2.20.22.0, it was a no go.

I spent an hour or two uninstalling the newer version, searching for and getting rid of all the new dlls, and verified all remaining VistaDB dlls on my hard drive to be the correct versions. It still didn’t work.

I finally fixed the problem when I searched the registry for the offending newer version, and removed references to it. Specifically the unwanted registry keys are found below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Fusion \ PublisherPolicy \ Default \ policy.2.[11 or 20].vistadb.provider__7e75aae290f30672

Simply remove any reference to your unwanted versions. I deleted my exact keys before I wrote it down, so I can’t tell you what they were. Also, I guess you can just search the registry for the “bad” version of the VistaDB.Provider.dll using just the version number. Again, in my case, it was 2.20.25.0