SSDT Power Tools November 2012 for Visual Studio 2012 – Installation Steps

When VS 2012 informed me there was an update for the SSDT Power tools, I was expecting to click the update button and that would be it. Instead, a message popped up informing that the SQL Server Data Tools reference was missing. Knowing that I already had SQL Server Data Tools installed, I decided to go straight to the SSDT Power Tools site and install it from there. It did install, but when I opened VS 2012 and went to the SQL Server Object Explorer, VS crashed… every time. Certainly not the desired effect, so I immediately uninstalled the vsix by going to Tools > Extensions and Updates > Installed > Tools. Now that VS 2012 was not crashing, it was now time to figure out why it would not work. Here are the steps for installing it correctly.

1. The first step is to update the version of the SQL Server Data Tools at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/jj650015
   1. Download the update in step 2 from the page above, but do not install yet
   2. Install the Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier Application Framework (November 2012) at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35756
      1. Everything on this page needs to be installed. If you are on an x64 machine, the x86 versions also need to be installed.  This is the order I took.
         1. ENU\x64\SqlDom.msi and ENU\x86\SqlDom.msi
         2. ENU\x64\SQLSysClrTypes.msi and ENU\x86\SQLSysClrTypes.msi
         3. ENU\x64\DACFramework.msiand ENU\x86\DACFramework.msi
   3. Now install the SQL Server Data Tools downloaded in bullet 1 above
2. Finally, install the SSDT Power Tools found at http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/96a2f8cc-0c8b-47dd-93cd-1e8e9f34a917

SSDT and the power tools should now work as expected.  Even though this is for the November 2012 release, these steps may be needed for future updates.