Installing Crystal Reports.NET
Crystal Reports.NET ships as a component of Visual Studio .NET and can be installed from the common Visual Studio .NET setup utility. If you are installing Visual Studio .NET for the first time, you may need to complete the Windows Component Update before you can begin - the setup utility will look at your current configuration and determine whether or not you need the updated files and applications. If required, setup will guide you through the update process.

The Component Update installs the following updates to Windows 2000:
Microsoft 2000 Service Pack 2 (if you are using Windows 2000)
Microsoft Windows Installer 2.0
Microsoft Front Page Web Extensions Client
Setup Runtime Files
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and Internet Tools
Microsoft Data Access Components 2.7
Microsoft .NET Framework
After you have completed the component update, you can install Visual Studio .NET. The option to install Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET can be found under the Enterprise Development Tools. By default, when you select the Crystal Reports option, all of the related components will be installed as well.

Once it is installed, the Crystal Reports icon will appear on the Visual Studio .NET splash screen and from the Add New Item menu, you should see the option to add a new Crystal Report, as shown opposite.

With the installation complete, we can jump right into looking at the samples that are installed with the product and learning about Crystal Reports.NET.