>>>>>Uninstalling and then installing a new version of DxExperience and getting errors that the assemblies in the GAC cannot be deleted/updated etc. Look in c:\windows\assembly with explorer - no files. gacutil.exe /l = 0 files. AAARGH!.
>>>>>
>>>>>Turns out that in low memory conditions Windows 7 will shut off the Indexing Service which effectively shuts down the GAC - no read, no write, no see, no warning. Rebooting doesn't fix it, because it doesn't just stop the service - it turns it off as a Windows feature - just as if it were never installed.
>>>>>
>>>>>Turning it back on in control panel / windows features and then rebooting and the GAC is back - installing and uninstalling works again etc.
>>>>>
>>>>>Took a *lot* of googling and fiddling to figure this out, so I decided to post here hoping it may save somebody else the agony.
>>>>
>>>>Dang that's brutal. What caused the low memory situation?
>>>>Tim
>>>
>>>I my case it could be old age - or it could be 2 instances of VS 2008, 1 of VS2010, vfp9, and multiple firefox pages all open at the same time. ( with probably some other stuff running as well) <bg> but not sure just when it happened as the GAC assemblies still work you just can't see them or add or delete new ones
>>
>>Wow, that sounds like my pc at any given time. I better be careful. I do have 12 Gig of RAM but I know I tax it heavily.
>>Thanks
>>Tim
>
>Actually unless you're running a win 7 64 bit you're not taking 9 of them at all <g> But if you are, maybe the problem wouldn't happen in 64 bit.
>
>Not even sure that's what caused it. But whatever turned off the indexing choked the GAC so if it happens, for whatever reason, this may help.

Thanks Charles. I am running Win 7 on 64 bit with 12 Gig of RAM. I hope not to have any problems and so far I haven't. I wasn't aware of the limitation on memory for 32 bit though. Fortunately, I don't have to do hardware stuff any more.
Tim