Fixing the Blank Diagram problem in SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager after installing SP6 for Visual Studio 6.

I have had this problem for a while now, after installing SP6 and ADO2.8 on a WinXP machine.
SQL Server's Enterprise Manager showed all Database Diagrams as blank, even if when I opened them from another PC they appeared OK.

The fix is:

1. Locate MDT2DF.DLL (default location= C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSDesigners98). The SP6 version is 2.0.0.9586.
   This is the DLL that causes the problem.
2. Find the same DLL from another PC with SP5 or extract it from the SP5 archives and check the version. It should be 2.0.0.8958
   (For those of you who cannot find this version, I've uploaded it here)
3. Now rename the SP6 version as MDT2DF.DLL.OLD and copy the SP5 version into the MSDesigners98 directory.

I can't say for certain (I did it anyway) but you may need to re-register it. From Start-->Run, type:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSDesigners98\MDT2df.dll"

I'm putting this page here while waiting for an MS Hotfix so that some of you will be lucky enough to stumble upon it and NOT lose countless workhours in vain!

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