After much confusion around the error note from the Windows Phone getting started steps via the new Microsoft App Hub, it turns out that one of the links is incorrect! The link opens directly to part-2 of the suggested install. When I finally went to the actual download page I understood why installing this patch didn't work. It was because the patch depended on the first part of a 2-part series.
Lesson, always study the download pages rather than relying on a direct download link.
Furthermore, when I went to write this blog five minutes later the original page had already been updated. And this was after days of looking at the same page! Upon having a problem I should have saved off the text from the page or the entire page itself as I was unable to find these exact instructions again.
However the page was still up on another server and after taking a closer look at it, I see now that I was in way too much of a hurry, and had combined the steps from one version and an older version. Since the last time I installed the tools had so many steps I had assumed that development setup was more challenging than installing one file.
Yet another lesson, look closely at the page headers and determine which version you are actually installing. Allow challenging to articulate all of this experience into words, my main note to self and everyone else that might be helped through this post. Study the install page and corresponding download pages carefully.
The good news is that all of this was accomplished from a virtual snapshot through hyper-v. So easy to delete the snapshot and start again from a stable point.
