This book assumes that you're using ASP.NET MVC 2, but most recipes will work in version 1 and the latest release candidates of version 3 with only minor modification. To run ASP.NET MVC 2, you will need at least Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Web Developer 2008, for which ASP.NET MVC 2 is available as a separate download. If you're already using VS 2010 or VWD 2010, ASP.NET MVC 2 is already installed. If you're not using any version at the moment, I would recommend downloading and installing Visual Web Developer 2010, it's free and pretty great. A few of the chapters have dependencies on free third-party libraries, which are described in the chapters. However, Chapter 9 also assumes the installation of SQL Server Express (2008 or above); this was likely part of your original Visual Studio installation, but if not, it is also a free download.