(INSTALLATION) QT menu does not show in Visual Studio 2008 GUI

hi there
i have installed qt 4.7.2 GNU GPL and the Microsoft VS 2008. i think i did things right (including env var setup in the control panel of windos XP etc.: i already installed this on another PC)
i can compile the program flawlessly (i.e. qt libs have been linked) but i cannot see the qt menu (in-between the view and project' menus)) as i did in the former installation
if i double click a .ui file, the plain text editor is launched instead o0f qt designe: i can open the gui file in QtDesigner launched from outside VS2008

what could this be?
please help before i go through the (long) installation again

thanks much