Visual Studio setup problem - 'A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components. Canceling setup.'

Question

I've had a serious issue with my Visual Studio 2008 setup. I receive the ever-so-useful error 'A problem has been encountered while loading the setup components. Canceling setup.' whenever I try to uninstall, reinstall or repair Visual Studio 2008 (team system version). If I can't resolve this issue I have no choice but to completely wipe my computer and start again which will take all day long! I've recently received very strange errors when trying to build projects regarding components running out of memory (despite having ~2gb physical memory free at the time) which has rendered my current VS install useless.

Note I installed VS2005 shell version using the vs_setup.msi file in the SQL Server folder after I had installed VS2008, in order to gain access to the SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services designer in Business Intelligence Development Studio (this is inexplicably unavailable in VS2008).

Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?

P.S.: I know this isn't directly related to programming, however I feel this is appropriate to SO as it is directly related to my ability to program at all!

Note: A colleague found a solution to this problem, hopefully this should help others with this problem.

Answer 1

A colleague found this MS auto-uninstall tool which has successfully uninstalled VS2008 for me and saved me hours of work!!

Hopefully this might be useful to others. Doesn't speak highly of MS's faith in their usual VS maintenance tools that they have to provide this as well!

Answer 2

I had the same error message. For me it was happening because I was trying to run the installer from the DVD rather than running the installer from Add/Remove programs.

Answer 3

In my case, uninstalling from Add&Remove Programs didn't work. Instead, the problem was due to a recently hotfix installed through automatic updates. The hotfix to VS 2008 (in my case) has the number KB952241, so I uninstalled it using Add/Remove Programs checking on the show updates option. After it was unistalled the problem was gone.

Answer 4

I encountered the same problem and found a very easy solution.Go to the following Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/bb968856.aspx

and run VS AutoUninstall tool .This will automatically remove all the components of VS 2008.

Cheers

Answer 5

Sure enough, for me, it was the hotfixes. In Add/Remove Programs, check the "Show Updates" box, and remove ALL of the Hotfixes associated with your version of VS2008. Then try the "Change/Remove" button - it should now proceed without a hitch.

Well, it did for me, anyway... ;-)

Answer 6

I have Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition, and had to remove all updates and Hotfixes:

• Update KB972221
• Hotfix KB973674
• Hotfix KB971091

Reboot, then the following Hotfix appeared, which I then removed as per @riaraos' answer:

• Hotfix KB952241

Before the Change/Remove would work!

Hope that helps someone else.

Answer 7

Uninstall hotfixes installed in related to vs2008 and then try again. It worked for me and hopefully it will for you as well.

Thanks, Zelalem

Answer 8

Remove the following hot fixes and updates

• Update KB972221
• Hotfix KB973674
• Hotfix KB971091

Restart the PC and try to uninstall now. This worked for me without problems.

Answer 9

Microsoft itself posted a KB article about this, and that article has a service pack that they claim fixes the problem. See below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959417/

It took a while for the associated update to install itself, but once it did, I was able to run the Visual Studio setup successfully from the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

Answer 10

You should look for the MSI setup logs in the temp directory of your system. They will contain detailed inforamtion about why the setup failed. I had a similar installation problem with Visual Studio 2008 which I was able to resolve by studying the logs.

Answer 11

I think this sort of question is entirely appropriate to the forum, especially if an easy solution can be found, as would save others hours of pain.

Unfortunately I dont have the solution, but would suggest (if you haven't already)

1. Run FileMon to see if the installer is looking for specific files which are no longer there - this may give some clues.

2. Painful, but try uninstalling other apps based upon the VS shell (eg 2005) first.

Answer 12

Thanks, riaraos, uninstalling KB952241 was the solution for me, too. Before doing that I tried to run the installer from "Programs and Features" and from the installation DVD without success. I did not want to completely remove the VS 2008 installation but only add a few components.

Notes on my system:

Windows 7 Beta 1 Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Answer 13

Okay I had the same issues first my VS2008 was acting up so i tried to uninstall it and it didn't work...I read online that using an AutoUninstall by MS will do the trick it did just that , but left a lot of nasty files behind..

So i used "Windows Install Clean Up" and cleaned up more stuff that had to do with VS.. then went back into Add and remove in control panel Removed the KB952241... then opened up Ccleaner and scanned the registry found a lot of left behind crap from VB2008 removed all that once that was done.

I went ahead and launch the installed back from the CD again and BAM its working.

I did all this without having to restart my PC..

Hope this helps people who are stuck..like i was

Answer 14

In my case, installing visual studio SP1 unbroke the uninstall/repair functionality.

Answer 15

Windows 7 suggested to "Uninstall using recommended settings" after hitting OK in the error message. It solved the problem.

Answer 16

Solution to this is

http://www.dotnetzone.gr/cs/forums/48758/ShowThread.aspx#48758