(I encountered the identical issue. After many tries I SOLVED it and located the MY ROOT CAUSE. I keep my try path here but you can skip to the end if you want.)
I want to point it out that BE VERY CAREFUL WITH enden's solution 2. Some other programs may cache installation packages in the C:\ProgramData\Pacakges Cache
folder. If you remove data from that folder, you may jeopardize other programs installation/uninstallation.
I encountered this multiple failures during install VS2015. And after I remove all the content from the C:\ProgramData\Pacakges Cache
, both my VS2013 and VS2015 stuck in the Programs and Features
window and I cannot change/repair/uninstall
them.
To fix the change/repair/uninstall
failure, I have to go to below 2 registry keys:
First of all: BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING TO IT.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall]
And remove every key whose InstallLocation
points to the C:\ProgramData\Pacakges Cache
AND whose DispalyName
looks related to Visual Studio 2013/2015 (this may requrie some experience/intuition).
Then, the stuck items of VS2013/2015 in Program & Features window are gone. And now I am able to re-install the VS2013.
But I still cannot install VS2015 with the installer. The error is still as below:
But at least I can change/repair/uninstall VS2015 in the Prgram & Features window. So I choose to repair it. But the repair doesn't work. I still got the same error as above.
Then I uninstalled the failed VS2015 and tried to repair the VC++2015 redist as said in TimVdG's marked answer. And then reinstall VS2015 with the installer.
Still failed.
Then I tried Brian Swart's solution to install VS2015 without Update 1. But it still failed with TeamExplorer. I checked the log and found this:
MSI (s) (48:A0) [14:53:34:997]: Windows Installer installed the
product. Product Name: Team Explorer for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015.
Product Version: 14.0.23102. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer:
Microsoft Corporation. Installation success or error status: 1603.
And I googled a bit about 1603 error. Now I am trying to add full control to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0
folder and try again.
Still doesn't work.
Some refs:
https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/remove-program-from-add-remove/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/247501/how-to-manually-remove-programs-from-the-add-remove-programs-list
https://superuser.com/questions/401511/how-to-remove-a-broken-program-from-the-programs-and-features-list-in-windows-7
=========> The Final Solution <=========
So in my scenario, it has nothing to do with the VC2015 redistributables.
My root cause is the incorrect .NET version number in the registry.
On a 64bit Windows, .NET version is stored in 2 places in registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Version
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE**WOW6432Node**\Microsoft\NET Framework
Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Version
Below is what my box has:
Note that leading character v
in the Version
? I don't know who put it there. But once I removed it, my VS2015 with Update 3
can be installed smoothly!
So you may wonder how could I find this. Well, since I couldn't install VS2015, I turned to VS2017. But after intalled VS2017 successfully, I couldn't launch it. It says this:
So I decided to check the installed .NET version and saw the interesting difference above. Once I removed the leading v
, VS2017 can be started.
But anyway, I still don't know who put the v
there... Shame on it!
Last but not the least: Please also make sure the Release
, Version
registry key value are consistent and can work with your Windows version. Refer to below:
.NET and Windows version dependencies.
how to determine the installed .NET version.
Windows 10 version info
Add some more findings:
After I finished this install sequence: VS2017 -> VS2015 -> VS2013, I noticed that there's even no VC++2015 redist on my box:
Because both VC++ 2015 and VC++2017 redists are 14.xxx. So having the higher version is enough. When I try to manually install VC++ 2015 redist, it says this: