Wanted to add this question to the pool in case someone has the same problem
I was unable to update Visual Studio 2017 on Windows 7 and got the following error:
Unable to install the files to target location. Error: The folder
'c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer' or a file
within it is locked by another program. Close any applications that
might be using it and try again.
The initial solution I found was to reinstall Visual Studio but felt that it might be unnecessary. The solution I found was to close down visual studio, go to "c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer", rename the folder "Installer" to something else then run vs_installer.exe from the renamed folder.
Hope that help someone.
I just recently encountered the same error while trying to update the Visual Studio 2017 installer on Windows 10. In my case, the c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer directory was locked because of virus/malware scanning software running in the background. After stopping that, the installation of the VS 2017 installer had no more problems.
What initially misled me about the source of the problem was that the process which had a lock on the files in that directory was the special System process in Process Explorer, so I was initially going down the wrong rabbit hole.
If you have malwarebytes then you can add to the allow list C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio and it will work.
I got it working by downloading the installer separately, rebooting, and running the installer directly.
VS Installer Downloads
I encountered this when trying to update VS2019. I could not rename the Installer folder. Rebooting didn't help. I tried uninstalling everything related to Visual Studio via Control Panel, but the uninstall failed. It removed everything except a subfolder containing VSIXAutoUpdate.exe and some dlls. The installer still would not run.
This final step allowed me to delete the Installer folder and do a fresh install of Visual Studio.
Open Task Manager > Processes Tab
End Process "VSIXAutoUpdate"
Delete folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer"
TL;DR
Stop the Task Scheduler service and ensure no open handles for the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer dir
Details
I just had the same problem, and even rebooting didn't help. So, I dug in!
Process Hacker revealed there was a lock on the following file by the System process:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\resources\app\ServiceHub\Services\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Setup.Service\VSIXConfigurationUpdater.exe.
If I used Process Hacker to close the handle, it just immediately reopened again :/
I thought to check Task Scheduler (since it runs as SYSTEM in svchost), and sure enough there were tasks in there that run VSIXConfigurationUpdater.exe, even though they weren't actually running at that time.
So I stopped the Task Scheduler service, then used Process Hacker to close the handle on VSIXConfigurationUpdater.exe - and this time it didn't return! After ensuring there were no open handles on anything inC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer, the Visual Studio installer was able to update.
I found the culprit for me was Malwarebytes disabled this and all worked well. Hope this helps somebody.
I tried to run through the steps #Janspeed specified, but there were a couple of language folders in the resources directory that were corrupted/locked, so just renaming wouldn't work. I managed to copy most of the file/dir structure (minus the corrupted ones) to a new directory but had to run a chkdsk /f on a restart before I could get those folders freed up and deleted. Once I had this worked out, #Janspeed's steps worked fine, including just deleting the new directory that I had copied everything into.
I ran into this issue today, turns out it was MalwareBytes Endpoint Protection that was blocking the update which is rather annoying.
Luckily I'm the admin and developer so I was able to drop my laptop from the antivirus to enable the update and then re-add it but in a larger corporate environment with red tape this isn't great at all.
I had faced the same issue while updating Visual Studio 2017 and 2019. I tried to open the Visual Studio Installer directly as admin and then it worked as expecred.
Update kept failing when using the "Check for Updates" menu item in the VS2019 IDE. When I ran the Visual Studio Installer from the Windows Start bar it immediately prompted to download the latest version of the installer. Once that was done it then offered to update VS2019.
I've been having this problem for about a month, and I am completely stuck.
Under the "New Project" window I don't see the windows 10 universal templates, but have the sdk and tools installed.
All pictures are in this folder on dropbox.
New Project Window: Capture.png (on dropbox)
What I tried:
.net 3.5 enable/disable under "programs and features"/"Turn Windows features on or off"
full uninstall/reinstall with VisualStudioUninstaller
full uninstall/reinstall with Revo Uninstaller
iso intaller
running "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE>devenv /installvstemplates" command with admin privileges
repairing with original installer
modifying with original installer
The strange thing is that in the installer (when modifying) the Universal Windows App Development checkbox is checked. (Capture1.png ... Capture5.png)
I have, however, found out that the folders at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\VC\Windows Root\Windows UAP\1033" is completely empty... Isn't that supposed to be the template folder for the projects? (Capture6.png)
I would be grateful if you could give me some advice fixing this issue.
Okay, so for anyone having this problem:
Check if the "Windows Installer" service is running under Task Manager/Services.
If not right click and select Start service.
After that run the installer for Visual Studio and select repair.
After the repairing finishes, (reboot if you want, it wasn't required for me) all the templates are installed.
(And yes, if you still have this problem, write to microsoft, they are helpful in these kinds of questions)
Every time I try to install visual studio community version I run into an issue with missing setup packages. The installer particularly tells me that I am missing vcredist_x86.exe.
However, I have installed the visual c++ redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 as well as the ones for visual studio 2015. I don't get why this message keeps coming up.
I can continue installation if I select "skip", but the message comes back not much later.
Try running the installer with administrator rights (right click on installer exe and select 'Run as administrator').
I have tried debugging DLL in Visual Studio 2013 Pro and I keep getting these errors
Could not load file or assembly 'VSPerfControl.Interop, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
I have been stuck with this for a while and I would appreciate any comments. The MSDN website talks only about VS premium so I am not sure if profiling dll actually works on Professional
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb385752.aspx
Problem was resolved by re-installing it in default folder.
The problem can be resolved without a re-install
You need to do:
1 - Open the Start menu, by pressing the Windows logo key Windows logo on your keyboard for example.
2 - On the Start menu, enter dev. This will bring a list of installed apps that match your search pattern. If you're looking for a different command prompt, try entering a different search term such as prompt.
3 - Choose the Developer Command Prompt (or the command prompt you want to use) - RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
4 - Now you have to check if the VSPerfControl.Interop is in this path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools
5 - If isn't there, you have to re-install. If is there, you have to go to this path with your command prompt (cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools)
6 - After this, you have to execute this command line:
gacutil /i VSPerfControl.Interop.dll
Now re-open Visual Studio and be happy!!!
Main Problem
When I try to access the properties of a project in Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop through Project -> ProjectName Properties, Visual Studio freezes completely without an error and I must end it through the Windows Task Manager.
I ran Visual Studio with /safemode enabled. This did provide some information by saying that "The 'Visual Studio Component Model Host Package' package did not load correctly."
It also produced a log file with some errors and warnings. Errors and warning entries in the log can be searched for with <type>Error</type> and <type>Warning</type> respectively. Additionally, opening the file in Internet Explorer seems to apply some styles to the file and makes it more readable.
Errors only - http://pastebin.com/295sX8kH
Full log - http://pastebin.com/KGspUgGs
The errors in the log seem to center around this Visual Studio Component Model Host Package. I tried searching for errors related to that, but did not find anything I thought was applicable to my situation.
The dll Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentModelHost.Implementation.dll is present in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\
The dll Microsoft.Data.Entity.Design.DataSourceWizardExtension.dll is indeed missing from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\DataDesign
Extra Info
I am using version 12.0.30723.00 Update 3 of Visual Studio and I am running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 6.1 build 7601.
I have tried re-installing Visual Studio in order to to clear out any bad settings, but that did not seem to work.
I tried running Visual Studio with /resetskipkgs and /resetsettings, and neither of those worked.
Trying to open project properties in safe mode still froze Visual Studio.
Backstory
I am ultimately trying to setup an environment in which to develop OpenGL applications. I have some experience with it through following the Arc Synthesis tutorials, but I do not know how to operate outside of the specialized environment the tutorials provided.
Following the OpenGL Book setup instructions, I am told development will go more smoothly if I use the GLEW and freeGLUT libraries. In order to do so, I need to be able to link in extra files to a project. In Visual Studio, this is done through the project properties dialog, but I cannot access it due to the freezing problem.
I am not very familiar with the development process in C++, so I am wary of venturing outside of the IDE provided by Visual Studio, but I might just have to do that if this problem persists.