Couldn't install SSMS: A pending restart is blocking setup from completing

Question

SSMS version : 17.7

Log file: Log_file

I have SQL Server 2016 and Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition. I tried reinstalling both tools but the error is still the same. Some links mention registry values and I tried that as well, but the problem remains the same.

I have restarted the system multiple times, but the restart pending is still showing. I found a couple of other methods on some sites, tried them as well, but still the error message is showing.

It stops at the point shown below--not sure about Visual Studio 2015 as I'm using VS2017. I have tried repairing VS and SQL Server 2017 as well.

Answer 1

I had this problem, after force uninstalling Visual Studio 2015 Shell (Isolated) the SSMS install completed normally. I did this by searching for vs_isoshell.exe in C:\ProgramData\Package Cache and then running vs_isoshell.exe /uninstall /force from an administrative command prompt from its folder. In my case this was C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\FE948F0DAB52EB8CB5A740A77D8934B9E1A8E301\redist