How to change Visual Studio 2012 install directory?

Question

I've uninstalled VS11 using the the windows installer, and deleted just about every registry key I could find relating to it, but it still pops up with this when I try to reinstall it:

And I can't click the "..." or edit the path. Right-clicking does nothing either.

What do I have to destroy to change the install directory?

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Still happening in official release:

Answer 1

I had the same problem though instead of forcing me to install into "c:\program Files" it forced me to install to the directory which I used for the Visual Studio RC. After using Process Monitor and the setup's logfile I was able to find a registry key that needed to be deleted.

The key was located at

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-21-776561741-789336058-725345543-318838\Components\31F687BD8A467D54C830E018D99F7F3B

The SID will most likely be different for other systems yet you might be able to find the last string (31F687BD8A467D54C830E018D99F7F3B)

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In order to find the key I did the following:

1. Downloaded ProcessMonitor from Sysinternals

2. Started Processmonitor with filter

   Image Path ends with vs_premium.exe

3. Started vs_premium.exe

4. Closed the setup
5. Waited until Processmonitor didn't fetch anymore events
6. Opened the newest dd_vs_premium_.log file from %TEMP%

7. Searched for something and found

   Condition 'VS_Install_path_KeyExists' evaluated to false. (i guess it will evaluate to true on affected systems. I tried this on a clean windows installation)

8. One line above it said

   Registry key not found. Key = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7'

9. Searched for

   Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7

   in Processmonitor

10. A few lines down ProcessMonitor shows me the key I had to delete

Answer 2

A simpler approach worked for me:

1 - Run the installer from the command line, with /uninstall /force switches, as in:

c:\vs_professional_ENU.exe /uninstall /force 

2 - Re-run the installer normally.

I did this with VS2015 under Windows 10. Reference link.