Visual Studio does not install correctly on Windows 10

Question

I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 (no preview edition - the real thing!). I then installed Visual Studio Community Edition 2015 (I already have VS 2013 installed) so I can begin to use the Cordova functionality. The install churns and burns for a long time and finally finishes with a pageful of warnings. The warnings seem to correspond to entries in the log file (at the bottom of this post). I have tried uninstalling / reinstalling VS2015 thinking that a connection issue was the culprit - this did not work. I downloaded the ISO, uninstalled, and then reinstalled from the ISO - same problem. Well, I thought that I would try to just create an app anyway, but I was greeted with the wonderful "Object not set to a reference...." message box which of course does not give you a clue as to what is going on. So - I restarted VS2015 and just tried to create a new non-Cordova project - I was greeted with the same "Object not set to a reference..." dialog box. I was able to open an existing VS 2013 project - it worked fine. So, I tried to repeat this wonderful adventure on Windows 7. Everything worked fine. My conclusion is that there is some kind of issue between Win10 and VS2015. VS2013 works great on both Win10 and Win7 - and VS2015 works fine on Win7. I really want to upgrade our team to Win10 (some of them, sadly, are on Win8.1), and we also want to move to VS2015, but we cant go forward until we know what is going on here.

I finally installed the Cordova extensions CTP on VS 2013 (but I had to do this to both my Win10 and my Win7 box so I could share the Solution between them) just so I could get going - that works great.

I double checked and the BITS service says that it is running in the Win10 box.

Any help?

Log Snip below:

[2AB8:23DC][2015-08-04T07:41:17]i000: MUX:  Source confirmed
[2AB8:2954][2015-08-04T07:41:18]i000: MUX:  Finished connecting secondary installer pipe
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:41:24]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: TypeScript for Visual Studio
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:41:35]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: KB3073097
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:44:21]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Windows 10 SDK 10.0.10240
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:44:25]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Android SDK Setup (API Level 19 and 21)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:45:57]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator for Android
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:46:50]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Apache Ant (1.9.3)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:47:04]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Android Native Development Kit (R10E, 32 bits)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:52:55]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Tools for Windows 10 Universal Apps (Windows SDK 10.0.10240)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:53:00]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Android SDK Setup (API Level 22)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:53:02]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Visual C++ iOS Development
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:53:08]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Visual C++ Android Development
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:53:14]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: HTML/JavaScript (Apache Cordova) Update 1
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:53:22]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: C#/.NET (Xamarin)
[2AB8:23A4][2015-08-04T07:58:05]i000: MUX:  Updating secondary installer progress display name: Emulators for Windows Mobile 10.0.10240
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: TypeScript for Visual Studio : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: KB3073097 : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Windows 10 SDK 10.0.10240 : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Android SDK Setup (API Level 19 and 21) : This product did not download successfully: BITS download failed. BITS service may have been disabled on the machine.
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator for Android : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Apache Ant (1.9.3) : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Android Native Development Kit (R10E, 32 bits) : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Tools for Windows 10 Universal Apps (Windows SDK 10.0.10240) : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Android SDK Setup (API Level 22) : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Visual C++ iOS Development : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Visual C++ Android Development : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: HTML/JavaScript (Apache Cordova) Update 1 : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: C#/.NET (Xamarin) : This product did not download successfully: 
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:08]i000: MUX:  ExecuteError: Package (VSSecondaryInstaller_box) failed: Error Message Id: 1603 ErrorMessage: Emulators for Windows Mobile 10.0.10240 : This product did not download successfully: 
[1C70:27A4][2015-08-04T07:58:39]e000: Error 0x80048648: Process returned error: 0x80048648
[1C70:27A4][2015-08-04T07:58:39]e000: Error 0x80048648: Failed to execute EXE package.
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]e000: Error 0x80048648: Failed to configure per-machine EXE package.
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  Installation size in bytes for package: VSSecondaryInstaller_box MaxAppDrive: 0  MaxSysDrive: 4192628136  AppDrive: 0  SysDrive: 4186217896
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  ExecutePackageComplete for secondary installer
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  Disconnecting secondary installer pipe
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  Return Code:0x80048648 Msi Messages:TypeScript for Visual Studio : This product did not download successfully:  Result Detail:0 Restart:None
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  Set Result: Return Code=-2147187128 (0x80048648), Error Message=TypeScript for Visual Studio : This product did not download successfully: , Result Detail=, Vital=False, Package Action=Install, Package Id=VSSecondaryInstaller_box
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: Setting string variable 'BundleResult' to value '0'
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]w350: Applied non-vital package: VSSecondaryInstaller_box, encountered error: 0x80048648. Continuing...
[2AB8:1968][2015-08-04T07:58:39]i000: MUX:  ExecutePackageBegin PackageId: community_finalizer

Answer 1

I encountered similar problem in installing VS2013 update 5(iso version).

If you somehow messed up the installation/re-installation/Update of VS2013 in Windows 10, here are the steps I followed for successful operation:

1. Turn off system restore (temporarily).
2. Turn off AVG antivirus - until next reboot and turn off identity AVG protection in task manager. Do the same thing if you're using another antivirus.
3. Install/Uninstall/Update Visual Studio 2013. When install/reinstall/update stalls, end the 64 bit windows installer in task manager and the operation will proceed. Do the same thing if the same happens until the operation is finished successfully.
4. Make sure windows installer is not running in task manager for next steps.
5. Run subincl.exe (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/astebner/solving-setup-errors-by-using-the-subinacl-tool-to-repair-file-and-registry-permissions).
6. Run command in admin mode and go to \ProgramData\Package Cache and run the command: Del /F /S *.msiDelete /F /S *.cab.
7. Install/Reinstall/Update.

Answer 2

I found many problems with VS2015 on Windows 10. Too many to mention.

One method that might work is to reinstall all 3rd party tools after installing VS2015. For example, install VS2015 and components. Next uninstall anything related to Cordova on your OS. Next install 3rd party Cordova components one-by-one, and finally reinstall & repair VS2015 Cordova components. I have not yet tried using Cordova on VS2015 & Windows 10.

However, for example, upgrading to Windows 10 after installing VS2015 will completely corrupt your Hyper-V environment. This can be fixed by hacking around your Hyper-V settings. However this also blows away your Genymotion & VirtualBox installation (which must be reinstalled). Also the Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator for Android does not work at all - do not waste your time. I have mine uninstalled.

These issues are known at Microsoft (I've had direct emails with key MS employees on these topics in the last 48 hours) and they say they are working on it.

Definitely a work in progress. Good luck using VS2015 on Windows 10.