Windows 7 SDK installation failure

Question

I seem to be completely unable to install the Windows 7 SDK onto my machine, and the only solution I've found on the web is to make a swathe of registry changes. I've done this - still no success.

This is the reported error:

A problem occurred while installing selected Windows SDK components.

Installation of the "Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7" product has reported the following error: Please refer to Samples\Setup\HTML\ConfigDetails.htm document for further information.

Please attempt to resolve the problem and then start Windows SDK setup again. If you continue to have problems with this issue, please visit the SDK team support page at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=130245.

Click the View Log button to review the installation log.

To exit, click Finish.

There is no Samples directory to refer too, and the SDK support team don't appear to live there any longer.

How do I fix this problem?

Affirmation

I've tried this on Windows XP and Vista, 32 bit OS; there's nothing exotic about my hardware at all – Affirmation

If all you require of the SDK is the samples folder then you can just download it here. github.com/pauldotknopf/WindowsSDK7-Samples – Allx

Answer 1

Microsoft now has a knowledge base article called Windows SDK Fails to Install with Return Code 5100 that describes this problem and its fix:

This issue occurs when you install the Windows 7 SDK on a computer that has a newer version of the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable installed. The Windows 7 SDK installs version 10.0.30319 of the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable.

The error message is located in the log file, which can be opened through the View Log button in the installer. Otherwise, it can be found here: %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Temp\ or %temp%. The log file is most likely called SDKSetup_7.xxxxx.log.

Solution: Uninstall any existing Visual C++ 2010 redistributable.

I just had this problem, and I looked at the solution at Ctrl+F5, Fix Problem Installing Windows SDK for Windows 7, but it didn't work.

I googled around and found the page Installing Visual C++ 2010 and Windows SDK for Windows 7: offline installer and installation troubleshooting and the advice there worked. Basically you could have one of several problems, and you have to look in the log file to see what's going on. In my log file I had:

6:17:07 PM Saturday, October 01, 2011: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Setup\SFX\vcredist_x64.exe installation failed with return code 5100

so as that above web page suggested, I uninstalled both copies of the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package that I had (both x86 and x64), and then when I ran the Windows 7 SDK installer again, it worked.

Although you might have a different problem than me. Try the solutions at the Ctrl+F5 and patheticcockroach.com websites that I linked.

I hoped this helped!

Ostensory

Uninstalling the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable fixed the problem for me. Thanks. – Minus

Great solution, this had me stumped. Given that the redistributable problem is so popular, you think they'd change their SDK image to fix the problem. – Versatile

Worked for me as well after deleting all existing x86 & x64 Visual C++ 2010 Redistibutables... Not sure if it will help anyone, but the version (of Visual C++ 2010 Redistibutable) it installed for me was 10.0.30319 for both x86 & x64 – Latta

My installer did not fail with return code 5100, but with the same error message as OP: "Installation of the "Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7" product has reported the following error: Please refer to Samples\Setup\HTML\ConfigDetails.htm document for further information". Still it seems like removing everything related to C++ Redistributables helped. – Heer

@asbjornu the "return code 5100" is not the message the installer shows. You will only find the return code in the log files that the installer leaves behind. Look in your AppData/Local/Temp folder. Check this blog post for more info. Glad removing redistributables helped. Don't forget to reinstall them before running the Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1 – Vicariate

I have a Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate product. Do I have to uninstall it?! – Wouldst

+1 I had the error 5100, I uninstalled "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219" and "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - 10.0.40219" and then the setup worked OK. – Handstand

Uninstalling "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219" and "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - 10.0.40219" then running the offline installer solved the issue for me as well – Mahdi

+1. But for me, both uninstalling "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable" and "Microsoft Visual C++ Compilers 2010 Standard - enu - x86" (as described in this solution) worked. – Twelfth

The funny thing is that I did not checked the “MSVC++2010 redist” both times I tried the installation before reaching this topic, as well as I did not checked it the last time (all I wanted was Windows Performance Toolkit). Howere, after the installation succeeded, there were both 32/64-bit copies of “MSVC++2010 redist” installed again, of inferior version. What an absurd! PS. If you also have a “MSVC++2010 runtime”, it doesn't need to be uninstalled. – Acanthus

I had to uninstall x86 and x64 redistributables and RUNTIMEs. Then when I ran the sdk installer I had the option of changing or repairing. I verified the items I wanted via the change menu, then I ran a repair and it worked. – Berlyn

I uninstalled "Micosoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable", but that wasn't enough. I didn't see the Compilers one, but after I uninstalled everything that started with "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010", it worked. – Aroma

I couldn't find the "Microsoft Visual C++ Compilers 2010 Standard - enu - x86" program in "Programs and Features" that was preventing the Win 7.1 SDK from installing. However, using the solution from @Twelfth above, I found the install GUID for this application and ran "msiexec /x {2F8B731A-5F2D-3EA8-8B25-C3E5E43F4BDB}". After that, I could install the Win 7.1 SDK. – Brookweed

Answer 2

All of these (and other) solutions have failed completely for me so I figured out another.

You need the offline installation package (mine was x64), and you need to manually install only the samples. Opening the ISO-file with, for example, 7-Zip from location Setup\WinSDKSamples_amd64 and running WinSDKSamples_amd64.msi did this for me.

Then you just use the normal setup file to REPAIR the installation and choose whatever components you wish.

Allheal

worked for me, less work then having to uninstall the c++ redistributables. – Expound

Perfect! :) I couldn't remove what wasn't yet added or even on my system (had latter vs-dists only)! This answer is the one that actually solves the problem as I understand it. – Soccer

Answer 3

You should really check the log. It seems that quite a few components can cause the Windows SDK installer to fail to install with this useless error message. For instance it could be the Visual C++ Redistributable Package as mentioned there.

Tedmann

Where is the log created? It gives a relative path, and I couldn't find it with windows search... ( Samples\Setup\HTML\ConfigDetails.htm) – Pierro

Answer 4

I have had this same problem with the x64 version installation. It relates (in my case at least) to the dexplore.exe installation. I uninstalled dexplore, reinstalled it, did a heap of registry changes, etc. as per various blogs and SDKs all to no avail. What finally fixed it for me was editing this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer\DisableBrowse

I changed the value to 0. Once the SDK had installed (quite happily this time) I set the value back to 1.

What alerted me to the possible error was the following in the SDK setup log:

12:19:42 PM Friday, 8 January 2010: SFX C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Setup\SFX\dexplore.exe installation started with log file C:\TEMP\Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7_dd2d9383-116d-441f-85b3-7c16aeb3568e_SFX.log
12:19:47 PM Friday, 8 January 2010: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Setup\SFX\dexplore.exe installation failed with return code 1625

And this in the dexplore installation logfile:

MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: Machine policy value 'DisableBrowse' is 1
MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: Adding new sources is not allowed.
MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: Warning: rejected attempt to add new source 'c:\eb66d60e4283bfc2986755fa\' (product: {6753B40C-0FBD-3BED-8A9D-0ACAC2DCD85D})
MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: MSI_LUA: Elevation prompt disabled for silent installs
MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: Note: 1: 1729 
MSI (s) (E4:7C) [12:19:46:680]: Product: Microsoft Document Explorer 2008 -- Configuration failed.

I hope this is of assistance in your situation.

Vittle

Answer 5

One of the things to also keep in mind is that when you have Visual Studio 2010 SP1 installed some C++ compilers and libraries may have been removed. There's been an update made available by Microsoft to make sure those are brought back to your system.

Install this update to restore the Visual C++ compilers and libraries that may have been removed when Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was installed. The compilers and libraries are part of the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit for Windows 7 and the .NET Framework 4 (later referred to as the Windows SDK 7.1).

Also, when you read the VS2010 SP1 README you'll also notice that some notes have been made in regards to the Windows 7 SDK (See section 2.2.1) installation. It may be that one of these conditions may apply to you and therefore may need to uncheck the C++ compiler-checkbox as the SDK installer will attempt to install an older version of compilers ÓR you may need to uninstall VS2010 SP1 and re-run the SDK 7.1 installation, repair or modification.

Condition 1: If the Visual C++ Compilers checkbox is selected when the Windows SDK 7.1 is installed, repaired, or modified after Visual Studio 2010 SP1 has been installed, the error may be encountered and some selected components may not be installed.

Workaround: Clear the Visual C++ Compilers checkbox before you run the Windows SDK 7.1 installation, repair, or modification.

Condition 2: If the Visual C++ Compilers checkbox is selected when the Windows SDK 7.1 is installed, repaired, or modified after Visual Studio 2010 has been installed but Visual Studio 2010 SP1 has not been uninstalled, the error may be encountered.

Workaround: Uninstall Visual Studio 2010 SP1 and then rerun the Windows SDK 7.1 installation, repair, or modification.

However, even then I found that I still needed to uninstall any existing Visual C++ 2010 redistributables, as has been suggested by mgrandi.

Hesta

Answer 6

I could never get the Windows 7 SDK to install either, and it suggested I remove the latest SDK and Visual Studio 2012 Express. That didn't work.

There was also something about .NET 3.5. I installed the Server 2008 SDK with .NET 3.5, uninstalled Visual Studio 2010 redistributables and made sure redistributables were unchecked in the installation options.

Also, you need the .NET 4 framework already installed, which you can download from Microsoft's site. Then it worked.

Glorianna

Answer 7

Uninstalling all C++ redistributables and unchecking the C++ option worked for me. Note that I have VS2010 SP1, and VS2012 installed already.

Ringe

Answer 8

mgrandi provided a very good resource and answer. I followed similar guidelines and by removing 'leftover' components managed to solve the problem.

As a reference, take a look at Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Release Notes.

This downloads the release notes of the SDK (you should also have it on your computer after trying to install the SDK), and in the section 'Installing and Uninstalling the Windows SDK' you can see that Microsoft recommend cleaning some mess after them.

Waldowaldon

Answer 9

I installed Visual Studio 2012 and installed Visual Studio 2010 service package 1 and tried installing the SDK again, and it worked. I don't know which of them solved the problem.

Egression

Answer 10

I'm having the same error as this "Windows 7 SDK installation failure":

After finding out, I've got the solution.

It may also happen that the SDK installation runs through with a "success" message at the end, but nothing was actually installed. The only way to really find out whether the SDK was installed is to check the respective directory. C:Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1 or C:Files (x 86) SDKs\Windows\v7.1. If the subdirectory "v 7.1" was created and has some content, the SDK was installed. The solution for this problem is the same as for the issue with the error message: Uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable (see below).

Resolution: Uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable installations prior to Windows SDK installation.

Before the installation, I had the following Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable installations. Note that the x 64 version is updated.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x 64-Microsoft Corporation 10.0.40219 15.2 MB 10.0.40219
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable-x 86 10.0.30319 Microsoft Corporation 11.0 MB 10.0.30319

Braided

Removing Fixed it : Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable x 64-Microsoft Corporation 10.0.40219 15.2 MB 10.0.40219 Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable-x 86 10.0.30319 Microsoft Corporation 11.0 MB 10.0.30319 – Cultism

Answer 11

I'd like to add that removing the Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable may be necessary, too. I removed both the Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable x84 and x64 and then my installation worked.

Unreserved

Answer 12

Do you have access to a PC with Windows 7, or a PC with the SDK already installed?

If so, the easiest solution is to copy the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1 folder from the Windows 7 machine to the Windows 8 machine.

Waynant

It's not the normal/typical/recommended way to get the SDK in place, but it's quick try and will work most of the time. I set my Windows 10 / VS2015 development PC up this way and thought I'd share the tip. – Waynant