Visual Studio Installer does not detect installed version after deletion of _Instances folder

Question

I had some issue with my installation completing with warnings and then I saw that there is the so called "Download cache" with an option "Keep download cache after the installation" Checkbox.

I thought I can safely delete the contents of this cache and therefore deleted everthing in the folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Packages".

Unfortunately that folder also contains the important _Instances folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Packages_Instances) and now my Visual Studio Installer does no longer understand what versions of Visual Studio I actually have installed.

What can I do such that the Installer recognizes those installations again (reinstallation does not work because I'm also not able to remove those installations anymore)?

Answer 1

Hello @Planner, Joer,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

The _Instances folder cannot be downloaded or fixed separately. You need to remove VS and then reinstall VS.

Please try to remove VS manually by renaming/deleting following folders(if they exist):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio

%programdata%\Microsoft\visualstudio\packages

After that press Win + R, run regedit, delete(remember to back up the Registry before you delete them) following Registry keys(if they exist):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup

Download a new setup file and run to install VS again.

Best Regards,

Tianyu

---

If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.