Windows SDK for Windows 7 Failling to Install

I've been trying to install the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET
Framework 4 [1] on my Windows Server 2008 machine that hosts this content so
that I can natively compile my Gopher server software [2] without having to
install a full blown version of Visual Studio.

The issue that I've been having is that, no matter what I do, I can't get past
the first step of actually installing the SDK to get access to the Microsoft
compilers. I always get the following error:



If I clicked the "View Logs" button I would get a very verbose log that
contained key parts such as:

MSI (s) (C8:FC) [08:44:59:221]: Product: Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7
(7.1) -- Removal completed successfully.

MSI (s) (C8:FC) [08:44:59:236]: Windows Installer removed the product.
Product Name: Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 (7.1). Product Version:
7.1.30514. Product Language: 1033. Removal success or error status: 0.

08:44:50 Tuesday, 02 September, 2025: SFX C:\Program Files\Microsoft
SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Setup\SFX\vcredist_x86.exe installation started with log
file C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\1\Microsoft Windows SDK for
Windows 7_b769bc4d-e6a4-4aac-9ebe-a8e9ca879b93_SFX.log
08:44:54 Tuesday, 02 September, 2025: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\
Windows\v7.1\Setup\SFX\vcredist_x86.exe installation failed with return code
5100
08:44:59 Tuesday, 02 September, 2025: [SDKSetup:Error]
Config_Products_Install: Installation of Product Microsoft Windows SDK for
Windows 7 (failed): Please refer to Samples\Setup\HTML\ConfigDetails.htm
document for further information. Stack:    at
SDKSetup.Product.ConfigureRelatedSfx()       at
SDKSetup.Product.ConfigureNewProduct(ManualResetEvent CancelEvent)
08:44:59 Tuesday, 02 September, 2025: [SDKSetup:Info]
Config_Products_InstallNew: End installation of new product: Microsoft
Windows SDK for Windows 7
08:44:59 Tuesday, 02 September, 2025: [SDKSetup:Error]
Config_Products_Install: Windows SDK Setup (failed): 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. Stack:    at
SDKSetup.Product.ConfigureNewProduct(ManualResetEvent CancelEvent)       at
SDKSetup.Product.SetupProduct(TaskMode taskMode, ManualResetEvent
CancelEvent)       at SDKSetup.ProductCollection.SetupProducts(TaskMode
taskMode, DownloadManager downloadManager, ManualResetEvent cancelEvent)
at SDKSetup.ConfigProducts.DoCurrentTask(TaskMode Task)

Very helpful right? Logs should theoretically be more detailed and provide some
debugging hints, but I guess Microsoft doesn't understand these concepts.

After some quick googling with DuckDuckGo using parts of the logs I was able to
find a very helpful StackOverflow question [3] of someone in the exact same
situation as I was. The answers were pointing to the exact same culprit and one
even linked to a helpful Microsoft KB [4] with the following content:

CAUSE

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.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, you must uninstall all versions of the Visual C++
2010 Redistributable before installing the Windows 7 SDK. You may have one
or more of the following products installed:

  - Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable
  - Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable

After uninstalling the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable products,
you may install the Windows 7 SDK. After installing the Windows 7 SDK, you
may then reinstall the newer version of the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
products, in order to restore the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable products
to their original state.

Apparently Microsoft's extremely complex MSI installer system wasn't able to
detect that I had a newer version of the Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
installed using the TechPowerUp Redistributable AIO pack [5], and simply gave up
with a cryptic error message that made no sense.

Uninstalling the newer version of the redistributable package allowed me to
finally install the SDK, followed by reinstalling the newer redistributable
version.

The joys of playing with old Microsoft software...


[1]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8442
[2]: https://github.com/nathanpc/amigos
[3]: https://stackoverflow.com/q/19366006
[4]: https://web.archive.org/web/20150110143324/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2717426
[5]: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/visual-c-redistributable-runtime-package-all-in-one/