Install Visual Studio 2013 on Windows 7

I would like to install Visual Studio 2013 on Windows 7 64-bit.

For some reason, the installer says "Setup Blocked" with an error "This version of Visual Studio requires a computer with a newer version of Windows".

This error is not exactly descriptive of what's wrong. The least I could do was verify that I have the following installed :

1. Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) with Service Pack 1
2. Internet Explorer 10
   • Version: 10.0.9200.16750
   • Update Versions: 10.0.12 (KB2898785)
3. All Windows Updates that were available for installing on 11th of Dec. 2013.

Executed the installer with the /log winexp.log argument and got the following : winexp.log.

Any ideas of what else could be the problem ?

Thanks.

Edit : by looking at this question there was a crack that allowed installing Windows Phone's SDK on Windows 7 - does anyone know a similar solution for VS 2013 ?

The minimum requirements are based on the Express edition you're attempting to install:

Express for Web (Web sites and HTML5 applications) - Windows 7 SP1 (With IE 10)
Express for Windows (Windows 8 Apps) - Windows 8.1
Express for Windows Desktop (Windows Programs) - Windows 7 SP1 (With IE 10)
Express for Windows Phone (Windows Phone Apps) - Windows 8

It sounds like you're trying to install the "Express 2013 for Windows" edition, which is for developing Windows 8 "Modern UI" apps, or the Windows Phone edition.

The similarly named version that is compatible with Windows 7 SP1 is "Express 2013 for Windows Desktop"

Source

Visual Studio Express for Windows needs Windows 8.1. Having a look at the requirements page you might want to try the Web or Windows Desktop version which are able to run under Windows 7.

###Visual Studio 2013 System Requirements

>Supported Operating Systems:

>* Windows 8.1 (x86 and x64)

• Windows 8 (x86 and x64)
• Windows 7 SP1 (x86 and x64)
• Windows Server 2012 R2 (x64)
• Windows Server 2012 (x64)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (x64)

>Hardware requirements:

>* 1.6 GHz or faster processor

• 1 GB of RAM (1.5 GB if running on a virtual machine)
• 20 GB of available hard disk space
• 5400 RPM hard disk drive
• DirectX 9-capable video card that runs at 1024 x 768 or higher display resolution

>Additional Requirements for the laptop:

>* Internet Explorer 10

• KB2883200 (available through Windows Update) is required

And don't forget to reboot after updating your windows

Fake IE10 to install Visual Studio 2013

> Visual Studio 2013 requires Internet Explorer 10. If you try to install it on Windows 7 with IE8 you get the following error This version of Visual Studio requires Internet Explorer 10”. The value that the VS 2013 installer checks is svcVersion in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorerkey on 32-bit Windows and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer on 64-bit Windows. Any value >= 10.0.0.0 makes the installer happy.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer]
"svcVersion"="10.0.0.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer]
"svcVersion"="10.0.0.0"

your log files shows it is stopping on error "0x8004C000"

From MS Website (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15716.visual-studio-2012-and-the-error-code-2147205120.aspx):

Setup Status
Block

Restart not required
0x80044000 [-2147205120]

Restart required
0x8004C000 [-2147172352]

Description
If the only block to be reported is “Reboot Pending,” the returned value is the Incomplete-Reboot Required value (0x80048bc7).