This has been the case unfortunatly for the past couple of months. I can't install new or update packages from Tools ==> Extensions and Updates I tried everything, yet I am unable to find the reason. I've tried :
As it turns out for some reason -possibly due to an RC-, My registry settings were pointing to a different url that was getting redirected.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories
AND I changed
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories{0f45e408-7995-4375-9485-86b8db553dc9}(Default)
to http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/Services/v2011/Extension.svc instead of http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=251029
I changed
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories{aeb9cb40-d8e6-4615-b52c-27e307f8506c}(Default)
to http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Services/v2011/sample.svc instead of http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=251031