Install Visual Studio 2013 on Windows 7

Sussch picture Sussch · Dec 11, 2013 · Viewed 236k times · Source

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".

Error on installing Visual Studio 2013

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 ?

Answer

Graham Wager picture Graham Wager · Dec 11, 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"

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