VS Community 2015 "Invalid Drive" error on installation

Question

Hey there.

I've downloaded and deleted that same software long ago but now when I decided to download it again I can't seem to install it.

When running the installation it immediately shows me the "Invalid Drive" error (picture below) and I can't change the path nor continue the installation, it's just locked, all I can do is to change the installation type (typical/custom) which is useless or Cancel the installation and exit the program.

Note: E drive does not exist, I deleted it long ago and merged it with C, I currently have two drives as following:

C: Data

D: System

I tried quite a few methods to bypass it but it didn't work out, some of the commands I used are:

subst E: C:\

C:\vs_community.exe /CustomInstallPath C:\E\Program Files\VS

C:\vs_community.exe /U

C:\vs_community.exe /U /Force

C:\vs_community.exe /Repair

Screenshot:

I'll post a screenshot once my account is verified by the moderators, can't post links and images until then.

Thank you for your help, I appreciate it and hope this problem will be resolved soon.

Also a small suggestion to the developers of VS: stop relaying on the Registry, it **** up everything, make it portable and independent as much as possible.

Answer 1

Bump.....

Answer 2

Let me guess, the " downloaded and deleted that same software long ago " was a preview release of VS 2015, correct?

I'll also guess that when you installed it, you installed to a non-default location on your E: drive, which no longer exists.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you did this to yourself by installing test software on a system that it appears you use for production work. You ignored the standard warning to NEVER install pre-release software on a system you need for daily use and cannot afford to rebuild.

What you are seeing are leftovers from the test version you thought you uninstalled. The leftover pieces are pointing the installer to your, now nonexistent, E: drive.

The simplest way to fix your issue is to do a clean OS install, apply updates, then install VS 2015.

If my guesses above are incorrect, please elaborate.

Answer 3

Well, I never use pre-releases due to all the bugs that it usually contain, I don't like to be the one to test stuff and I hate working with "broken" software. I did not download the pre-release.

When I said "long ago", I actually meant 2 or 3 months ago so it was the official release and not beta or anything.

I did install it on E and removed it, later I moved all the files from E to C drive and deleted E, added the extra space from E to C and that's it.

By the way, I must note that VSC2015 still appears in my Control Panel's software list, the official installer didn't remove it properly.

I managed to bypass the path selection by adding a new fresh drive as E, I'm trying to install now and once it's done I'll try to uninstall it >> Format E drive >> Erase E drive >> Fresh install on C.

The reason I'm trying to go this way and do all that is because VS relays on and install files in all available drives, which is pretty idiotic and not efficient.

Also what's making it more difficult is that it relays on the Registry, meaning I'd have to change every entry that refers to E, to C in order for it to work without installing and reinstalling on E, which is sort of impossible - there are hundreds of thousands of entries that needs to be changed so yeah, that's not an option at the moment.

Thank you again for replying and trying to help, I'll update this thread with the results once the installation is finished.

Answer 4

Installation and Repair both are stuck on LocalESPCui, Uninstall is stuck at earlier stages of the process.

How can I fix this? Thanks in advance.

Answer 5

"When I said "long ago", I actually meant 2 or 3 months ago so it was the official release and not beta or anything."

VS 2015 was released on July 20, 2015, Anything you installed 2 or 3 months ago was, in fact, pre-release software.

So, I suggest you rebuild your system with a clean OS install as I mentioned earlier.

Answer 6

I didn't know that, well thank you for your help, I managed to remove it without formatting my OS, I'll check later if it will allow me to reinstall VSC2015 on another drive.

It was a pain to both install and uninstall it, both partially succeeded and did not finish completely so I had to remove the files and delete references in the Registry manually, also I erased E drive again.

I hope it will solve the problem.

Again, thank you for your help, I appreciate it!

Answer 7

Hi OrElimelech,

What about your issue now?

Would you mind to tell us whether you have solved this issue or not?

Best Regards,

Jiayi Li

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Answer 8

You need to find in Registry (regedit) installation path like "G:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\" with Match whole string only checkbox checked. You will find key something like IstallDir. Just delete it and installation will be ok.

Answer 9

plus I had to delete all keys from registry with match whole string condition.

and then it finally worked!

Answer 10

Strange way:

1. Create a virtual drive via diskmgmt.msc.

2. Mark it as your Invalid drive.

3. Install visual Studio

4. Remove Visual Studio

Answer 11

Just install jv16 Power Tools X

https://www.macecraft.com/download/

replace all key values with "D:\Program Files...." to "C:\Program Files\..."

every thing will be fine then 100%

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saeed adami

Answer 12

Thanks for this solution, saved my day