VS Shell installation has failed with exit code 1638
Article ID
ias-12709
Article Name
VS Shell installation has failed with exit code 1638
Created Date
12th February 2018
Problem
When installing SQL Server 2016 you get the message: VS Shell installation has failed with exit code 1638 Error 1638 means another version of the product is already installed, please check if you have installed another later version of VS Shell on your machine.
Resolution
Check if you have Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 installed, if you do, install Microsoft Visual C++ 2017
(x86) and (x64), restart the PC and then try to install Microsoft SQL Server 2016 again, it shouldn’t come up with the same error message again and should allow installation of the instance.
If you don’t have Microsoft Visual C++ 2015, install Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 then Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 and then attempt to install Microsoft SQL Server 2016 again.
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