Why do I get a Windows Installer popup whenever I build a project in Visual Studio 2010 or 2013?

Question

Whenever I attempt to build a project in Visual Studio 2010 or 2013, I get a Windows Installer popup that says "Please wait while Windows configures Visual Studio".

How can I make this popup go away?

Answer 1

Root Cause: Windows thinks that the installation is broken because of a missing folder.

Proper Solution: Uninstall and reinstall the affected versions of Visual Studio.

Workaround Create the following empty folder

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\URTInstallPath_GAC

The presence of this folder will stop the popup from appearing.