How to install the XNA Game Studio 4.0 in Windows 8?

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UPDATE: March 3, 2014

Use the download for VS2012 and VS2013 at this link: https://msxna.codeplex.com/releases. I have no idea of the legality on that project (the developers seem to have decompiled XNA), but it did help me ease the pain of needing VS2010 in order to utilize the content pipeline.

Old Answer

See: How to work around a possible XNA Game Studio or Windows Phone SDK install failure on Windows 8

How to work around this issue

If you run into this issue, here are steps that you can use to work around it:

  • Download and install the latest version of the Games for Windows – LIVE Redistributable from http://www.xbox.com/en-US/LIVE/PC/DownloadClient
  • If you are installing the Windows Phone SDK 7.1, re-run setup and choose to repair it. This will re-run the previously failing XNA Game Studio installers and they should install correctly this time.
  • If you are install a standalone XNA Game Studio product, re-run setup and it should install correctly this time.
  • If you are planning to do Windows Phone development, you should also install the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update after installing the Windows Phone SDK 7.1. This update fixes an issue that prevents the emulator in the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 from working correctly on Windows 8.

What to do if the workaround doesn’t help

If you have tried the above steps and setup still fails, you are running into a different issue than the one described above, and you will have to look at the setup log files to determine the root cause.

If you are installing the Windows Phone SDK 7.1, you can use the log collection tool to gather your setup log files. This log collection tool will create a file named %temp%\vslogs.cab.

If you are installing XNA Game Studio, you can find log files at the following locations:

  • XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh – %temp%\XNA Game Studio 4.0 Setup\Logs
  • XNA Game Studio 4.0 – %temp%\XNA Game Studio 4.0 Setup\Logs
  • XNA Game Studio 3.1 – %temp%\XNA Game Studio 3.1 Setup\Logs
  • XNA Game Studio 3.0 – %temp%\XNA Game Studio 3.0 Setup\Logs
  • XNA Game Studio 2.0 – %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Setup\Logs

What is causing this failure behind the scenes

XNA Game Studio installs a version of the Games for Windows – LIVE
Redistributable behind the scenes. Some older versions of the Games
for Windows – LIVE Redistributable attempt to install and use a file
that is being installed by Windows 8, and the older versions of the
redistributable are not compatible with the newer version of the file
that is installed by Windows 8. Newer versions of the Games for
Windows – LIVE Redistributable are compatible with Windows 8, and if
you pre-install the new redistributable before installing XNA Game
Studio, setup will recognize that it is already there and use the new
version instead of trying to install the old version.

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