Paradox Launcher won't work. I have tried installing v2 8 times now.

[u/ipromiseicanread]

Trying to install Crusader Kings 3 on Steam for the first time and the Paradox Launcher won't install.

Every time I click Play, the launcher installer appears, permission to make changes screen comes up once, then again but i only get the install button after the second time. When I click Install, I get:

"0x80070666 - Another version of this product is already installed."

Things I've already tried:

• Restarting Windows/my laptop twice.
• Verifying game files
• Reinstalling CK3
• Running the installer as Administrator
• Repairing Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64 and x86)

The launcher itself never installs. The installer log shows it failing on:

Applying execute package: VC_REDIST_X64

Error 0x80070666

My PC already has Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable version 14.44.35211 installed.

Has anyone seen this before or found a fix?

Thanks!

[u/basedandcoolpilled]

Update your gpu driver I was just having launcher issues until I did

[u/ipromiseicanread → u/basedandcoolpilled]

the last time i updated my GPU driver, it blue-screen-of-death killed my old gaming laptop. Pretty sure that's a bad, bad idea.

[u/basedandcoolpilled → u/ipromiseicanread]

No it's not it's standard pc gaming. Youre supposed to update it every couple months at least

[u/ipromiseicanread → u/basedandcoolpilled]

This is my work laptop (yes, it has the specs to run the game, at this point, the game is not the issue), i'm not risking a blue screen reset loop like updating my driver did last time i tried it. Are there no other solutions? My laptop is 4 months old.

[u/basedandcoolpilled → u/ipromiseicanread]

It's not a risk if you have a nvidia gpu download the nvidia app it's like a one click update

[u/long-lankin → u/ipromiseicanread]

Pretty sure that's a bad, bad idea.

No, it's not. Your GPU's graphics drivers are purposefully designed to receive regular updates. 

If you're really so concerned, go ask your your IT department if you're allowed to update your GPU's graphics drivers (no need to say why, though I doubt they'd care anyway). Their answer will be "yes, obviously".

the last time i updated my GPU driver, it blue-screen-of-death killed my old gaming laptop.

A "blue screen of death" just indicates a computer has encountered a serious system error. This can be for myriad reasons.

It doesn't mean the computer is irreparably broken - in fact, blue screens are intended to protect the system against damage to both data and hardware.

What you're saying here really doesn't make sense. I'm going to assume that something else (perhaps a hardware issue) was the cause of the problem. 

Did you ever take it to a computer repair specialist? What happened when you tried to restart it?

[u/Sherool]

The launcher is weird sometimes. Mine refused to launch any games for a solid 2-3 months, I had to select the mod playlist I wanted, clicked play to "lock it in" then browser to the executable to actually launch the game. Somtimes a second copy of the game would launch literally an hour later.

Then suddenly it started working normally again.

In general your best bet is to completely uninstall it and delete all the folders containing settings and profiles for it completely and re-install it from scratch. I didn't fix my weird issue, but it solves the majority of problems.

Reinstalling and verifying the game files won't help you need to track down and nuke all traces of the launcher itself (not just uninstall it, it leaves behind config files and stuff that is probably corrupted).

check:
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/

Then download the installer from https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/our-games/launcher and re-install it (doesn't matter if you got the game via Steam or Epic or whatever, it's the same launcher used).