After 4 hours of research I have solved this issue with ChatGPT help.
Problem:
ArcGIS 10.8 requires older MSI-based Visual C++ runtimes (2013 and 2015–2019).
Most modern systems have only the 2022 runtimes installed.
This version mismatch causes setup errors like return value 0 or 1603.
Step 1: Check Installed Visual C++ Versions
Open PowerShell as Administrator.
Run the command:
winget list "Microsoft Visual C++"
This will list all installed VC runtimes, even if you already removed some via Control Panel.
Example output:
Name Version Source
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Redistributable 12.0.30501.0 winget
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2019 x64 Redistributable 14.22.27821.0 winget
Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 x64 Minimum Runtime 14.44.35211 winget
Step 2: Uninstall All Remaining VC Runtimes
Share the list from winget with ChatGPT (or manually check which versions are still installed).
Use the following command structure to uninstall any version:
winget uninstall --id <PackageId>
Example:
winget uninstall --id Microsoft.VCRedist.2013.x64
winget uninstall --id Microsoft.VCRedist.2013.x86
winget uninstall --id Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64
winget uninstall --id Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x86
:warning: Make sure all 2022 versions are removed if they are interfering with older runtimes.
Step 3: Install Required VC Runtimes
Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2013, 2015–2019 redistributables from the official Microsoft site:
2013 x86/x64
2015–2019 x86/x64
Install both Minimum and Additional runtimes if available.
Step 4: Re-run ArcGIS 10.8 Setup
After uninstalling 2022 runtimes and installing required ones, start the ArcGIS 10.8 setup again.
It should now complete without MSI errors.