install XNA Game Studio without using the setup bootstrapper

In the past, we've heard from a few people via the Creators Club forums who have had trouble getting XNA Game Studio setup to run correctly.  In a few cases, such as in this forum post, the setup program (named bootstrapper.exe) crashes shortly after double-clicking on the setup package to launch it.
If you run into this type of issue with XNA Game Studio 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 4.0 or 4.0 Refresh setup, you can use the following set of steps to bypass bootstrapper.exe and install the pieces of XNA Game Studio manually.
To manually install the XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh
Note - if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to use %programfiles(x86)% instead of %programfiles% for the installation paths.

1. Download xnags40_setup.exe and save it to your hard drive
2. Run xnags40_setup.exe /x to extract the contents to a folder of your choosing
3. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named redists.msi Note: This MSI will only display a small progress bar while it is installing and will not tell you when it is done.  When the progress bar disappears, continue to the next step.
   
4. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\XLiveRedist.msi
5. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx40_redist.msi
6. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnaliveproxy.msi
7. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_platform_tools.msi
8. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_shared.msi
9. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_visualstudio.msi
10. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named arpentry.msi

To manually install XNA Game Studio 4.0
Note - if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to use %programfiles(x86)% instead of %programfiles% for the installation paths.

1. Download xnags40_setup.exe and save it to your hard drive
2. Run xnags40_setup.exe /x to extract the contents to a folder of your choosing
3. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named redists.msi Note: This MSI will only display a small progress bar while it is installing and will not tell you when it is done.  When the progress bar disappears, continue to the next step.
   
4. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\XLiveRedist.msi
5. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx40_redist.msi
6. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnaliveproxy.msi
7. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_platform_tools.msi
8. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_shared.msi
9. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_documentation.msi
10. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v4.0\Setup\xnags_visualstudio.msi
11. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named arpentry.msi

To manually install XNA Game Studio 3.1
Note - if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to use %programfiles(x86)% instead of %programfiles% for the installation paths.

1. Uninstall XNA Game Studio 3.0 if you have it installed
2. Download xnags31_setup.exe and save it to your hard drive
3. Run xnags31_setup.exe /x to extract the contents to a folder of your choosing
4. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named redists.msi Note: This MSI will only display a small progress bar while it is installing and will not tell you when it is done.  When the progress bar disappears, continue to the next step.
   
5. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\XLiveRedist.msi
6. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx30_redist.msi
7. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx31_redist.msi
8. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnaliveproxy.msi
9. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnags_platform_tools.msi
10. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnags_shared.msi
11. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\platformer.msi
12. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnags_documentation.msi
13. (skip this step if you do not have Visual C# 2008 Express Edition installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnags_vcsexpress.msi
14. (skip this step if you do not have Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or higher installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.1\Setup\xnags_devenv.msi
15. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named arpentry.msi

To manually install XNA Game Studio 3.0
Note - if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to use %programfiles(x86)% instead of %programfiles% for the installation paths.

1. Download xnags30_setup.exe and save it to your hard drive
2. Run xnags30_setup.exe /x to extract the contents to a folder of your choosing
3. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named redists.msi Note: This MSI will only display a small progress bar while it is installing and will not tell you when it is done.  When the progress bar disappears, continue to the next step.
   
4. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\XLiveRedist.msi
5. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx30_redist.msi
6. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnaliveproxy.msi
7. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnags_platform_tools.msi
8. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnags_shared.msi
9. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\platformer.msi
10. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnags_documentation.msi
11. (skip this step if you do not have Visual C# 2008 Express Edition installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnags_vcsexpress.msi
12. (skip this step if you do not have Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or higher installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v3.0\Setup\xnags_devenv.msi
13. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named arpentry.msi

To manually install XNA Game Studio 2.0
Note - if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to use %programfiles(x86)% instead of %programfiles% for the installation paths.

1. Download xnags20_setup.exe and save it to your hard drive
2. Run xnags20_setup.exe /x to extract the contents to a folder of your choosing
3. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named redists.msi Note: This MSI will only display a small progress bar while it is installing and will not tell you when it is done.  When the progress bar disappears, continue to the next step.
   
4. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Setup\XLiveRedist.msi
5. Run the EXE at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Redist\DX Redist\DXSETUP.exe
6. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Redist\XNA FX Redist\xnafx20_redist.msi
7. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named xnaliveproxy.msi
8. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named xnags_shared.msi
9. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named spacewar.msi
10. Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Setup\xnags_documentation.msi
11. (skip this step if you do not have Visual C# 2005 Express Edition installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Setup\xnags_vcsexpress.msi
12. (skip this step if you do not have Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition or higher installed) Run the MSI at %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio\v2.0\Setup\xnags_devenv.msi
13. Go to the folder you extracted to in step 2 and run the MSI named arpentry.msi

If you end up running into this type of crash, before you proceed with one of the above workarounds, please collect a call stack with Visual Studio or Visual C# Express Edition and report a bug on the Connect site so that we can investigate it further.
<update date="8/7/2009"> Added clarification about the install step for redists.msi. </update>
 <update date="11/5/2010"> Added information about installing XNA Game Studio 4.0. </update>
 <update date="11/8/2010"> Added a note about the %programfiles(x86)% path on 64-bit versions of Windows. </update>
 <update date="2/22/2012"> Added information about installing the XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh. </update>

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Source: blogs.msdn.com