Fanatec App installer "installation cancelled" error: cause and fix

simracing fanatec windows troubleshooting

If you are stuck in a loop where the Fanatec App installer reports “Installation of the FANATEC Application is cancelled” and suggests restarting your PC to try again, save yourself the reboots. Restarting will not fix it. Here is what is actually going on, and how to get the driver installed.

The symptom

You download the latest FanatecApp installer, run it, it churns for a bit, and then:

Installation of the FANATEC APPLICATION is cancelled.

No useful error message - just a button to restart your PC. You restart, try again, and get the same result. Repeat five times if you are stubborn like me.

The cause: VC++ Redistributable error 0x80070666

The Fanatec installer bundles Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable as a prerequisite. Before installing the actual Fanatec software, it tries to install this VC++ runtime - and if you already have the same or a newer version installed, the VC++ installer returns error code 0x666: “Cannot install a product when a newer version is installed.”

Installer v1.4.2.3 bundled VC++ Redist 14.36, which failed if you had anything newer (like 14.51). Fanatec then updated to installer v1.4.3.4 and bumped the bundled VC++ Redist to 14.51 - but if you already have 14.51 installed, it still fails with the same error, because re-installing the exact same version also triggers 0x666. They also updated the .NET Runtime from 8.0.4 to 8.0.27, but that part installs fine. The core bug remains unfixed across at least two installer releases.

The installer treats this as a fatal error. It does not check whether the prerequisite is already satisfied by a newer version - it just sees “failed” and rolls back everything, including the .NET runtime and Mosquitto MQTT broker it successfully installed moments earlier. The actual Fanatec driver MSI never even gets a chance to run.

You can confirm this by checking the installer logs in %TEMP%. Look for files named FanatecApp_*.log and dd_vcredist_amd64_*.log. You will find lines like:

Error 0x80070666: Cannot install a product when a newer version is installed.
Error 0x80070666: Failed to execute EXE package.
Applied execute package: VC_redist.x64.exe, result: 0x80070666
Apply complete, result: 0x80070666

How to fix it

Option A: Install the Fanatec MSI directly (easiest)

Even though the installer “failed,” it already cached the actual driver package on your system. You can install it manually:

  1. Install the prerequisites yourself if you do not have them:
  2. The VC++ Redistributable requirement is already satisfied by your newer version. Skip it.
  3. Run the cached Fanatec MSI directly: 
    msiexec /i "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{F6A28FA9-93DF-4507-B327-3BCDA7660D00}v0.53.1\Fanatec_64_driver.msi"
    The GUID in the path may differ on your system - look for a folder containing Fanatec_64_driver.msi under C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\.

Option B: Temporarily remove the newer VC++ Redistributable

  1. Open Apps & Features and uninstall your current Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64).
  2. Run the Fanatec installer. It will now install its bundled (older) VC++ runtime without conflict, and proceed to install the driver.
  3. After the Fanatec installation completes, download and reinstall the latest VC++ Redistributable to get back to the current version.

Reporting this to Fanatec

You might think “I will just let Fanatec know so they can fix it.” Good luck. Their support process requires you to create an account and fill out an astonishing amount of personal information before you can submit a single bug report. It feels less like filing a software defect and more like applying for a mortgage. I did eventually get through it, but the barrier to reporting a straightforward installer bug should not be this high.

The real fix belongs to Fanatec

This is a one-line fix in the WiX bundle configuration. The VC_redist.x64.exe package entry needs an InstallCondition or an appropriate ExePackage/@DetectCondition that checks whether a sufficient version of the runtime is already present - or, at minimum, the expected exit codes need to include 0x666 (1638) as a success case. Every other major installer bundle handles this correctly.

FAQ

Why does the Fanatec App say “installation is cancelled”?

Its bundled Visual C++ Redistributable prerequisite fails to install (error 0x80070666) because you already have the same or a newer version, and the installer rolls everything back instead of treating the prerequisite as already satisfied.

Does restarting my PC fix it?

No. The failure is a version conflict in the bundled VC++ Redistributable, not anything a reboot clears. You will hit the same error every time.

What is error 0x80070666 (0x666)?

It is the Windows Installer code for “Cannot install a product when a newer version is installed.” It is expected when the runtime is already present and should be treated as success, not failure.