Completely exited and restarted the Launcher after clearing the cache.
Tested with a custom install directory.
Tested again using the default Epic Games Launcher installation path and default Unreal Engine install location.
The behavior is the same with both custom and default install paths.
The Launcher otherwise appears to function normally.
There is no visible error when either installation button is pressed — they simply do nothing.
I can provide Launcher logs or additional system information if needed.
Question: Is this a known Launcher issue, and is there currently a workaround for installing Unreal Engine when the Install Engine and + controls do not respond?
I found a workaround that solved the issue for me.
My system is also running Windows 11 build 10.0.26200.9168. Clearing the web cache, running the launcher as administrator, and completely reinstalling the current launcher did not help.
This appears to confirm that the problem is caused by the current launcher version rather than corrupted local files. I would still recommend updating again once Epic releases a fixed launcher version. Avoid downloading old installers from third-party websites.
Fix: Epic Games Launcher “Install Engine” button does nothing / UE5 won’t appear
I ran into an issue where clicking Install Engine in the Epic Games Launcher did absolutely nothing. No error, no download, no obvious indication of what was wrong.
I eventually started setting up Unreal Engine from source instead. During that process I installed the full Visual Studio 2022 IDE along with the C++ development components, including the MSVC v143 build tools and related Windows/Unreal prerequisites.
After doing that, I went back to the Epic Games Launcher and suddenly the normal Unreal Engine download/install option was working.
I can’t say with 100% certainty which specific component fixed it, but if your Install Engine button does nothing, try opening Visual Studio Installer → Modify and make sure you have the C++ development workload and MSVC build tools installed.
In my case, the relevant missing component Visual Studio specifically complained about was:
MSVC / Platform Toolset v143, version 14.44
After installing the missing Visual Studio/C++ components, the Epic Games Launcher began offering the engine download normally.
Hopefully this helps someone else, because the Launcher gave me basically no useful error message when this happened.
I’m having exactly the same issue. The “+” button under Engine Versions is greyed out/inactive, and clicking “Install Engine” only takes me to the Library page, where nothing loads and I can’t install any version of Unreal Engine.
I’ve already tried toggling “Hide Game Library” on/off, clearing the webcache, restarting the launcher and PC, etc., but nothing has helped.
I’ll try the workaround mentioned above, but honestly, this seems like a bug that Epic should investigate and fix, as it makes it completely impossible to install Unreal Engine through the launcher.
Same..
In Unreal Engine → Library, both the “Install Engine” button and the yellow “+” button under Engine Versions do nothing when clicked.
I have already tried restarting the launcher, running it as administrator, clearing the webcache, reinstalling the launcher, and restarting Windows. The issue persists.
This worked for me (downloading the old v18.12.1 launcher). Initially it didn’t show the sidebar with the sections to navigate to UE, just the store- I happened to try sizing the window bigger and boom, the normal window with the sidebar appeared.
Thank you @Didd4Me I came back to gaming after a long time and after installing the UE Launcher, I have been battling for almost 3 hours, came here and found this post, I did exactly what you said and now I am installing the 5.8.3 version. thank you
And also thank you to @vulpesvox for posting this.
It’s weird that this problem exists at least since Aug 27 when this post was made and they have not yet fixed the issue.
Guess what? Still a problem. This is coming off a brand spanking new install of Win 11, brand new launcher, brand new engine installs - everything as well. I am convinced we may never see a working launcher again until they release the Epic Games launcher 2.0 or whatever Epic has been teasing about. I honestly cannot use it anymore, no idea how I am going to install plugins - a lot of things I can work around, but not everything.
Tried installing the earlier version, but it forced me to update to the current version, which brought me back to square one. So, I read more of this thread, and toggling “Hide Game Library” solved the issue for me. Thank you so much, Sycamore-Ma!
thank you