I recently formatted my hard drive and installed Windows 10. I've been installing programs fine up until I tried to install Osu. After running the file from the official download link, I'm supposed to see the installer and be able to click the text box to change installation directory. Instead it launched 'Osu Updater', which didn't show that text box and instead just told me that my osu needed updates, which it apparently installed before launching the game. After playing around a little, I noticed that all the game's files were just sitting loose in my downloads folder. So I created a folder called "Osu!" and moved all the files into it, including hidden files, and put that folder into program files. After launching the game again, it recreated most of those files in the download folder. So my first thought was that I might have got some bug, so I used the windows 10 programs app to uninstall osu. Upon trying to reinstall, I was given the box with the sad illustration and a message saying that osu installer crashed. This would happen every time I tried to install and a couple times I also got a windows error box saying that a file location could not be found. All of this makes me think that for some reason the installer is looking for an installation to modify and I don't know how to tell it to just install from scratch like it should. After restarting my pc and making sure that all temp files were gone, I was able to install the game. But it would again not allow me to choose the directory. So I went to uninstall it again, however Osu was not showing up in the windows app list. After more restarts and temp file clearing I'm now back at the point where I have the game installed and recognised by windows, but am unable to move it from the downloads folder as it just recreates it's files there upon launch.

Bump

Try moving the installer into the osu! folder that you created in Program files. Then rename it to "osu!.exe" and run it.

At the very least this should create those files inside that folder. I'm not entirely sure why the installer wasn't working in the first place if you just formatted your hard drive installed Windows 10.

On trying that, I get this error message. I can't copy the text or find a log file so here's a screenshot. https://gyazo.com/2352a8e993f6238883df91ede8ee3d96
Hopefully this clarifies some things.

Try running the executable as an administrator.

Or perhaps if that doesn't work, try doing this in a location that have you correct permission for. Your desktop, for example, might be a good place to try doing this just to see if it works at all.

That got it installed in the right place. Thanks. Still can't move it anywhere without issues, but that's no big deal really. It never crossed my mind to try as admin since I had admin by default on my previous windows.