I have a 64-bit Windows 8.1

The issue is that all the JRE installers version 8 update 45 for either x86 or x64 platform stop silently at the very beginning . Please note that there are no error messages appearing in messagebox form or in system event logs. Clean reboot along with all antivirus shutdown did not help. In fact I have no idea where to go further.

Hi,

Have tried the latest JRE update 51?

Recommended Version 8 Update 51

http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

If it still fail to install, recommend you remove all old version of JAVA and reinstall again.

Why should I uninstall older versions of Java from my system?

http://java.com/en/download/faq/remove_olderversions.xml

If we still fail to get this done, please capture the system events via Process monitor when reproing this issue and find if there is any error during installation.

Process Monitor v3.05
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

How to use, please refer to this article:

Using Process Monitor to capture system events
http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/119038.aspx

After a very long sequence of attempts the issue has resolved itself but it was very unusual way. My problems began once I've set the US English as a default language for the non-Unicode texts but my Windows is Russian (it was pre-installed on the laptop). I've tried to set US English to avoid the question characters in textboxes.

Once I returned the Russian as a default non-Unicode language the Java installers start w/o problems. Anyway it looks like a serious problem in Windows.