Installing Free 18c Oracle Database Express Edition (on Windows 10 Home and Pro Editions)

Given below are the steps to install the free 18c Oracle Database Express Edition XE on Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional Edition.
Note: The installation may experience some hiccups on Windows 10 Home.

The Complete Installation Reference can be seen here.

STEP-1: Download the free Oracle Database Express Edition XE from this location.

STEP-2: Extract and run the setup wizard from download file OracleXE184_Win64.

STEP-3: When prompted, set database password to use for SYS, SYSTEM and PDBAADMIN accounts

STEP-4: Verify and remember the Oracle Home and other locations. Note that the spaces are not allowed in directory names.
Next — hit Install to get it going.

STEP-5: Wait while the installation is in progress.

For Windows 10 Professional users, the above step will smoothly lead to next step 6 within few minutes.

CAUTION: However, there may be issues on Windows 10 Home when you see the error message below.

Remedy:
1. Most likely, the error will be followed by a windows update on Win10 Home box. Allow the windows to update and restart after.

I saw below important .NET Framework update among others
February 11, 2020-KB4538122 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.7.2 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1809 and Windows Server 2019

2. After the restart, the installation should resume on its own. Proceed again from STEP-1 to 4.

3. Now the Step-5 (if you see the installation hang) may be a real test of your patience. Mine ran for about two hours before I got to the next step, and saw the success message on Windows 10 Home box.

But I do need to mention that my Windows 10 Home box is HP Pavilion Intel Core i7–8550@1.80 GHz 4 core with 8 GB RAM, whereas Windows 10 Professional is HP Omen Intel Core i7–9750@ 2.6GHz 6 core with 32 GB RAM.
So there is obvious difference in performance.

STEP-6: Finish when you see the success message below.

Congratulations !! Either way, You did it.