I have had the same problem as in the original thread. At the end it got stuck as for some reason it was not able to run e Code Generation Tools update:
<CCS_Manifest>
<ID>5.1.0.08026</ID>
<TIMESTAMP>20234406034406</TIMESTAMP>
<OS>win32</OS>
<URL inturl="https://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_ccstudio/codegen/Updates/p2win32" exturl="https://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_ccstudio/codegen/Updates/p2win32" repotype="single" updatename="Code Generation Tools Updates"/>
<Component tag="DMED"
name="Code Generation Tools Updates"
feature="com.ti.cgt.dmed.win32"
version="1.2.0"
binary="ti_cgt_dmed_1.2.0_windows-x64_installer.exe"
inturl="https://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_ccstudio/codegen/Updates/p2win32"
exturl="https://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_ccstudio/codegen/Updates/p2win32"
downloadsize="10567761"
type="IB" />
</CCS_Manifest>
Deleting either that manifest or just all contents in the downloads folder (in my version C:\ti\ccs1230\ccs\eclipse\downloads) will resolve it and CCS starts like normal but having an automated check CCS built-in would not be a bad idea for sure...
Regards
Peter