Windows 2012 Server: Enable .NET 3.5

07
2014-07
  • Meengla

    I have a Windows 2012 Server which needs .NET 3.5 installed. For background info/solutions, please see this: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/sergio_govoni/archive/2013/07/13/how-to-install-netfx3-on-windows-server-2012-required-by-sql-server-2012.aspx

    I have tried this but it doesn't work for me. Here is what I am trying: Using a Windows 2012 ISO file, 'mount' on the 2012 Server as 'D' drive and then tried both GUI and Command prompt. In case of GUI, I specified the 'alternate source' path to the D drive's 'source/sxs folder but that failed without giving enough info.

    In case of the command prompt, here is what's happening:

    dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3  /source:d:\sources\sxs

    I get error: Installed but Parent feature not enabled. So I tried another approached:

    dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3  /all /source:d:\sources\sxs

    the above command, per http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2012/05/14/windows-8-and-net-framework-3-5.aspx is supposed to enable parent elements; but running this I get error like 'source not found'.

    Is there some error in my second command? What else I could do?

    This is Windows 2012 Server Standard edition.

    Thanks!

    • Answers
  • Meengla

    Never mind. It turned out that I needed a 'Windows Server 2012 R2' ISO because that's what the target server was; I was trying to a regular 'Windows Server 2012' ISO and that was throwing the 'source not found' error. I downloaded an 'eval' copy of the R2 ISO from Microsoft site, 'mounted' it on the target server and, voila, the following command ran fine and now .NET 3.5 is enabled!

    Thanks!

    dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3  /all /source:d:\sources\sxs

    • Related Question

    windows - How can I install .NET framework 3.5 on XP machines without internet connection?
  • EricSchaefer

    I want to install .NET framework 3.5 on a couple of machines that do not have internet access. If I install the "no internet access"-package it still wants to download something. How can I figure out what is missing? Are there other installation packages?

    Edit: I would present screenshots but I cannot upload anything from here and the shots would be in german. So I present only the text translated back to english...

    Installing the "full redistributable package":
    At the bottom of the license agreement page it display this text:

    Size of download file: 67 MB
    Appoximate download time: 2h 44min (56KBit/s) 18min (512KBit/s)

    It shows the text even if I installed Windows Installer 3.1.

    After agreeing it displays the "Download and Installation Status"-Dialog with a progress bar labeled "Download:" and

    Status: Connection to server attempted (try X of 5).
    Total Download Status: 56MB/67MB

    I tried it in a VM with no network connection. It tries 5 times while the progress bar shows progress. Later the progress bar is labeled "Installation:". Even later it reports problems during setup and provides two buttons "Send Report Later" and "Don't Send". Now here it comes: "Setup completed" and "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 has been deinstalled successfully." (Emphasis is mine)
    "It is recommended to install current service packs and security updates. More information at Windows Update (link)."

    Edit2: Installed Service Pack 3, but still no success.


    • Related Answers
  • Albic

    If you are using a localized version of Windows the setup automatically tries to download the language pack for your location.

    To bypass the automatic download you can specify English as the installation language by using the following command line:

    C:\path\to\installer\dotnetfx35.exe /lang:ENU

    After the setup is complete you can download and install the language pack for your location manually.

    Links:

  • pavsaund

    As well as the .NET Framework 3.5 Redistributable, you must also have the required version of Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable (v2). This may be the reason that the installer is trying to download more.

  • GAThrawn

    Have a look in your machine's Application and System event logs for any warnings or errors around the time when you were running the install, pay particular attention to any events logged by MsiInstaller.

    It's quite likely that at least one of the messages should say what it's trying to install, which is very likely to be a missing pre-requisite of some kind (although you've got the full installer for .Net it probably doesn't include all the pre-reqs but assumes that you'll already have them, and then helpfully tries to download and install them if not).

    See How .NET Framework 3.5 setup checks for its prerequisites behind the scenes for details on what the installer's doing to install it's pre-reqs.

    The following are the prerequisites for deploying the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows XP:

    • Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)*.
    • Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)*.
    • Windows Installer 3.1*.
    • .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
    • .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
    • Windows Imaging Component*.
    • XML Paper Specification (XPS) Shared Components Pack 1.0*.
    • Software Rasterizer for the Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK).

    (from .NET Framework 3.5 Deployment Guide for Administrators)

  • alexandrul

    Try first Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable, followed by the Update to MSI 4.5 (KB958655) - they solve some problems with the setup of SQL 2005/2008 as a bonus.

    After that install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service pack 1 (Full Package) (231.5 MB).