Installing the. NET 3.5 Framework in Windows Server 2012

Problem

Today, there are still many programs and applications that need to be run on the. NET 3.5 Framework. In Windows Server 2012, Microsoft provides installation options for. NET 3.5 and. NET 4.5 to support your application. But when installing. NET 3.5 Components, you should pay more attention to the details.

When you use Server Manager to install. NET 3.5, you may encounter the following message stating that the source file could not be found:

Even if you use PowerShell to install, you may also see a similar message "The source files could not being downloaded" sources cannot be downloaded, also reported out a 0x800f0906 error. In my example, the server is not linked to the Internet and cannot access the Windows Update server.

Back to the Add roles and Features wizard, I'll take a closer look and you'll find a warning message at the bottom of the window with a link "Specify an alternate source path" Specifying an alternative source.

Other features don't require us to provide source files when we add them, why do we need to install. NET 3.5? If you are installing the full GUI version, you run Get-windowsfeature | in PowerShell. Installstate–eq "Removed", you can see that the installation status of those components is set to "removed". "Removed" indicates which component files are not on the local server. The following are the default settings for Windows Server 2012 (whichever version).

For those servers that do not have WSUS, or those that are not required to connect to Windows Update, we need a Windows Server installation media (which can be a CD-ROM or a mirror), from the Side-by-side store (that is, SxS), as an alternative source path, to complete the installation of the feature.

Workaround

We can choose one of the following installation methods.

The first of these methods

1. Using the Add Roles and Features Wizard, click the link at the bottom of the window to specify an alternate source path. For example, D: Is my Windows Server DVD disc. You can use the following path:

   D:\Sources\sxs

The second method of

1. Using PowerShell, specify the source file path and then install it:

   Install-windowsfeature Net-framework-core–source D:\Sources\sxs

2. Using the DISM command at the command prompt, specify the source file path and install it:

   Dism/online/enable-feature/featurename:netfx3/source:d:\sources\sxs

3. Specify a UNC share path using the file share containing the SxS folder:

   Install-windowsfeature Net-framework-core–source \\ServerName\ShareName\sxs

Installing the. NET 3.5 Framework in Windows Server 2012