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So I am trying to Install .net 3.5 on a windows 2012 R2 Server. I have tried via the Add Feature and via DISM both fail.

When trying via Add Features GUI I am using the “Specify Alternate Path” This fails with the error “installing of one of more roles, role services, or features failed”

When trying via an Elevated PowerShell to use DISM I am using the following command. 

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:d:\sources\sxs

This fails with

Error: 0x800f0906 The source files could not be downloaded. Use the "source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077

The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

I have followed the KB listed above (243077) to set the group policy location for the SXS folder. Rebooted and still the same error. The DSIM log shows the following

Failed while processing command enable-feature. - CPackageManagerCLIHandler::ExecuteCmdLine(hr:0x800f0906)

A quick google shows that a lot of people are having problems with this and that you should uninstall KB2966826 and KB2966828 this server hasn’t got either installed.

I have also tried the offline .Net installer and it says that I must add it via windows features. All commands have been run as an administrator and via an elevated prompt.

While writing this I searched noticed the "Similar Questions" and took at look at this Unable to install .net 3.5 on Windows server 2012

Running

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /all

Produced the same error as above.

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Zapto
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  • If someone has already been managing this server then chances are they removed that feature by removing the binaries from the OS. 2012 now allows you to remove unneeded files for roles you don't plan on installing. That's why it's prompting you for an alternate path to the setup files. Do a powershell lookup for your command and it'll tell you how to specify that alternate path. – Jon Jul 14 '15 at 19:36
  • If you have KB2919355 (Update 1) installed, you should use source files that have KB2919355 integrated. That's the only way it worked for me. – Peter Hahndorf Jul 15 '15 at 01:05
  • have you installed additional MUI packages? – magicandre1981 Jul 15 '15 at 03:56
  • @magicandre1981 No MUI, This is a fresh install of Windows. We work to 1 app per Server (virtual).I will try your suggestions. – Zapto Jul 15 '15 at 07:27
  • Are you using WSUS? There's a setting in group policy you can set that tells Windows not to look for these files in WSUS, as it can't be an install source for this. – briantist Jul 16 '15 at 01:58
  • yes. But as per question I have updated the GPO @briantist – Zapto Jul 17 '15 at 06:34
  • @t1nt1n but you don't say which GPO settings you set, nor what the values they were set to. That would be helpful to add to the question. – briantist Jul 17 '15 at 14:43
  • @t1nt1n, again share the logs, otherwise I can't help you. – magicandre1981 Jul 22 '15 at 04:04
  • I gave it up. Without your help by providing logs we can't solve it. – magicandre1981 Jul 23 '15 at 16:09
  • You mention KB2966826, did you have KB2966827 installed? that's what's mentioned [here](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3002547) – austinian Jul 23 '15 at 18:44

10 Answers10

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The command I use to install .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 is:

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:D:\sources\sxs

Where D:\ is the mounted ISO or DVD drive. The only difference from yours is the /LimitAccess, but I believe that is the important part, as it prevents it from attempting to contact Windows Update or WSUS. For whatever reason, this aspect (contacting Windows Update) is totally broken for .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8/8.1 and Server 2012/2012R2 and will always cause it to fail.

See also: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2012/05/14/windows-8-and-net-framework-3-5.aspx

Joshua McKinnon
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  • much easier than https://serverfault.com/a/633171/157373 – Jason Pyeron Sep 18 '17 at 00:16
  • For any one looking for the cab file inside sxs folder you can download it from https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=745425885120760819. Also the information link in the answer is now archived and can be found at below link https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/askcore/windows-8-and-net-framework-3-5. – Sam Jan 29 '20 at 23:53
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I had the same issue when I mount the Windows install disk or use the physical DVD, and here's how I fixed it:

  1. Create a folder under root (C:\NetFx3 for example)
  2. Copy the microsoft-windows-netfx3-ondemand-package.cab from a Windows install disk .\sources\sxs to the C:\NetFx3 folder
  3. Command Prompt as an administrator
  4. DISM.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:C:\NetFX3 /LimitAccess
  5. The text progress bar will go to 100% when completed and will give you a message: "The operation completed successfully".

For whatever reason, my optical drive shows the files on the disk, but the DISM doesn't like it, but copying the files to C: seems to have worked.

Peter
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2

The solution for me was a combination of these answers. I was on a machine with Windows Server 2012 R2.

I tried working around the fact that I did not have an ISO of the OS on-hand. But could not get it to work. So I was forced to find an ISO for Windows Server 2012 R2.

1.) Start the Local Group Policy Editor or Group Policy Management Console (WIN+R and type gpedit.msc).

2.) Expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then select System.

3.) Open the "Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair Group Policy" setting, and then select Enabled.

4.) Select the "Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)" checkbox. Click Apply, Click Ok.

wsus settings

5.) Download an ISO of the OS and mount the image. I downloaded one here: https://www.technig.com/download-windows-server-2012-r2-essentials-iso-file/

*Note: it's a 3Gb file.

6.) Open an elevated Powershell and run:

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:E:\sources\sxs

*Note: the ISO was mounted to the "E:\ drive" in this case.

install Net 3.5 with Powershell

*This thread was a life-saver. Thanks to all contributors, especially @Joshua McKinnon!

Guy Clark Rimel
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  • This seems to have been the issue I had in my scenario too. Changes to Group Policy worked a treat! I don't know if it is worthwhile or not, but I set the Group Policy back to what it was once the install completed. – Mr Moose Jan 24 '20 at 09:51
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None of the above methods worked for me. It turned out I had a WSUS server configured. The only way I could install it was

1) Regedit

2) Go to Computer->HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SOFTWARE->Policies->Microsoft->Windows->WindowsUpdate

3) Made note of the values of the two keys: WUServer and WUStatusServer

4) Deleted/Renamed these keys

5) Stopped and Started WindowsUpdate

6) Added the .Net3.5 feature

7) Put the keys back and restarted WindowsUpdate.

I hope it helps

formica
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There's lots of stuff on the internet on this and most of it was summarized in the answers here. We tried it all and none of it worked. Even when pointing at various copies of the sxs folder, it still would get a variation of the "source files not found" error.

I finally pointed it at a share of the the winsxs folder on another fully patched server that did have .net 3.5 (c:\windows\winsxs) and it worked:

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:\\otherserver\winsxs

My theory is that the install process was looking for source files that matched the current KBs on the server. I know there are other articles pointing to the removal of two particular KBs, but those did not show up in our list of installed patches.

Also note that add/remove features did not work with this share. I had to use DISM.

b_levitt
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    100% agree with b_levitt. I went through almost every idea on this post and also found the same information on tons of support sites. Not sure why, but using the 2012R2 iso \sources\sxs would not work. Using the .cab from another iso would not work. But pointing the source to a known-good server \\otherserver\c$\windows\winsxs worked like a charm! – Darell Craighead Apr 30 '20 at 17:44
  • Thank you @b_levitt. This is the only way I could get it to install (/Source:\\SERVER\c$\Windows\WinSxS). Created a new 2012R2 VM for that purpose. – Lukas Rytz Aug 12 '20 at 11:40
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When the DISM command skips the media specified by the /Source switch and goes looking for the files online, it means that the source files in the specified media is either corrupted or not applicable to your server (version mismatch).

The error code 0x800f0906 further proves this behavior as documented by Microsoft: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn482067.aspx

Your best bet is to help solve this problem is to:

  1. Change the media you're using, re-download if possible.
  2. Present the media in different methods. If it's a VM, mount an ISO. If it's physical, burn to a DVD. if both files, copy to a local disk. If that fails, try a shared folder.
  3. If all of the above fails, I read that you're using WSUS, try configuring WSUS with an "Update Source" location, where you have sxs folder copied to a shared folder, the servers in your network will use that folder as a source for installing Windows componants: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn482065.aspx
  4. If using WSUS is not option for any reason, remove the GPO from the server and insure that it settings are not cached by running "gpupdate /sync /force", once done, try to do the installation Online from the internet using the command "DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All"

If all of the above fails, I highly recommend that you provide the DISM servicing logs to do any further troubleshooting, but at this stage, I would leaning more to do a full server rebuild.

Noor Khaldi
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  • This is *almost* right, sorta. By simply removing the GPO settings in step 4—i.e. setting it to "not configured"—will get you back to where you were at step 2. By setting the policy to enabled and checking the box for "Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)" will allow the DISM command do fetch from the internet. The /Online switch doesn't mean "fetch from the internet", it means "servicing a running[, or online,] computer". [#documentation](https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Hh825079.aspx) – austinian Jul 24 '15 at 03:13
  • Yup, I made using the internet for the update as a last resort, I wanted to insure that he could use any of the local resources in the LAN to make the installation fast without downloading from internet. I know about the DISM swtiches too, /Online means "Specifies that the action is to be taken on the operating system that is currently running" https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825079.aspx – Noor Khaldi Jul 24 '15 at 06:47
  • Alright, but the command won't check the internet if there's a defined intranet location for Windows Update (e.g. a WSUS server). It'll check there unless you have the GPO in step 3 enabled with the setting **Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)** enabled. – austinian Jul 24 '15 at 13:52
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Your DISM command isn't finding the required resources because it's checking for the source "online". Windows 6.2+ will (by default) check only with the update source server for component install/repair if an update source is specified for the Windows Update Service.

If you don't want to set up your update source (usually WSUS) server as the source for repairing/installing components, then you can enable the following Group Policy:

Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System

Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair

Make sure to check this option:

Contact Windows Update directly to download repair content instead of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

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austinian
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Make sure your Sources media absolutely match your version of Windows.

I spent half a day trying to use Server 2012 ISO to install .NET35 on Server 2012 R2. Once the source is correct, DISM command (from this answer) works flawlessly.

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alex.z
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I have had the exact same issue. My resolution was to remove the server from Active Directory, Install .Net 3.5, then add back to AD. I'm sure it has to do with WSUS at some layer, but that solved it for us. We just make sure we install 3.5 on all servers before adding to the domain.

Chris Satola
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I've been able to solve this by using the server manager add features wizard and there specifying an alternate source there.

Got this info from http://www.danielclasson.com/install-net-framework-35-server-2012/

Option 1 did not work for me either, option 2 completed successfully.

Mickeybyte
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