Why do I need .NET 3.5 to install .NET 3.5?

EDIT: Please read what I have already tried before commenting/answering. Thank you.

I just found a completely ridiculous problem. I have Win10 on my laptop. It comes with .NET 4.5 installed but not 3.5. I want to run a game that uses 3.5 (it won't run without it). When I run either the online or offline .NET 3.5 installer, it says I need .NET 3.5 to install .NET 3.5!

This is extremely frustrating. Is there a way I can manually install it?

Things I have tried:

Running the .NET 3.5 Online Installer (2Mb)
Running the .NET 3.5 Offline Installer (237Mb)
Using dism.exe as per Method 3 listed here (it says The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.)
Running the .NET Verification Tool.
Refreshing my Windows (it fails and says nothing has changed)
Troubleshooting the installer (it says Incompatible program, which is wrong because I have .NET 4.5 installed)
Installing .NET 2.0 (apparently I need .NET 3.5 for that too)

None of these work! Any ideas?

Pyroglyph

Posted 2015-08-10T20:24:40.330

Reputation: 154

1Hit "install this feature" – Ramhound – 2015-08-10T20:35:33.897

@Ramhound It says The referenced assembly is not installed on your system. when I click that too. – Pyroglyph – 2015-08-10T20:37:22.510

You have tried installing it through the add windows feature? – Ramhound – 2015-08-10T20:40:32.520

@Ramhound I tried adding it through Windows Features but it fails saying The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.... – Pyroglyph – 2015-08-10T20:43:40.500

You don't need to install .Net framework 3.5 in Windows 10 as it is built in to it already. If enabling it failed for you, you can try DISM method

– pun – 2015-08-10T20:46:26.680

@The_IT_Guy_You_Don't_Like I already said, .NET 3.5 isn't installed for me and I already tried the dism command. It says The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.. – Pyroglyph – 2015-08-10T20:47:45.377

2Sounds like you may have file system corruption. Run a CHKDSK, then run an SFC /Scannow, and if/after those report no problem found (and/or all problems fixed), try it again. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-08-10T20:48:17.487

@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios. – Pyroglyph – 2015-08-10T21:16:38.140

That tells you that you have corrupt Windows files.. And the repository is also corrupt. Fix that and your .Net install problem should be fixed. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-08-10T21:32:24.287

@Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 And how exactly do I fix these corrupt files? My CBS.log is here if that helps.

– Pyroglyph – 2015-08-10T21:50:51.823

Is it checked in Turn Windows features on or off within Programs and Features? – ssnobody – 2015-08-10T23:12:22.207

@ssnobody It's off but I can't turn it on because it says The referenced assembly is not installed on your system. – Pyroglyph – 2015-08-11T14:11:52.800

When this happens, you normally have to do a repair installation of windows. You put in the install disk to run Windows, and watch for the option to do a repair install instead of a normal install. With the Windows 10 upgrade, I'm not sure where you'll be able to go to get that disk. – Joel Coehoorn – 2015-08-12T01:20:50.277

Why do I need .NET 3.5 to install .NET 3.5?

Answers