Step 1: Check the Prerequisites

Step 2: Create a Network Image

Step 3: Run Setup

You can run setup again on a computer that already has an existing installation in order to access setup maintenance features. Both users and administrators should run setup from Add or Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel. To run setup in maintenance mode, users must have administrative permissions on the target computer.

Network administrators must verify that all client computers have the system components required for installing the .NET Framework 3.5. Installation will fail if the prerequisites are not met.

Note:

You must deploy the required components in the order that they are listed. The component installation setup will fail if they are deployed in a different order. For example, the .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 requires that you install Windows Installer 3.1 first; therefore, Windows Installer is listed before the .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1. The components without an asterisk (*) are located in the WCU folder of the NET Framework 3.5 setup package. For information about how to deploy these components, see How to: Deploy the .NET Framework by Using Active Directory.

The following are the prerequisites for deploying the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2003:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0. To download this component, go to the Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 page on the Microsoft Download Center Web site.

• Windows Imaging Component

• XML Paper Specification Shared Components Pack 1.0

• Software rasterizer for the Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)

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

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 1

• Windows Imaging Component

• XML Paper Specification Shared Components Pack 1.0

• Software rasterizer for the Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)

The following are the prerequisites for deploying the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Vista. Obtain these updates through Windows Update before deploying the .NET Framework 3.5.

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Cumulative Update 1

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Cumulative Update 1

There are no prerequisites for deploying on Windows Server 2008 or Vista Service Pack 1. The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 Cumulative Updates 1 are included in Windows Server 2008 and Vista Service Pack 1.

The above components are subject to their own license agreements.

This section describes how to use Active Directory to deploy the Windows Installer setup package for a specific component across a network. To deploy components that require file extraction, you must have administrator privileges on the target computers.

Before you can deploy applications using Active Directory, you must extract individual files from the .exe redistributable package. The Windows Installer file must be extracted from the .exe file. You might need to extract additional files as well. For example, to deploy the .NET Framework 3.5 component, the vs_setup.msi file must be extracted from the .exe file to be used for deployment.

Before you deploy the .NET Framework, make sure that target computers meet the minimum configuration requirements. For details, see the Deploying & Configuring Applications page on the Microsoft .NET Framework Developer Center.

The Windows Imaging Component and the XML Paper Specification Shared Components Pack 1.0 use the Package Installer (formerly Update.exe). Update.msi is not provided for these two components. Microsoft recommends that you use the command-line option to deploy these Windows components.

The following tables show the list of components that can be deployed using Active Directory.

Table 1 Components that can be deployed using Active Directory (x86)

No

No

No

No

Yes

Table 2 Components that can be deployed using Active Directory (x64)

You can enable logging for each component by adding /l*v logfile to the msiexec command. For example, to include a log file for the .NET Framework 3.5 component deployment, use the following command:

msiexec /qb /l*v netfx35_x86.log /a vs_setup.msi USING_EXUIH=1 REBOOT=reallySuppress TARGETDIR=c:\dotNetFX35

Step 1: Create the Administrator Install Point

Note:
To see a sample script that shows how to create the install point, see the Appendix of this document.

1. Create a folder to hold the redistributable package.

2. Download the .NET Framework 3.5 redistributable package from the Microsoft Download Center Web site and save it in the folder that you created in step 1.

3. Extract files from the .NET Framework 3.5 redistributable .exe file to find the component files listed below. To extract files, run the following command:

   dotnetfx35.exe /x:<ExtractionDestination>

   For example:

   dotnetfx35.exe /x:C:\NETFX35

4. Copy the component's .exe file or .msi file to the root directory of the C:\ drive on your local computer. (For the location of components, see Table 1.)

5. In the Windows Start menu, click Run and then type cmd to open a Command window.

6. Change the directory to the root directory of the C: drive.

7. Type the following command to create a directory in which to copy the .exe file:

   mkdir directoryName
   

8. Type the corresponding component command (see Table 1) to create the install point in the directory.

9. Close the Command window.

10. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\directoryName to verify that the files were extracted.

11. Move the folder and all its contents to the network share that you intend to use for deployment.

Step 2: Add a Setup Package to an Active Directory Group Policy

Step 3: Set the Elevated Privileges Using Group Policy

Step 4: Verify that the Package is Ready to be Assigned to Computers

Step 5: Deploy Other Required Components

In some cases you might want to redeploy a software package. For example, this might be required if you upgrade or modify the package.

1. Start the Active Directory Users and Computers console. To do this, in the Windows Start menu, select Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. In the console tree, right-click the domain node and then click Properties.

3. Click the Group Policy tab, click the Group Policy object that you used to deploy the package, and then click Edit.

4. Expand the Software Settings container that contains the software installation item that you used to deploy the package.

5. Click the software installation container that contains the package.

6. In the right pane of the Group Policy Object Editor, right-click the program, select All Tasks, and then click Redeploy application.

   You will see the following message:

   Redeploying this application will reinstall the application everywhere it is already installed. Do you want to continue?

7. Click Yes.

8. Close the Group Policy Object Editor console, click OK, and then close the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

You can remove a published or assigned package if it is no longer needed.

1. Start the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. To do this, in the Windows Start menu, click Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. In the console tree, right-click the domain name, and then click Properties.

3. Click the Group Policy tab, click the Group Policy object that you used to deploy the package, and then click Edit.

4. Expand the Software Settings container that contains the software installation item that you used to deploy the package.

5. Click the software installation container that contains the package.

6. In the right pane of the Group Policy Object Editor, right-click the program, select All Tasks, and then click Remove.

7. Do one of the following:

   1. Click Immediately uninstall the software from users and computers, and then click OK.

   2. Click Allow users to continue to use the software, but prevent new installations, and then click OK.

8. Close the Group Policy Object Editor console, click OK, and then close the Active Directory Users and Computers console.

The following log files are generated during the .NET Framework 3.5 setup process:

• dd_dotnetfx35error.txt

• dd_dotnetfx35install.txt

For non-English installations, the following log files are also generated:

• dd_dotnetfx35error_lp.txt

• dd_dotnetfx35install_lp.txt

Each component in the .NET Framework also creates its own log, including the following:

• RGB Rasterizer: dd_RGB9Rast_*.txt

• MSXML6.0: dd_msxml6_*.txt

• WIC: dd_wic*.txt

• .NET Framework 2.0 SP1: dd_net_framework20*.txt

• .NET Framework 3.0 SP1: dd_net_framework30*.txt

• .NET Framework 3.5 MSI: dd_net_framework35*.txt

During the .NET Framework 3.5 setup process, the log files are located in the %temp% directory.

For Active Directory deployment, specify the /lv logfile option as noted in How to: Deploy the .NET Framework by Using Active Directory to create the log file for each component deployment.

For a list of error codes, see the Windows Installer Error Codes page on the MSDN Web site.