Creating an administrative install point for the .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows Vista

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I previously posted a set of instructions for creating an administrative install point for the .NET Framework 2.0 using the install.exe external UI handler.  I recently heard from a customer who attempted to use these instructions on Windows Vista and received an error message stating "This product is already installed as part of the operating system."

I looked into this in more detail and found that some of the prerequisite conditions in the external UI handler are being evaluated in administrator mode and incorrectly blocking this scenario on Windows Vista.  The .NET Framework 2.0 MSI-based setup does not allow installing on Windows Vista because the .NET Framework 2.0 is a part of the OS on Windows Vista.  However, you should be able to create an administrative install point on Windows Vista as long as you plan to only install from that install point on other operating systems.

Here are an updated set of instructions that will allow you to create an administrative install point for the .NET Framework 2.0 on any operating system that has Windows Installer 2.0 or later installed:

  1. Download the .NET Framework 2.0 redistributable package from https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa731542.aspx
  2. Click on the Start menu, choose Run, type cmd and click OK
  3. Run the following command to create an administrative install point for the .NET Framework 2.0:  dotnetfx.exe /c:"msiexec /a netfx.msi TARGETDIR=<path>"

Note - the <path> value in the command above should be set to the exact path that you want to stage the administrative install point to.