Draft version of a new .NET Framework setup verification tool available for download

A while ago, I published a .NET Framework setup verification tool that can be run to provide a sanity check of the install state of the .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 on a system.  However, there are some limitations in that tool:

  • It does not support validating the .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows Vista
  • It does not support the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1, the .NET Framework 3.0, the .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 or the .NET Framework 3.5
  • It only checks file version information and does not check registry values created by setup
  • It depends on the setup technology used to install the product in the first place (Windows Installer or OS install technologies) and requires you to select an OS-specific version of the product in the UI in order to get accurate verification results
  • It reports misleading warnings if hotfixes for the .NET Framework are installed on the system

As a result, I decided to create a new verification tool, and I have an initial version that I think is ready for more people to use.  I wanted to post some information about the tool so that folks can try it out to verify the installation state of the various versions of the .NET Framework on their systems.

Where to download the new verification tool

I have a draft version of a new verification tool that can be used to verify all versions of the .NET Framework (1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.0 SP1, 3.0, 3.0 SP1 and 3.5) on any supported OS and processor architecture.  You can find information about the tool and download it from this location:

https://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/pages/8999004.aspx

The UI for the tool is straightforward - it contains a drop-down list box that lets you choose the version of the .NET Framework that you would like to verify and a Verify Now button to initiate the verification process for the chosen product.  After verification completes, it will display results for the chosen product and allow you to select additional products to verify.

I have been testing this new version on several systems that I have access to, but there are likely to still be issues where the tool falsely reports errors or misses some error cases.  Please let me know if you see any issues while using this tool by posting comments on this blog post or by contacting me directly.  If possible, please include information about your scenario and copies of the log files that I describe below so I can continue to make this tool better in the future.

How to run the tool in silent mode

This verification tool supports running in silent mode if you would like to automate the verification process.  To run in silent mode, you need to download the verification tool .zip file, extract the file netfx_setupverifier.exe from the .zip file, and then run it using syntax like the following:

netfx_setupverifier.exe /q:a /c:"setupverifier.exe /p <name of product to verify>"

The value that you pass with the /p switch to replace <name of product to verify> in this example must exactly match one of the products listed in the file setupverifier.ini that is included in the self-extracting package for the verification tool.

Currently, the verification tool includes the following product names that can be passed in using the /p switch:

  • .NET Framework 1.0
  • .NET Framework 1.1
  • .NET Framework 2.0
  • .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
  • .NET Framework 2.0 SP2
  • .NET Framework 3.0
  • .NET Framework 3.0 SP1
  • .NET Framework 3.0 SP2
  • .NET Framework 3.5
  • .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

For example, if you would like to run the tool in silent mode and verify the install state of the .NET Framework 2.0, you would use a command line like the following:

netfx_setupverifier.exe /q:a /c:"setupverifier.exe /p .NET Framework 2.0"

The verification tool returns the following exit codes:

  • 0 - cleanup completed successfully for the specified product
  • 1 - the required file setupverifier.ini was not found in the same path as setupverifier.exe
  • 2 - a product name was passed in that cannot be verified because it does not support installing on the OS that the tool is running on
  • 3 - a product name was passed in that does not exist in setupverifier.ini
  • 100 - verification failed for the specified product
  • 1602 - verification was canceled

Logging

This verification tool creates 2 log files by default that can be used to determine what actions the tool is taking and what errors it encounters while verifying a product.  The 2 log files are listed below, and they are created in the %temp% directory by default.  Note that you can find the %temp% directory by clicking on the Windows start menu, choosing Run, typing %temp% and clicking OK to open the directory in Windows Explorer.

  • %temp%\setupverifier_main_*.txt - this log contains information about all actions taken during a verification tool session; it will include information about each resource that the tool attempts to verify for a chosen product and whether or not that resource was found on the system; this log tends to be fairly long, so errors will be logged with the prefix ****ERROR**** to make it easy to search and find them
  • %temp%\setupverifier_errors_*.txt - this log only contains information about any errors found during verification of a chosen product

A new pair of log files will be created each time the verification tool is launched.  The date and time the tool is launched will be appended to the end of the log file names by default in place of the * in the names listed above.  If you want to control the exact names used for the log files, you can use the following command line parameters:

  • /l <filename> - specifies a name to replace the default value of setupverifier_main_*.txt for the main activity log for the verification tool
  • /e <filename> - specifies a name to replace the default value of setupverifier_errors_*.txt for the error log for the verification tool

For example, the following command line will allow you to specify non-default names for both log files:

netfx_setupverifier.exe /q:a /c:"setupverifier.exe /l %temp%\my_main_log.txt /e %temp%\my_error_log.txt"

<update date="9/2/2009"> Fixed broken link to the verification tool. </update>