Additional information about TurboTax 2009 setup issues caused by .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 verification errors

Back in January, I wrote a blog post about errors that can occur while trying to install TurboTax 2009 because some .NET Framework 3.5 files and/or registry keys are missing from the computer.  Since then, I’ve heard from some people who have run into problems similar to what I described in my original blog post, and I wanted to provide a couple of updates based on what I’ve learned since then in case the information in my original blog post does not end up being helpful.

How to bypass the .NET Framework verification check in TurboTax 2009 setup

A few people who contacted me reported that they have the CD-based version of TurboTax 2009, and they were able to install by running the installer in the TurboTax 2009 Installer sub-folder instead of running the setup.exe at the root of the disc.  It appears that the .NET Framework verification check happens in the main setup.exe and that this check can be bypassed by running the installer in the sub-directory instead.

I have also heard from people who downloaded TurboTax 2009 setup from the Intuit web site instead of buying the CD, and that they couldn’t find a way to bypass the .NET Framework verification check with the downloaded version.  I haven’t yet been able to look at the structure of the downloaded version of the TurboTax 2009 setup package to see if there is a way to bypass the check in that version or not.

Verification error on non-English versions of Windows 7

Multiple people have reported problems with .NET Framework 3.5 verification during TurboTax 2009 setup on non-English versions of Windows 7.  There is a known problem with the verification logic used by TurboTax setup that is causing it to incorrectly search for some English files and registry keys even on non-English versions of Windows 7.  I fixed this issue in the verification tool on my blog, but it is still a problem within TurboTax 2009 setup.

If you run into this problem, I first suggest that you try to bypass the .NET Framework verification check by using the information listed above in this blog post.

If the bypass option does not work or if you have the web download version of TurboTax 2009 instead of the CD version, then you can download this zip file that contains the English files and registry keys that will be reported as missing by the TurboTax 2009 installer on non-English versions of Windows 7 and copy them to the locations that are expected by the TurboTax 2009 verification process.

You can do the following to use this zip file:

  1. Download and extract the contents of the zip file to your desktop.
  2. Double-click on the file named netfx35_english_registry.reg to add the registry keys to your system.
  3. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\en-US if it does not yet exist on your computer.
  4. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\en-US in Windows Explorer, then copy the files named ServiceModelEvents.dll.mui and ServiceModelInstallRC.dll.mui from the WCF folder in the zip file to this folder.
  5. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Workflow Foundation\SQL\en if it does not yet exist on your computer. 
  6. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Workflow Foundation\SQL\en in Windows Explorer, then copy the 4 .sql files from the Workflow folder in the zip file to this folder.
  7. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\WPF\en-US if it does not yet exist on your computer. 
  8. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\WPF\en-US in Windows Explorer, then copy the file named PresentationHostDLL.dll.mui from the WPF folder in the zip file to this folder.

If neither of the above is helpful

If you still see errors related to the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 during TurboTax 2009 setup even after trying the above, then please use the TurboTax verification tool and the steps described in my previous blog post to try to narrow down which files and/or registry keys that TurboTax 2009 setup is reporting as missing on your computer.

If you are unable to locate the sources of the errors by looking at the verification log files yourself, you can post your verification log files to a file server (such as https://skydrive.live.com) and reply to one of my blog posts with a link to the logs and I will try to take a look and see if I can figure out what is missing.

TurboTax 2009 errors that do not involve installation or verification of the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

I have heard from some people who have been able to solve .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installation and verification issues and proceed with TurboTax 2009 setup, but who have then run into issues later on in the TurboTax setup process or who have run into issues trying to run TurboTax after the installation process completes.  Unfortunately, the only set of issues that I have the expertise to help troubleshoot are the ones related to .NET Framework installation and verification.  If you are running into other issues installing or running TurboTax, then I suggest that you search for similar issues on the TurboTax support site and/or contact the TurboTax technical support team for more detailed troubleshooting assistance.

<update date="4/13/2010"> Added a note about creating the folders if they do not exist for the non-English Windows 7 scenario </update>