DotNet Framework 3.5 offline installer for Windows 8

nilanko

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If you have upgraded to Windows 8 or your new PC came with the Microsoft's brand new Windows 8 operating system, many of your applications (eg. AutoCad) might not work at all due to the absence of an important component called "DotNet Framework v3.5" on this OS. Although Windows 8 comes with .Net Framework v4.5 pre-installed, but all of those apps developed on v3.5 platform need that version of the component itself to be able to run. There are only two ways to install this component:

Method 1: Install it directly from the internet (Windows update). For that, you need an internet connection on your system and a big data plan because you will need to download around 150-200MB of data and that too, will not be saved for future use. It gets downloaded, installed and the downloaded data is gone forever, you won't be able to catch hold of it. Even if you could, it would be of no use (just keep reading, I will let you know why).

Method 2: Install it offline using Windows installation media (DVD only). There's a command that can install this component from the Windows 8 DVD. If you have the ISO, you need to burn it to a DVD or mount it on a virtual drive. Bootable pendrives won't work at all (I know that's strange). And not everyone has the Windows 8 DVD or the ISO in their possession all the time.

Method 3: Doesn't exist, but I ultimately have created it out of frustration. I made a .Net Framework 3.5 offline installer (not actually an "installer", you need the read and follow the instructions) for Windows 8 which neither requires an internet connection nor any Windows DVD or crap like that. And the good part is that it's size is just 68MB and you can save and use it forever. The instructions on how to get it installed is in the "Instructions.txt" file in the archive.

Why is it impossible to install this component using the official Microsoft's installer?

You can freely download the official setup of .Net Framework 3.5 (whopping 197 MB!) from Microsoft's website itself but you will never be able to install it using that installer because that installer itself requires .Net Framework 3.5 to be able to run on Windows 8!!
 
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Funny you say that you need .NET 3.5 to install it cause no where on the official download page does it say anything of that matter:

Download .NET Framework 3.5 from Official Microsoft Download Center

Important: Make sure you have the latest service pack and critical updates for the version of Windows on the computer. To look for recent updates, visit Windows Update. In addition, make sure you have Windows Installer 3.1 installed before you install this service pack

Click the Download button on this page to start the download

To save the download to your computer for installation at a later time, click Save.

To cancel the installation, click Cancel.

The setup file is only 2.7MB in size. Yes that is the online installer and you can get the offline installer which is 197MB in size. But you still can download it and install it without having .NET 3.5 installed.

System requirements
Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Processor: 400 MHz Pentium processor or equivalent (Minimum); 1GHz Pentium processor or equivalent (Recommended)
RAM:96 MB (Minimum); 256 MB (Recommended)
Hard Disk: Up to 500 MB of available space may be required
CD or DVD Drive: Not required
Display: 800 x 600, 256 colors (Minimum); 1024 x 768 high color, 32-bit (Recommended)
 
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