Install .net Framework 3.5 on Windows 10 using SCCM

Thursday 16 January 2020 at 4:24 pm

There are hundreds of Google results with this subject, but after a day of trying various solutions and tearing my hair out I finally managed to get this working, so here's my take on it.

This was to retrospectively roll out .net framework 3.5 to an estate of W10 1903 PCs.

You will need (from the Windows installation ISO - make sure it's the same version of Windows because an 1809 install won't work on 1903, for example), a copy of the folder sources\sxs.  I copied the whole sxs folder to my deployment share, because earlier attempts just using the single .cab (the biggest one) failed miserably.

In SCCM make a new Application package. Make a Script Deployment, pointing to your deployment shared folder, with the Installation Program as follows:

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:"sxs" /LimitAccess

The 'Source:"sxs"' refers to the folder I'd copied previously.

For the Detection Method I just used the existence of registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5, which wasn't there before the install.  Good enough for me.

Now I can use it as a dependency for any legacy software which wants this framework to run on.  Online exam software seems to be a major user of this.

Next time I create a new W10 image for deployment, I'll probably build it in, but this gets me out of a load of manual work for now.