Installing .Net 3.5 Fails on Windows 8 With 0x800F0906 Error

I tried to install Live Essentials 2012 on Windows 8 and it required .NET 3.5.  I tried to install it (both download and from Programs and Features) and the installer tried to download the code.  The download would fail with a 0x800F0906 error:

Windows couldn’t connect to the Internet to download necessary files. Make sure that you’re connected to the Internet, and click Retry to try again.

Some googling ensued and I found a fix.  Pop in the installation media for Windows 8 and run DISM from an elevated (admin) command prompt.  E: was the path to my Windows 8 installation USB.

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Not exactly user friendly!  The Live Essentials 2012 install worked fine after that.

It appears that this is caused by the machine being policy configured to use WSUS or similar with the download of .NET 3.5 not being available.

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35 thoughts on “Installing .Net 3.5 Fails on Windows 8 With 0x800F0906 Error”

  1. There is a new GPO to address this exact problem
    “Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair”
    Located @ Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System
    This GPO can enable Windows to use Windows Update to download missing installation files. By default, (if you don’t change this GPO) Windows will try to look for missing files in location where it was installed from, usually DVD; this is hardly a convenient default

    1. Nice work Bob. This quick-fix now leads me to investigate my WSUS server and it not handling my Windows8.1 machines’ updates correctly.

      Thanks again!

  2. There’s also a couple of reg keys which you can apparently add which will get around the WSUS issue without fiddling with Group Policy – useful for scripting. That said, the keys don’t appear to be working for me. I am trying to install .NET 3.5 via a script and without any local source media to pull the SXS stuff from. I’m having zero luck – the DISM operation fails and the log file shows “Encountered an unknown option ‘featurename’ with value ‘NetFX3′”

  3. First i wanted to use the Group Policy settings on our SBS 2011 to enable this setting, but i assume this being Win8, it’s not included (yet).
    So than i tried to change the local policy, but for some reason that didn’t work either (i admit i didn’t waste too much time with it).

    Ended up using Aidan’s procedure, that worked fine.
    Thanx

  4. this didn;t work for me…… 🙁
    it is saying that the feature or feature name you are trying to on/off is unknown!! any suggestion?

  5. After having NONE of the solutions I found all over the net not working for me to get .NET 3.5 installed, I saw a single comment in one thread that mentioned:

    Uninstall KB2966826 and KB2966828, then try installing 3.5 from programs and features.

    [SOLVED] This will fix it if you are having “download” issues or DISM isn’t working… etc.

    1. You are a life savior, thank you, worked like a charm, and I don’t know why those at Microsoft didn’t mention about this important detail.

  6. Thanks, Jamie….

    Uninstall KB2966826 and KB2966828, then try installing 3.5 from programs and features.

    Fixed the issue

    1. If u don’t have KB2966826 and KB2966828 try to uninstall KB2966827 – it worked for me.

      PS: I have tried every possible solution I could find on this issue (solutions via windows update, control panel allow feature, cmd offline from source install, power-shell install, cleaning up all framework info, enabling it via regedit… everything gave me errors so i tried to improvise.
      PPS: English isn’t my native language so sorry for any mistakes

  7. I have a newly installed Windows 2012 R2 standard server. I ran Windows update.
    Then I wanted to install the Windows feature Desktop Experience, but every time the installation fails with 0x800F0906 Error.
    I have tried to uninstall KB2966826 and KB2966828, but unfortunately with no luck.
    Anyone tried the same situation? Any suggestions?

  8. Hi Everybody, in my case i don’t have any of the KB’s suggested to be removed and also the Group policy trick didn’t work.

    I’ve managed to install the framework 3.5 by enabling the option “Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair” in the Group policy editor.

    Our company is using wsus so probably the problem lies there.. bypassing the wsus and getting the update directly to Windows update servers fixed the issue.

    Bye

  9. its working 100% :

    Copy \sources\sxs\(content of sxs folder) from the mounted operating system build
    ISO image to a folder, for example c:\net35\
    (create folder in c drive)

    then run this command with administrator elevated privileges
    Dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:c:\net35 /LimitAcces

  10. it does not work

    for more inMicrosoft Windows [Version 6.2.9200]
    (c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    C:\Windows\system32>dism/online/enable-feature/featurename:Netfx3/All/source:c:\
    sources\sxs/limiAccess

    Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
    Version: 6.2.9200.16384

    Error: 87

    The online/enable-feature/featurename option is unknown.
    For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.

    The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

    C:\Windows\system32>DISM.exe/?.

    Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
    Version: 6.2.9200.16384

    Error: 87

    The ?. option is unknown.
    For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.

    The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

    C:\Windows\system32>for

  11. My user has a Surface Pro 3 and ran across this same problem. I disabled the WSUS policy from affecting this computer and I still couldn’t even download any updates from Windows Update. There hadn’t been any updates performed at all, so there were no KB’s for me to remove. I could locate all updates needed, just couldn’t download them. One update snuck through and I restarted the computer and it turned out to be a firmware update that was restricting me all along. Without this firmware update, windows update, and DISM installation of fx35 wouldn’t work. Hopefully this helps someone.

  12. At an elevated command prompt, run the following command:
    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source::\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
    Note In this command, is a placeholder for the drive letter for the DVD drive or for the Windows 8 installation media. For example, you run the following command:
    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

  13. This is the correct fix from Microsoft, that worked for me!

    At an elevated command prompt, run the following command:
    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source::\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
    Note In this command, is a placeholder for the drive letter for the DVD drive or for the Windows 8 installation media. For example, you run the following command:
    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

  14. thnx …this cmd worked

    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

  15. Thanks guys! The same cmd worked for me.

    Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:E:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

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