How to enable .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 without downloading it?

Question

Since I installed Windows 8 Preview on my personal computer, during the installation of some programs and drivers (Windows 7 ones) it started to pop me a message warning that .NET Framework 3.5 was needed:

I could use "Install this feature", start to download some dependencies (300 MB) and that's it, but I don't want to have to download it every time I want to enable this feature on every machine that I install Windows 8.

Is there is some way to install .NET 3.5 on Windows 8 without having to download the entire Framework from Microsoft?

Solution

Yes, there is an easy way, but you must have installation media for Windows 8 (could be a DVD or even a mounted .ISO with a Windows 8 installation) and make sure the media is for the correct version of Windows (x32 or x64). Otherwise, the command line will fail (not harmful, just annoying):

• Run a command prompt (cmd) with elevated rights ('as Administrator').
• Run the following command:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:E:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

where "E:\sources\sxs" is the sxs path of your Windows 8 installation media.

• That's it, .NET 3.5 is installed on your machine. Reboot and everything that requires .NET 3.5 will work.

Comments

[ta.speot.is]

The limitaccsess option is not recognized in this context. You can't spell limitaccess.