.NET 4.8 not detected on Windows 10

Question

I am having trouble with .NET 4 applications on Windows 10 Pro 10.0.18363. I think I had previously uninstalled .NET 4 when trying to remove Visual Studio 2019 preview. Applications such as Skype give me this error:

I have reinstalled Windows 10 (using Reset this PC - keep files), but the problem persists. I have run Windows update and everything is up to date and I have installed .NET 4.8 manually as well.

If I try to install .NET 4.6.2 it says ".NET Framework 4.6.2 or a later update is already installed on this computer.". So it seems like at least part of Windows thinks that it is installed.

I don't see any v4 versions under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP, just v2, v3 and v3.5

I have seen previous suggestions to enable .NET 4 as a Windows feature, but I don't see the same options, and checking the .NET related options doesn't seem to stick or do anything:

How can I get .NET 4 applications running again on Windows 10?

Solution

After trying "Reset this PC" both keeping files and not keeping them, I resorted to downloading a recovery image to a USB and doing a complete wipe and install. Everything is working now. It seems like this error state cannot be recovered from.

Comments

[Ramhound]

It is not actually possible to uninstall .NET Framework 4.8 on Windows 10. .NET Framework 4.8 is an in-place upgrade to .NET Framework 4.0. This means it's not actually possible to uninstall .NET Framework 4.0 on Windows 10. .NET Framework 4.6.2 cannot be installed because you have .NET Framework 4.8 already installed. It's unclear what edition of Windows 10 you are using. Please edit your question to include this vital information. An answer cannot be provided without this vital information.

[Ramhound]

What is odd is that I do NOT have a .NET Environment optional feature listed in Turn Windows Features on or off on my system.

[Ramhound]

Does this answer your question? Completely missing Dot Net in Windows 10 -1909?

[Ramhound]

Post the table generated by DISM /Online /Get-Features /Format:Table specifically the entries that contained the text Microsoft-Windows-NetFx

[Ramhound]

The bottom line is that if .NET Framework 4.x is actually not installed, it's an error state, .NET Framework 4.8 cannot normally be uninstalled as it's built-into Windows 10 1909. There are numerous Windows 10 feedback threads about this issue.

[row1]

@Ramhound I had tried those solutions and nothing worked. I had tried listing the features, but there was no Microsoft-Windows-NetFx, just the ones in my screenshot. I did try downloading the Microsoft-Windows-NetFx set from another answer and forcefully installing it, but it didn't work. It is possible to uninstall .NET Framework as I remember seeing the option and doing so -- I thought I didn't need it since doing .NET Core. I ended up download a recovery image, since a clean reset did not work.

[Ramhound]

This matches the comments to the feedback hub for this issue. Microsoft has not replied to those issues, other than fixing the issue since it only affected a specific 1903 build a few months ago. At least based on the feedback hub threads.