Windows XP - .NET Update & Install/Uninstall Errors

This was a tough one to work through as there is not a whole heck of a lot of information out there on these errors.

Here is the one we are dealing with today:

Windows Update Agent: Event ID 20, Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x80070643: Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 2.0 (KB928365)

It turns out that a combination of the suggestions we came across worked for us on this particular error.

Add/Remove did not work as we got this when we tried to reinstall, repair, or uninstall it:

The following error occurred during setup:

Patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer Patch.

Okay, the instructions on Aaron's site to extract the .msi package didn't work to get .NET to repair or uninstall.

So, on to the next steps:

1. Download KB 290301: Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.
2. Install the utility.
3. Run the utility and remove the .NET version causing the problem.
4. Start-->Run-->Installer [Enter]
5. Click View-->Details, then Right Click the Date Modified header and select Comments.
6. Sort by the Comments by clicking on that header item.
7. Find the file commented with .NET Framework # and Right Click then Uninstall it. Note that if the relevant file is not found move on to the next step.
8. Start-->Run-->System32 [Enter].
9. Delete the folder URTTemp and rename the file mscoree.dll to something like mscoree.dll.bak.
10. Start-->Run-->Microsoft.NET [Enter].
11. Rename the .NET version you are after if it cannot be deleted.
12. Clear out the %windir%\temp folder.
13. Clear out the user profile temp directory: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp.
14. Reboot the System
15. Run a fresh install of .NET 2.0 for x86 in this case (link to the download page).

This is what we were greeted with when the install of .NET 2.0 ran:


Once the install was finished, a reboot later, and the .NET 2.0 updates took okay. This process will need to be repeated for .NET 1.1 too as there are update errors for it.

Links:

Aaron Stebner's WebLog: .NET Framework SP Setup Issues was very helpful.

The above checklist was mostly based on Charity Downham's post on EggHeadCafe.com with some blending of suggestions from Aaron's blog post. EggHeadCafe.com: Error when installing .net framework 1.1.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.