Windows 10 comes with .NET framework 4.5 pre-installed, but many apps developed in Vista and Windows 7 era require the .NET framework v3.5 installed along with 4.5.
These apps will not run unless you will install the required version. When you try to run any such app, Windows 10 will prompt you to download and install .NET framework 3.5 from the Internet. However, this will take a lot of time. You can save your time and install .NET Framework 3.5 from the Windows 10 installation media. This method is much faster and does not even require an Internet connection.
.NET Framework 3.5 Offline Installer for Windows 10
- Insert your Windows 10 DVD, or double click its ISO image, or insert your bootable flash drive with Windows 10, depending on what you have.
- Open ‘This PC’ in File Explorer and note the drive letter of the installation media you have inserted. For example, it is disk D:.
- Open command prompt as Administrator and type the following command:
Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
Substitute the drive letter with your drive letter you have in This PC.
- This will install .NET framework 3.5 in Windows 10.
Download Batch File
To save your time, you can create a batch file which will find the inserted installation media automatically and install .NET framework 3.5. The batch file contents is as follows:
@echo off
Title .NET Framework 3.5 Offline Installer
for %%I in (D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do if exist “%%I:\\sources\install.wim” set setupdrv=%%I
if defined setupdrv (
echo Found drive %setupdrv%
echo Installing .NET Framework 3.5…
Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:%setupdrv%:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
echo.
echo .NET Framework 3.5 should be installed
echo.
) else (
echo No installation media found!
echo Insert DVD or USB flash drive and run this file once again.
echo.
)
pause
Copy the text above to a new Notepad document and save it as “net35.cmd”. Alternatively, you can download it here:
Download the file, extract it from the ZIP archive to the Desktop, right click it and choose Run as administrator. The file will install .NET Framework 3.5 automatically after finding the drive letter of your Windows 10 installation media.
