Install .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8

If you have tried to install an application on Windows 8 machine that requires an older version of .NET framework (older than v4.5) and your PC is located in Corporate environment you might receive the following error:

Windows couldn’t complete the requested changes.

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.

Error code: 0x800F09606

I have discovered that in my case the problem was in WSUS updates. I have used ‘Turn Windows features on or off‘ to install .NET Framework 3.5 which includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0 versions that was required to install mRemoteNG application.

It looks like the system tried to download files from the WSUS and since the files were not available it resulted with the error above.

To fix this I have temporarily disabled WSUS updates using Windows Registry.

Hit Winkey + R and type REGEDIT. Click Enter.

In registry editor navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

In the right pane double click on the UseWUServer key and change its value to 0.

Close the registry editor and restart your system.

You should now be able to install .NET Framework 3.5.