Error Message Net Framework Version 2.0 must be installed to continue.

Question

Greetings:

Just upgraded from VISTA to W7.  Each time I log on I receive an error message reading "Net Framework Version 2.0 must be installed to continue."  

I have gone to Windows Downloads and downloaded Net Framework Version 2.0 64 bit.  When I go to install, the error message reads "cannot install."

All advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Jill

Answer 1

Hi Jill,

Welcome to MSDN forums. And thank you for your reply.

For Windows 7, .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1 is shipped with it as one of OS component.
For .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1, it includes .NET 2.0 with SP2 and .NET 3.0 with SP2 as prerequisite.
This means, you have the .NET Framework 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2 and 3.5 SP1 plus a few post 3.5 SP1 bug fixes on Windows 7. They are OS components. Thus, we don't need to manually install it.

Please use Verification Tool to verify .Net Framework 2.0. If .Net Framework 2.0 cannot be verified on your computer, you can try to follow the steps mentioned in the following blog to repair the .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows 7.
See: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/03/26/how-to-repair-the-net-framework-2-0-and-3-0-on-windows-vista.aspx (also apply to Windows 7)

Or you can try to repair OS. Here is a KB about this, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212/

Since .NET Framework 2.0 is installed as a part of the OS, the cause can be that OS is not well installed on your PC.
If the issue is related to Windows 7 installation, I think the best consulting place should be Windows 7 Installation, Setup, and Deployment forums.

Hope this helps! If you have any concern, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,
Yichun Chen

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Answer 2

I experienced the very same on upgrade from Vista (Home Premium 64-bit) to Windows 7 (H P 64) a couple days ago: every time I started Windows, I got the message that I needed to install .NET Framework Version 2.0; when I tried to do this, I found that it was already installed, so the message was apparently in error. I read/tried various things re: repairing .NET Framework 2.0, with no luck. It turns out it was my Lexmark X6675 printer driver that was causing this erroneous error message. I went to the Lexmark site (support.lexmark.com) and found there is a Windows 7 driver, so I uninstalled the printer, restarted (this time no message re: .NET Framework 2.0), and installed the new driver. Problem solved. I hope this helps others experiencing the same problem.