Delivery of .Net 3.5 SP1

Question

If I were to include .Net Framework setup file along with my apps (installation process is done by our own technician), to be install on a clean Windows (XP SP2/SP3 or Vista SP1

Answer 1

The .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 redistributable (the one that's around 230MB) contains everything (2.0 + SP1 + SP2, 3.0 + SP1 + SP2, 3.5 + SP1) in all supported architectures (x86, x64, ia64). This is the only download you need.

Download from here (click on .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (Full Package)):

And then, you might want to install these updates:

IMPORTANT: After installing the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 package (either the bootstrapper or the full package) you should immediately install the update KB959209 to address a set of known application compatibility issues.

There are 3 updates (for 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5) for 2 OS "groups" (XP/2003 or Vista/2008) for 3 architectures (x86, x64, or ia64), for a total of... 16 downloads! (I know, 3 * 2 * 3 = 18, but Server 2003 ia64 only supports up to 2.0). You need to install the 3 updates in order. Or you could run Windows Update after installing 3.5 SP1 and let it figure it out.

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EDIT: To be clear, .Net 3.5 requires that 2.0 and 3.0 be installed and updated to SP1 level. .Net 3.5 SP1 requires that 2.0/3.0 be updated to SP2 level. But the 3.5(SP1) installers will do this automatically. That is, by installing 3.5 SP1, you don't need to worry about installing and updating 2.0 and 3.0 to SP1 or SP2. Just install 3.5 SP1 and you're done! (and the extra updates, 3.5 SP1.1?)

About the Client Profile, it can only be installed on x86 client machines that don't have ANY version of .Net installed, so it won't install on Vista (it already comes with .Net 3.0), any Windows Server version, nor any x64/ia64 OS. You can only install it on a Windows XP SP2+ (x86) that doesn't have any version of .Net installed, otherwise a full installation is done. The offline Client Profile installer is 255MB because it will try to do a client install first, if it can't it will fallback to a full install. Personally, I would just do a full install anyway.

Answer 2

NET 3.5 SP1 introduces a new setup package option for developers building .NET client applications called the ".NET Framework Client Profile".This provides a new setup installer that enables a smaller, faster, and simpler installation experience for .NET client applications on machines that do not already have the .NET Framework installed.

The .NET Framework Client Profile setup contains just those assemblies and files in the .NET Framework that are typically used for client application scenarios. For example: it includes Windows Forms, WPF, and WCF. It does not include ASP.NET and those libraries and components used primarily for server scenarios. We expect this setup package to be about 26MB in size, and it can be downloaded and installed much quicker than the full .NET Framework setup package.