Resolving .NET Framework 4.6 Installation Failure on Windows Server 2012 R2 Core Edition


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When attempting to deploy .NET Framework 4.6 on Windows Server 2012 R2 Core edition, administrators frequently encounter error code 0xc000008c. This manifests during both direct MSI installation attempts and package manager approaches like Chocolatey. The core issue stems from missing UI dependencies in the Server Core installation option.

The critical clue comes from your testing: removing the User-Interfaces-Infra feature from a full GUI installation reproduces the identical failure pattern. This confirms the installation process has unstated GUI dependencies, even when using supposedly "non-interactive" installation methods.

# Error signature pattern analysis:
Problem Signature 07:   0xc000008c
Problem Signature 06:   None_UI_Interactive_Crash

Option 1: Install Prerequisite Features
Before running the installer, execute these PowerShell commands:

Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-Core

Option 2: Alternative Installation Method
Use DISM for offline installation:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx4 /all
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx4Extended-ASPNET45 /all

For Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), additional steps may be required due to their customized base configurations:

# First check installed .NET versions
Get-ChildItem 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP' -Recurse | 
Get-ItemProperty -Name Version -EA 0 |
Where { $_.PSChildName -match '^(?!S)\p{L}'} |
Select PSChildName, Version

# Then install Windows features in this sequence
Add-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45
Add-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-TCP-Activation45
  • Always verify the installation media hash against Microsoft's official sources
  • Check system event logs for additional clues (Get-WinEvent -LogName "Application" | Where-Object {$_.Id -eq "1023"})
  • For Chocolatey installations, add --force and --verbose flags

Microsoft later addressed this in newer .NET versions. If possible, consider:

  1. Upgrading to .NET 4.8 which has better Core edition support
  2. Using Windows Server 2016 or later where this dependency was removed
  3. Implementing container-based deployment to avoid host-level dependencies

When attempting to install .NET Framework 4.6 on Windows Server 2012 R2 Core edition (specifically AWS instances using Amazon AMIs), the installation fails with error code 0xc000008c. This occurs with both the official Microsoft offline installer and Chocolatey package manager.


// Error signature in Setup logs:
Problem Event Name: VSSetup
Error Code: 0xc000008c
OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.272.7
Locale ID: 1033

The identical behavior can be reproduced on Full GUI editions by removing the User-Interfaces-Infra Windows feature, suggesting a dependency on GUI components.

The .NET 4.6 installer has implicit dependencies on GUI components even for core functionality. The error 0xc000008c typically indicates:

  • Missing prerequisite Windows components
  • Insufficient system permissions
  • Binary signature verification failures (as seen in Chocolatey logs)

Through testing, we've identified these successful installation methods:

Method 1: Using DISM for Server Core


# First install prerequisites
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx4 /all
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx4Extended-ASPNET45 /all

# Then install .NET 4.6 from offline package
NDP46-KB3045557-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe /q /norestart /ChainingPackage ADMINDEPLOYMENT

Method 2: PowerShell Deployment


# Check current .NET versions
Get-ChildItem 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP' -Recurse | 
Get-ItemProperty -Name version -EA 0 |
Where { $_.PSChildName -match '^(?!S)\p{L}'} | 
Select PSChildName, version

# Install using PowerShell remoting if GUI exists elsewhere
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName GUI-SERVER
Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock {
    Start-Process -FilePath "NDP46-KB3045557-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe" -ArgumentList "/q /norestart" -Wait
}

For environments where standard installation fails:

  1. Deploy to a Full GUI server first
  2. Export these registry keys: 
    
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client]
  3. Manually copy framework files to the Core server

After successful installation, verify with:


reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full" /v Release
# Expected value for .NET 4.6: 393295