InstallShield LE 2012 & 2015 .NET 3.5 SP1 on Windows 8 - 10
Our program uses a 3rd party .NET COM wrapper written to work back to .NET 2.0, so it works with the .NET 3.5 SP1 framework installed.
Since .NET 3.5 became a Windows Feature that was disable by default starting with Windows 8, we've had trouble with our software working on Windows 8 - 10. The installer says that the .NET 3.5 feature is not installed, but it doesn't activate the feature for the user. The .NET 3.5 framework became a Windows Feature in Windows 7 but it was enabled by default then so we didn't have any trouble.
I've read that there was a resolved issue for this, IOA-000073897. A new prerequisite, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Windows Feature).prq, was available for InstallShield versions before 2013 and that future versions of InstallShield will include this InstallShield prerequisite. I don't see the prerequisite in InstallShield LE 2015. If I continue to use the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Web Download) prerequisite in IS LE 2015 my install still fails in the same way on Windows 8.1 and 10.
Can InstallShield LE 2015 handle the .NET 3.5 Framework requirement on Windows 8 - 10?
If it can, how do I get it to work? What am I missing?
Thank you for that link. I tried but must have messed something up because it didn't seem to work.
My current setup is VS 2012, & InstallShield 2015 LE. I have the .NET 3.5 SP1 is Installed Requirement and the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Windows Feature) InstallShield Prerequisite Redistributable. That has seemed to work great on XP-7.
I downloaded and looked at the PRQ and it seemed like the right thing.
I found that setting any location into Options > Prerequisites messed up my list of other installed PRQ files so I just copied "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Windows Feature).prq" as an Administrator into "C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2015LE\SetupPrerequisites". I then ran Visual Studio 2012 as an Administrator and did Download Selected Items so it changed to Installed Locally.
I then checked the new "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Windows Feature)" InstallShield Prerequisite, built the installer and tried on Windows 10. It said it needed .NET 3.5 to run.
I then unchecked the "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Web Download), built the installer and tried on Windows 10. It said it needed .NET 3.5 to run.
I then unchecked the ".NET 35. SP1 is Installed" Requirement, buit the installer and tried on Windows 10. It installed, but the .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) is not enabled.
I sorted it out with the help of your link. Thank you.
It turned out that the Windows 8.1 virtual machine image I was testing with was broken in a way that enabling .NET 3.5 manually also failed, otherwise I would have been good to go with your PRQ.
On Windows 10 it didn't prompt at all to enable .NET 3.5 untill I added a new operatingsystemcondition:
Adding that after the other three in the operatingsystemconditions block made it prompt on Windows 10. I don't know if that is because helper.exe was updated or because I'm using ISLE 2015.
I think it's odd that ISLE 2015 doesn't have this PRQ included. The issue was reported as fixed by a similar PRQ (it has one less operatingsystemcondition line than yours) for Windows 7 and claimed that versions of 2013 or later would have it. The IS 2016 Professional does have the PRQ, with the Windows 10 operatingsystemcondition.
One other interesting thing. When I tested with a different Windows 8 virtual machine it would automatically download helper.exe even if I failed to bundle the InstallShield Prerequisites into the Setup.exe, but on the broken Win 8.1 VM it didn't. It seems safest if using a SingleImage install with a Setup.exe launcher to set the prerequisites to Extract from Setup.exe.
