.NET 3.5 SP1 on a Windows 2008 VPS

Recently I’ve been debating moving my site over to a Windows VPS.  If I make this move, I’m hoping to take advantage of the new features available in Windows Server 2008 as well as .NET 3.5 SP1 and IIS 7.  After some preliminary research, I decided to give KickAssVPS.com a try.  Within a few hours of my order, they had my VPS up and running, and so far I’ve been fairly pleased with the performance.

When I logged into my VPS, one of the things I wanted to install right away was SQL Server 2008.  In order for SQL Server 2008 to install, you must first have installed the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.  I figured it was no big deal and decided to let SQL handle my install.  Once the installer got going, it immediately halted and displayed an error message telling me it couldn’t be installed.  After checking the log file, I found the following:

WapUI: [2] DepCheck indicates Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0SP1 (x64) (CBS) is not installed.

Obviously on Windows Server 2008 SP1, the .NET Framework 2.0SP1 is already installed by default.  Just to prove it to myself, I downloaded and ran the installer.  Sure enough, it failed before it even started, telling me that it could not be installed on Windows Vista.  So I began to poke around the VPS.  One of the things that jumped out at me was the fact that the Windows Update service was disabled.  When I checked with my VPS provider’s documentation, they indicated that Windows updates must be disabled because they are slipstreamed into the OS build.  Updating your VPS through Windows Update can (and probably will) break it.  Yikes!

After a bit more searching, I found a solution to the problem.  It turns out that the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installer requires the Windows Update service to be running, but you can still set your server to “Never check for updates.”  By temporarily enabling the Windows Update service, I was able to install .NET 3.5 SP1 without a hitch.  I hope this helps anyone else using a VPS, because it sure gave me a little bit of a headache!