I am in the middle of rebuilding my computer from scratch. (HD died) I stared with my Windows 8 CD, install all the WU updates, upgraded to Windows 8.1. Now I am trying to install my applications. Half way through, I find that many of them have a dependency for .Net 3.5. They all try to send me to Microsoft’s servers to download the update but I keep getting 0x800f096.
I have tried to go through Windows Features and enabling 3.5 but that also gives me 0x800f096.
I have tried to use the DISM command to install the feature directly off of my media, but that gives me 0x800f081f. I suspect that this is because my Media is for Windows 8 and not Windows 8.1.
I have downloaded dotnetfx35.exe, but all it wants to do is download the update from Microsoft’s servers again and it gives me 0x800f096.
I am quite frustrated. I see a ton of articles online with people having issues with this particular feature. However, all the solutions point to one of the above items that I have tried.