Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Microsoft .NET Framework

Dec 30, 2004 7:09AM PST

Double edged question here. I have a notebook which runs windows XP and came with .NET framework v 1.0 I also have a PC running Win98SE which had no such software. Those nice people at Microsoft offer an update on their site to v 1.1 I took advantage of this on both machines. The notebook shows both versions in the 'Administrative Tools' section of the Start menu. The PC has it in the Windows folder but makes no mention of it anywhere in the start menu. The Notebook version is obviously active as it immediately found a service pack for v 1.1 but the PC never. It's one of those occasions where you feel like a sucker for a freebie. Question one would be Do I need the .NET Framework, am i ever likely to use it in my capacity as a newbie and question two would be why is it active on XP but apparently dormant on 98SE.

Thank you in anticipation

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
a related question to MICROSOFT.NET
Dec 30, 2004 9:13AM PST

In trouble shooting with HP tech support to install software for my new scanner (turns out I have to contact Microsoft tech support to fix IE Script Errors--everything HP techie tried failed Sad ) they had me remove MICRISOFT.NET. Since then (yesterday) I have received 2 "config parser error"s. It reads as follows: Error parsing C:\WINDOWS\MICROSOFT.NET\FRAMEWORK\V1.1.4322\config\machine.config
Parser returned error 0x80070003

1. What does this mean?
2. Can I fix it? or do I need to fix it?
3. How do I fix it?

Thanks in advance.

- Collapse -
Shiraz, You 'Might' Need It..But It Depends
Dec 30, 2004 9:18AM PST

If you're running software which requires the .NET framework, then you'll need it. If you don't, then it's not necessary to have it installed. Typically the way you find out is that you run the program and an error message appears 'This program requires .NET Framework', 'Runtime error' (caution, this error has lots of different causes) or '1645 Error Installing Microsoft .NET Framework, Return Code [followed by four numbers].' You may even get the wonderfully frustrating 'Setup Failure - unknown reason.'
Still, it normally doesn't "hurt" anything to have it installed. The link below should help explain a little bit about what it does:

Frequently Asked Questions

Your XP found the update for the 1.1 version because you probably have "Automatic Updates" enabled...Windows 98 doesn't have that. Visiting the Windows Update site should give you the option for installing the 1.1 Redistributable. (A Windows 98 machine can't be used to "host" ASP.NET applicatons but can run them). Have you checked in the "Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs" section of both computers? I believe the Net Framwork 1.1 update shows up in both operating systems. Although I'm not at a Windows 98 machine at the moment, I don't believe NET Framework is supposed to show up in the Start Menu, although "ASP.NET" may show up in "msconfig/Start up tab". It runs in the background and

.NET Framework 1.1 System Requirements

HOpe this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -
Thanks Grif
Jan 1, 2005 8:53AM PST

I still can't find .NET on the Win98SE system. I looked in the msconfig/startup and it's not there but it is included in the Add/remove programs in the control panel. According to the FAQ link you posted, if it's there, then it works. I would be more likely to use .NET on XP. The old PC (got it for Christmas '99) is a bit of a relic and i generally use it as a server for internet connection. Although it doesn't have 'automatic update' I use Windows critical update manager. I have manually checked the update site but find no updates. I can only assume that it doesn't require it. Thanks again.