Additional information about TurboTax 2009 setup issues caused by .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 verification errors

Back in January, I wrote a blog post about errors that can occur while trying to install TurboTax 2009 because some .NET Framework 3.5 files and/or registry keys are missing from the computer.  Since then, I’ve heard from some people who have run into problems similar to what I described in my original blog post, and I wanted to provide a couple of updates based on what I’ve learned since then in case the information in my original blog post does not end up being helpful.

How to bypass the .NET Framework verification check in TurboTax 2009 setup

A few people who contacted me reported that they have the CD-based version of TurboTax 2009, and they were able to install by running the installer in the TurboTax 2009 Installer sub-folder instead of running the setup.exe at the root of the disc.  It appears that the .NET Framework verification check happens in the main setup.exe and that this check can be bypassed by running the installer in the sub-directory instead.

I have also heard from people who downloaded TurboTax 2009 setup from the Intuit web site instead of buying the CD, and that they couldn’t find a way to bypass the .NET Framework verification check with the downloaded version.  I haven’t yet been able to look at the structure of the downloaded version of the TurboTax 2009 setup package to see if there is a way to bypass the check in that version or not.

Verification error on non-English versions of Windows 7

Multiple people have reported problems with .NET Framework 3.5 verification during TurboTax 2009 setup on non-English versions of Windows 7.  There is a known problem with the verification logic used by TurboTax setup that is causing it to incorrectly search for some English files and registry keys even on non-English versions of Windows 7.  I fixed this issue in the verification tool on my blog, but it is still a problem within TurboTax 2009 setup.

If you run into this problem, I first suggest that you try to bypass the .NET Framework verification check by using the information listed above in this blog post.

If the bypass option does not work or if you have the web download version of TurboTax 2009 instead of the CD version, then you can download this zip file that contains the English files and registry keys that will be reported as missing by the TurboTax 2009 installer on non-English versions of Windows 7 and copy them to the locations that are expected by the TurboTax 2009 verification process.

You can do the following to use this zip file:

1. Download and extract the contents of the zip file to your desktop.
2. Double-click on the file named netfx35_english_registry.reg to add the registry keys to your system.
3. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\en-US if it does not yet exist on your computer.
4. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\en-US in Windows Explorer, then copy the files named ServiceModelEvents.dll.mui and ServiceModelInstallRC.dll.mui from the WCF folder in the zip file to this folder.
5. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Workflow Foundation\SQL\en if it does not yet exist on your computer. 
6. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Workflow Foundation\SQL\en in Windows Explorer, then copy the 4 .sql files from the Workflow folder in the zip file to this folder.
7. Create a folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\WPF\en-US if it does not yet exist on your computer. 
8. Go to the folder named C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\WPF\en-US in Windows Explorer, then copy the file named PresentationHostDLL.dll.mui from the WPF folder in the zip file to this folder.

If neither of the above is helpful

If you still see errors related to the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 during TurboTax 2009 setup even after trying the above, then please use the TurboTax verification tool and the steps described in my previous blog post to try to narrow down which files and/or registry keys that TurboTax 2009 setup is reporting as missing on your computer.

If you are unable to locate the sources of the errors by looking at the verification log files yourself, you can post your verification log files to a file server (such as https://skydrive.live.com) and reply to one of my blog posts with a link to the logs and I will try to take a look and see if I can figure out what is missing.

TurboTax 2009 errors that do not involve installation or verification of the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

I have heard from some people who have been able to solve .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installation and verification issues and proceed with TurboTax 2009 setup, but who have then run into issues later on in the TurboTax setup process or who have run into issues trying to run TurboTax after the installation process completes.  Unfortunately, the only set of issues that I have the expertise to help troubleshoot are the ones related to .NET Framework installation and verification.  If you are running into other issues installing or running TurboTax, then I suggest that you search for similar issues on the TurboTax support site and/or contact the TurboTax technical support team for more detailed troubleshooting assistance.

<update date="4/13/2010"> Added a note about creating the folders if they do not exist for the non-English Windows 7 scenario </update>

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 06, 2010
  please, good sir, excuse me for being so rude and asking a completely unrelated question, but I'm coming here as a last resort, since I cannot find any reliable statement on the net. the question I'm having is, (and again, excuse me for posting it here) does the dotNet Framework 3.5 SP1 come preinstalled on Windows 6.1 (i.e. Win7/2008R2)? I'm looking forward for your answer and thanks so much in advance.

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2010
  Hi Andreipopovici - Yes, the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 does come pre-installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.  You can find more information about this scenario in the blog post at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2010/02/05/9959091.aspx as well.

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2010
  oh, Aaron, thanks so much for the clear answer and also for those two very useful links. one of them actually (to your blog) clarifies (at least that's what I guess) one further question, whether or not the two very important post-sp1 updates are also included (KB959209 and KB967190). your article does not explicitly enumerate them, but I guess it's reasonable to expect that they are among those "few post 3.5 SP1 bug fixes" that you're talking about... thank you very much, Aaron. ~Andrei

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2010
  Hi Andreipopovici - I can't find any documentation that officially lists those updates, but I also don't see versions of those updates available for Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7, so based on that, I'm assuming that they are a part of the .NET Framework 3.5 bits that are shipped with those versions of Windows.

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2010
  Aaron, I have tried everything to fix this problem.  I have the CD and tried to install from the subfolder - no luck.  I tried to copy the files from netfx35 downloaded files, but my windows Vista will not let me copy the files to the appropriate folder stating "access is denied".  I have attached my Turbo Tax log and can not find any error.  Please help.  Thanks so much!  Armida http://cid-a61a042c1c85TurboTax2009UtilityLogFiles.zipd9ba.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2010
  Hi Armida - The link you listed above didn't work.  I think you meant to point to http://cid-a61a042c1c85d9ba.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/.  I checked the logs listed there and I don't see any .NET Framework installation or verification errors in them.  What is the exact error that you're seeing while trying to run TurboTax setup?

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2010
  Hi .NET Framework update - I'd suggest one of the following:

1.  Try to install the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 before installing this 1.1 update. or
2.  Try to use the cleanup tool to remove all versions of the .NET Framework, then re-install the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, then the .NET Framework 1.1, 1.1 SP1 and the 1.1 security update.

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 20, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 14, 2010
  Your article helped me so much. I have a 64 bit version of a non-English versions of Windows 7. I had to added an additional section in the registry: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftNET Framework SetupNDPv3.51033] "Version"="3.5.30729.4926" "CBS"=dword:00000001 "Install"=dword:00000001 "SP"=dword:00000001

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2010
  Thank you guys! I appreciate your help sooooo much. Finally after copying all the dlls and creating all the register keys it installed!

• Anonymous
  October 01, 2010
  Win XP Home SP3 . Deleted all the .Net one by one and rebooted after each uninstall. After 1.1 was gone, the TT installer loaded them all one by one in the Turbotax installer and TT finally installed. Thanks for all the advice.

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2010
  Aaron, I've used TT with no problem on my current PC (Windows XP) with no problem.  Recently had an operating system problem that could not be resolved by Dell tech support, so I had to reinstall and the operating system name was changed to Windows1.  When attempting to reinstall TT 2009, I encountered error that says "application has generated an exception that could not be handled".  Process = 0x350 (848) Thread ID = 0xc6c (3180).  Could the name change be causing this problem.  Tech support had me on the phone for several hours and could not diagnose or resolve the problem.  Can you guide me.

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2010
  Hi Marianne - It is possible that the new Windows folder name could cause this type of problem.  I'd suggest trying to use the steps listed at blogs.msdn.com/.../8108332.aspx to fully remove the .NET Framework from your computer and then re-install the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 to see if that helps with this TurboTax crash. If the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installs successfully but you still see that crash, then I think you will need to contact TurboTax technical support for additional troubleshooting assistance.

• Anonymous
  December 28, 2011
  Hi Aaron, Thank you SO much for all your work on these issues and for your patient explanations.  Unfortunately, after struggling with this for a couple of days, my eyes are crossing and my ability to absorb instructions has diminished greatly. I began two days ago with an attempt to install Turbo Tax 2011 from a new, original CD onto my HP laptop running Windows 7.   After the initial preparatory screen, which announced that it was now ready to proceed with installation, it announced that “TurboTax 2011 Installer has stopped.”  The AppCrash report cited ‘clr.dll’ as the culprit.   After searching TurboTax help and forums, I tried moving the contents of the CD to my desktop and installing from there (no joy); and also tried the method of skipping setup.exe and going direct to the installer.   Again, no success.   Upon locating your original blog post, I ran the setup verifier and found a number of missing files shown for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.    I checked my husband’s machine (also an HP with Windows 7, although somewhat newer) – the same files were missing from his machine.  I attempted to re-run Windows Update, but it continued to report (as does the verifier, btw) that 3.5 with SP1 was, in fact, installed.    I next attempted to install TT2011 from the CD onto my husband’s machine – which appeared to take place with no issues.  Unfortunately, that is not an acceptable solution, but was an interesting exercise since the missing files seem not to be an issue, which has totally confused me.   I have run the sfc scan on my machine, and it has found no errors.  I also found that, during the beginning of the install process, Turbo Tax ran its own logs similar to the verifier.  I have posted the results of those as well as the setup verifier logs on SkyDrive here:  skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx One item of note is that the TurboTax installer log claims that it is “Unable to open registry key value SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionCSDVersion”   -- I have checked, and the appropriate value (Service Pack 1) IS present, so I am, once again, confused.   Please take a look at these logs if you would be so kind, and let me know if you can make any sense of this.  The folks at Turbo Tax seem clueless as to this problem, which appears quite widespread. Best regards, Susan

• Anonymous
  December 28, 2011
  Hi Susan - I'm sorry for the continued hassles that this issue is causing for you while you try to install and use TurboTax.  I looked at your logs and noticed a couple of things:

1.  TurboTax 2011 appears to require the .NET Framework 4 instead of the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (which was required for TurboTax 2009 and 2010).  That means that you shouldn't need to worry about verification errors related to the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 in this scenario.
2.  The verification tool log that you uploaded shows that it was from an old 2008 version of the verification tool.  I've made several changes since then, including fixing the false positives that are listed in your log file.  I'd suggest making sure that you have the latest version of the verification tool from the download links at blogs.msdn.com/.../8999004.aspx in case you need to run this tool again in the future. In order to try to solve the clr.dll issue, I'd suggest using the steps and the cleanup tool described at blogs.msdn.com/.../8108332.aspx to remove and then re-install the .NET Framework 4 to see if that will help solve this issue.

• Anonymous
  December 28, 2011
  Hi Aaron - Thanks so much for your quick reply.

1.  Great news that I don't have to deal with the 3.5 SP1 issues!
2.  I did remove and re-install the .NET Framework 4 per your suggestion and link above.  I found that the new install was "full" whereas the original was only the client.  That gave me hope!  Sadly, however, nothing has really changed with respect to TT 2011.   Is there anything else that I'm overlooking?   Thanks again SO much for taking the time to respond!! Susan

• Anonymous
  December 29, 2011
  Hi Susan - Can you please try to run the verification tool described at blogs.msdn.com/.../8999004.aspx and verify the .NET Framework 4, then upload your log file to a file server (such as http://skydrive.live.com) and reply back here and post a link that I can use to download your log file and take a closer look?

• Anonymous
  December 29, 2011
  Another PS -- while reading some of your other blog posts, I also came across the suggestions here: blogs.msdn.com/.../6458047.aspx I ran that collection tool as well and posted the .cab file at the same Skydrive link that I sent yesterday.  skydrive.live.com  just in case there is anything in those other logs of value. Thanks again!! Susan

• Anonymous
  December 30, 2011
  Hi Aaron -- are there a couple of other messages in the moderation queue?  I posted two yesterday prior to the one that appears here currently. Best, Susan

• Anonymous
  December 30, 2011
  Hi Susan - I took a look at your setup log files and the log files from the verification tool, and I don't see any problems with the .NET Framework.  It appears to be correctly installed from what I can tell.  It is possible that the error you're seeing is caused by TurboTax itself (as opposed to being caused by the .NET Framework).  If you haven't yet, I'd suggest trying to contact TurboTax technical support to see if they can provide more assistance in troubleshooting this issue with their installer.  If you do, they might refer you to a couple of my blog posts - if so, please let them know that you've already been here and that I looked at your log files and things look good to me for the .NET Framework 4 on your computer.