Your humble Blog Goliard has had the privilege of spending multiple hours on multiple computers this week, fighting with one of the gazillion Windows XP updates that were recently pushed out. The security update for .NET Framework 1.1 would not install properly; and it was loads of fun ripping out .NET and reinstalling it to fix this problem.

If, perchance, anyone who stumbles across this page finds him or herself in the same situation, here is what worked for my machines, along with links to the tools used.

Step 1: Open up the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel. Remove all instances of Microsoft .NET Framework (all versions). There appears to be a certain order in which it prefers to work, but I never seemed to hit upon the exact right one, so I can’t give detailed advice there; just keep whacking at it until they’re all gone.

Step 2: Download the .NET Framework Cleanup Tool from this site and run it to remove any stray bits of .NET Framework that may remain.

Step 3: Download All in One Runtimes from this site. After rebooting, run this tool with the boxes under “Microsoft .NET Framework checked” and other boxes unchecked, and it will automatically reinstall .NET Framework versions 1.1 through 3.5, with service packs.

Step 4: Reboot again, then run Microsoft Update. Any remaining updates not already rolled into All in One Runtimes should now install.

Good luck!