Issue Installing IIS ARR on Windows Server 2012 R2

Update 6/1/16 – Updated download link for ARR 3.0 Stand-alone package.  With the update, Web Farm Framework 1.1 is no longer required, Application Request Routing no longer has a dependency on Web Farm Framework 1.1.

I was installing IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) in my lab and I decided to try this installer: ARR 3.0 Stand-alone package (IExpress).  The install went fine, but when I opened up IIS Manager, the Server Farms folder was missing:

Looking in the Application Event Log, I saw the following error message:

The description for Event ID 11 from source Microsoft-Windows-IIS-IISManager cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

IISMANAGER_MODULE_INITIALIZATION_THREW_EXCEPTION

The Initialize method for module "Microsoft.Web.Management.WebFarm.WebFarmModule, Microsoft.Web.Management.WebFarmClient, Version=7.1.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" of type "WebFarmFramework" threw an exception.

Exception:System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'Microsoft.Web.Management.WebFarmClient.resources'.
at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalGetSatelliteAssembly(String name, CultureInfo culture, Version version, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
at System.Resources.ManifestBasedResourceGroveler.GetSatelliteAssembly(CultureInfo lookForCulture, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
at System.Resources.ManifestBasedResourceGroveler.GrovelForResourceSet(CultureInfo culture, Dictionary`2 localResourceSets, Boolean tryParents, Boolean createIfNotExists, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet(CultureInfo requestedCulture, Boolean createIfNotExists, Boolean tryParents, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet(CultureInfo culture, Boolean createIfNotExists, Boolean tryParents)
at System.Resources.ResourceManager.GetString(String name, CultureInfo culture)
at Microsoft.Web.Management.WebFarm.WebFarmModule.Initialize(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, ModuleInfo moduleInfo)
at Microsoft.Web.Management.Client.Connection.Initialize(WebManagementInfo webManagementInfo)

Process:InetMgr
User:TEST\Administrator
Connection:TEST-IIS-ARR

the message resource is present but the message is not found in the string/message table

 

From that error message it appeared that there was an issue with the Web Farm Framework.  Looking in Programs and Features, Microsoft Web Farm Framework Version 1 for IIS 7 was installed:

Trying a repair didn't resolve the issue.  After doing a bit of searching, I found that there was a newer version of Microsoft Web Farm Framework available.  The version that came with the IIS ARR installer was version 1.1.0490.  I uninstalled that version and installed the version that I downloaded from here:

This version of Microsoft Web Farm Framework is 1.1.1292.  Now when I open IIS Manager, the Server Farms folder shows up:

and I was able to successfully setup and configure IIS ARR.