.NET 2.0 and Server Core in Windows Server 2008 R2

This time I’ll cover what I meant last time by a subset of .NET 2.0, with future posts covering the other additions in more detail. Not everything required for full .NET 2.0 support is included in Server Core. Instead of increasing the Server Core footprint to add functionality that isn’t “core” to Server Core (couldn’t resist), we added the portions of .NET 2.0 that align with what is already in Server Core. Therefore, the following namespaces are not available as part of .NET 2.0 on Server Core:

· Microsoft.Aspnet.Snapin

· Microsoft.Ink

· Microsoft.ManagementConsole.*

· Microsoft.StylusInput.*

· Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility.VB6

· Microsoft.Windows.Themes

· Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms

· Microsoft.WindowsMobile.DirectX.*

· System.ComponentModel.Design.*

· System.Data.Design

· System.Deployment.Application

· System.Diagnostics.Design

· System.Media

· System.Messaging.*

· System.Speech.*

· System.Web.UI.Design.* (design time support in this namespace is unavailable, runtime support for expression builders is supported)

· System.Windows.*

· UIAutomationClientsideProviders

As you can see from the list, these require functionality not available in Server Core, e.g. DirectX, UI/MMC, Multimedia, Tablet support, etc.

To install .NET 2.0 on Server Core you can run:

· Start /w ocsetup NetFx2-ServerCore

If 32bit support is needed you first need to install WoW64 and then .NET 2.0 WoW64 support, the following assume the above command has already been run:

· Start /w ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64

· Start /w ocsetup NetFx2-ServerCore-WOW64