No you're not missing anything. Microsoft is. The screwed up and know it.
As I painfully learned today, this is a common problem. Free Microsoft
security support has been swamped with phone calls at 866-727-2338.
Fortunately they're being very nice about it and walk you through the steps
to overcome the installation problems for the ,Net 1.1 and .Net 2.0 security
updates issued July 10, 2007. The bizarre nature of this is that tech
support told me that these updates work fine if you do not already have .net
framework 1.1 or .net framework 2.0 installed -- heck, why would you update
them if you don't have them already installed? Such is the joy of dealing
with tech support overseas at 2 a.m. their time.
Also you need to keep the 3 versions of .net framework on your computer
(1.1, 2.0, and 3.0) -- they are not cumulative. Different applications
require different versions of .net framework to function.
I'll try to repeat their step by step instructions so you don't have to
call. It worked fine on my Windows XP Pro, SP2 computer; it did not work on
my wife' similar computer.
Read through them first before you do anything -- especially the caution at
the end.
The steps from Microsoft Security Tech Support and from Aaron Stebner's
Weblog at upnet.notlong.com -- Microsoft Tech Support actually took me there
first.
(1) Try to perform a standard uninstall of the .net framework for which you
could not install the July 10 security update. Of course, you do this in the
Control Panel's Add-Remove Programs.
(2) If this fails to completely remove the .net framework you've targeted,
then you'll want to download the tool from Stebner's Weblog -- this is the
tool that Microsoft Tech Support uses and recommends. The file name is
dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip . Unzip the file and run it. You will get to choose
which versions (1.0, 1.1, 2.0) of .net framework you want to uninstall and
clean up. While Mr. Stebner warns against simply uninstalling the .net
frameworks, Microsoft Tech Support had me run this tool without first
attempting the standard uninstall. On my computer this worked just fine.
Stebner warns:
There are a couple of very important caveats that you should read before
using this tool to cleanup .NET Framework bits on your machine:
1. You should try to perform a standard uninstall first. This tool is not
designed as a replacement for uninstall, but rather as a last resort for
cases where uninstall or repair did not succeed for unusual reasons.
2. This cleanup tool will delete shared files and registry keys used by
other versions of the .NET Framework. So if you use it, be prepared to repair
or reinstall any other versions of the .NET Framework that are on your
computer to get them to work correctly afterwards
Download the tool completely uninstall .net frameworks 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0.
(3) Reboot your computer after uninstalling/cleaning up the .net frameworks
you want to remove. NOte that when you restart your computer, any application
that is dependent on a .net framework version that you uninstalled will not
work. Be patient -- they'll work once you've reinstalled the appropriate .net
framework(s).
(4) Run Windows Update - custom. It should show all of the .net frameworks
not currently installed on your computer. Now you have probably not worried
about .net framework 3.0 since there was no security update for it. But there
is a regular update for it. You will probably find these .net frameworks
under "High Priority," but more likely under "Software, Optional." You can
download ALL of the .net frameworks and updates that are visible to you here
-- 1.1, 2.0, 3.0.
(5) After they've installed, reboot your computer.
(6) Now, the .net framework 1.1 that you just installed includes the latest
security update (Microsoft made this change today, July 12, 2007). You should
NOT try to install that update. So you should go back to Microsoft Update,
choose custom, and if it shows the .net framework 1.1 security pack update
tell Microsoft Update not to show it any more. Apparently Microsoft Update
thinks you didn't install it because it was built into the 1.1 that you just
installed.
(7) If you uninstalled .net framework 2.0, you should have been able to
reinstall it via Microsoft update. If it did not show up in Microsoft update,
you can track it down online via a search engine or at Microsoft.com and
download it and install it manually.
CAUTION. Frankly, you would be most prudent to clone your hard drive before
running these updates -- just to give yourself some protection. On my wife's
Windows XP Pro, SP2 computer, the .net framework 1.1 reinstall did not take
and I could not install it because I started getting Runtime errors from the
Microsoft Visual C++ RunTime Library. So I had to revert to a clone after
copying all the data (the D partition) to the clone's D partition.