(Can you sense flatten-and-reinstall time approaches?)
Or Windows 8. Applies to .Net 3.51, 3.0, and 2.0. Works with or without Internet.
Link: How To Activate the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 Without Internet Access
Installing Windows from a USB Stick (and copying it to that stick from an ISO)
(Quick public dump so I can find the tool link again easily)
- Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool from here. (NB links to the page, not the EXE)
- Download ISO image from store or MSDN
- Run Win7 USB DVD Tool and point it to ISO and USB Stick
- Label stick
- Seriously Tristan, label the damn stick
- You know what happens when you don’t.
- Boot from stick, or run Setup from stick
- ???
- Profit!
Works for Windows 8, worked for Windows 8.1 Preview, no reason to think it won’t work for Windows 8.1 RTM, or Windows Server 2012 R2 etc.
Good if you’re planning a clean installation; otherwise, simply double-clicking the ISO is probably enough to do the upgrade as of Windows 8, which can mount ISOs and VHDs from a double-click.