How to fix "The .NET Framework is not supported on this operating system" error on Windows server
When installing a program or a specific version of .NET Framework on Windows server, some users get the error “The .NET Framework is not supported on this operating system”.
In this article, we will explain why this error appears as well as guide you on how to fix the error.
The reason for the error was mentioned in the error message. Although the .NET Framework supports Windows server, not all versions of the .NET Framework are compatible with all versions of Windows server and vice versa.
Method 1: Update Windows
When faced with this problem, the only solution that you can do is update Windows server. You should check Windows Updates even if you are using the latest version of Windows server. Since the cause of the error is the operating system incompatibility with the software, installing all available Windows server updates should solve the problem.
You can follow our guide to updating Windows on your Server.
Method 2: Check Windows version
Not all versions of the .NET Framework are compatible with all versions of Windows servers and vice versa.
In this case, you can check the exact version of Windows server you are using and the compatible .NET Framework version by following these steps:
1. Press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type winver in Run and press Enter
In the new window that appears, you can find the Windows version in the About Windows section. The numbers behind the Version section are your Windows version number. They can be 1507, 1709, 1803, 1909, 2004 or 20H2…
Now, you need to make sure that you are running a compatible version of Windows server with .NET Framework. You can refer to the list that Microsoft posted here.
In this case, our Windows server version is 1809 you can check it is compatible with .NET Framework version.
With our example Windows version 1809 we can install .NET Framework 4.7.2 but not compatible with .NET Framework 4.8.1
You can install .NET Framework 4.8 with windows server 2019 with latest windows updates
So, you can check and install a version of .NET Framework that is compatible with your version of Windows server.
Conclusion
In our case after performing the above steps, we did not see the error again.
Hopefully, this article will be helpful for you. Good luck!
