[JENKINS-20689] Windows installer should check the presence of .NET runtime

Our sevice wrapper for Windows relies on .NET 2.0, which gets installed through setup.exe.

If the user tries to install Jenkins on Window that does not have a pre-installed runtime (AFAIK, vanilla Windows XP)), and if the user clicks the MSI file instead of setup.exe, then the installer ends up trying to launch a service without .NET.

The failure mode of this error is such that Windows SCM reports the service just didn't launch, and no useful information is reported anywhere, including event viewer.

It is preferrable for the installer to check the presence of .NET runtime, and instruct the user accordingly.

Marking this priority low since this only affects Windows XP AFAIK.

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Originally reported by kohsuke, imported from: Windows installer should check the presence of .NET runtime

• status: Open
  
• priority: Minor
  
• component(s): packaging
  
• resolution: Unresolved
  
• votes: 0
  
• watchers: 4
  
• imported: 2025-11-26
  

Raw content of original issue

Our sevice wrapper for Windows relies on .NET 2.0, which gets installed through setup.exe.


If the user tries to install Jenkins on Window that does not have a pre-installed runtime (AFAIK, vanilla Windows XP)), and if the user clicks the MSI file instead of setup.exe, then the installer ends up trying to launch a service without .NET.


The failure mode of this error is such that Windows SCM reports the service just didn't launch, and no useful information is reported anywhere, including event viewer.


It is preferrable for the installer to check the presence of .NET runtime, and instruct the user accordingly.


Marking this priority low since this only affects Windows XP AFAIK.

Start by inspecting the Windows installer entry points named in the issue, setup.exe and the MSI, along with how the service wrapper is launched. Reproduce installation on Windows without the required .NET 2.0 runtime if possible. Done means the installer detects the missing runtime and gives the user useful instructions instead of silently failing to start the service.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.