With the release of Windows Management Framework 4.0 (WMF 4.0), our package that lets you use management technologies from Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 on some of Microsoft’s older operating systems, we have been hearing one question fairly often. I’d like to address it here, so that there can be more self-help, and hopefully I can help preempt some occurrences of this issue.

Scenario: Installing WMF 4.0 on a computer that is not running .NET Framework 4.5 will report that the installation is successful, but the components of WMF 4.0 (such as Windows PowerShell, WMI, etc.) will not be updated.

Solution: Install .NET Framework 4.5, and then run the WMF 4.0 installer again.

.NET Framework 4.5 is a prerequisite for Windows Management Framework 4.0, and is required for WMF 4.0 to install successfully.
This scenario is already documented as a known issue in the Release Notes, which you can find on the download page.

A more detailed explanation of why this occurs:

WMF 4.0 includes both the updated versions of the WMF components, and a set of QFEs that are required for WMF 4.0. Failure to install these QFEs could result in the system being left in a broken state after installing WMF 4.0. As a result, the QFEs are included in the WMF 4.0 package.  The three QFEs included in the package are:

• KB 2823180 – Fixes event forwarding, access to en-US cmdlet Help in localized Windows builds, and Windows serviceability issues that occurred in WMF 3.0.
• KB 2872047 – Maintains PS Module Path during installation and uninstallation, if WMF 3.0 is already installed on the computer.
• KB 2872035 – Maintains PS Module Path during installation and uninstallation, if WMF 3.0 is not already installed on the computer.

While KB 2823180 may have been installed before, the two other QFEs were released expressly for WMF 4.0, and are only available as part of this combined package. Once the package is run, it tries to run every included item in sequence, starting with KB 2823180, followed by KB 2872047 and KB2872035 (whichever is applicable), and then WMF 4.0.

With the technology we used, if any one of these items succeeds in its installation, the combined package installation process reports that installation was successful. If .NET Framework 4.5 is not installed, WMF 4.0 itself is not installed; but installing at least one of the QFEs in the package succeeds, so the combined package shows no installation errors.

John Lisco
Program Manager – Windows PowerShell
Microsoft Corporation