Activating Windows Feature 'NET-Framework-Features' on Windows 2025 fails

[Hejjong]

Description

I noticed that building the Windows 2025 image on the main branch is failing when trying to activate the .NET Framework features.

Raw Log:

vm: Activating Windows Feature 'NET-Framework-Features'...
vm: Install-WindowsFeature : The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed.
vm: Installation of one or more roles, role services, or features failed.
vm: Element not found. Error: 0x80070490
vm: At C:\Windows\Temp\script-679b2889-a0e5-c674-0639-5f74e3a1c6a8.ps1:21 char:19
vm: +         $result = Install-WindowsFeature @arguments
vm: +                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
vm:     + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (@{Vhd=; Credent...Name=localhost}:PSObject) [Install-WindowsFeature],
vm:     Exception
vm:     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DISMAPI_Error__Failed_To_Enable_Updates,Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager.Commands.AddWind
vm:    owsFeatureCommand
vm: Failed to activate Windows Feature 'NET-Framework-Features'
vm: At C:\Windows\Temp\script-679b2889-a0e5-c674-0639-5f74e3a1c6a8.ps1:29 char:9
vm: +         throw "Failed to activate Windows Feature '$($feature.name)'"
vm: +         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
vm:     + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Failed to activ...ework-Features':String) [], RuntimeException
vm:     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Failed to activate Windows Feature 'NET-Framework-Features'

The build succeeded on January 2nd (Image version: '20241215.1.0'). I retried the build a couple of times this past week, with no success.

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Current image version: '20250120.2.0'

Is it regression?

yes

Expected behavior

Activating Windows Feature NET-Framework-Features should succeed.

Actual behavior

Activating Windows Feature NET-Framework-Features failed.

Repro steps

Run Windows 2025 build.

[RaviAkshintala]

Hi @Hejjong Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue closely and will update you after investigating.

[Hejjong]

A similar issue has occurred in the past, which can be found below (the issue was related to the 2022 image):
#4942
#4971