Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/04/30/go_ahead_and_uninstall_net_but_youll_cripple_windows_server_2012/

Go ahead and un-install .Net, but you'll CRIPPLE Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Support issues an unusual and confusing 'clarification'

By Simon Sharwood

Posted in Software, 30th April 2014 01:55 GMT

Microsoft has posted some unusual advice for those considering the removal of the .Net Framework from Windows Server.

The advice is notable because the authors say the side-effects of removing .Net have become “an issue that we are seeing increasingly being reported in support.”

The side-effects are likely to be severe, because as the advice notes, “Windows Explorer (Graphical Shell), Server Manager, Windows PowerShell, IIS, ASP .NET, Hyper-V, etc, are all dependent on .NET Framework.”

So without .Net you can forget about virtual machines, a GUI and much more.

Little wonder Microsoft says “It is not recommended to uninstall .NET Framework. In some given circumstances, there may be a requirement to remove/re-install .Net Framework on Windows Server 2012/2012 R2.”

Uh? Don't remove it, but you may have to remove it?

That's some weird advice!

A wider issues to consider is that Microsoft has integrated .Net so tightly with Windows Server 2012 that users keen on alternatives have no choice but to run .Net. Those who don't use some of its features and would rather it not occupy their servers' CPUs or consume their RAM also seem to have little choice but to keep .Net running.

There's also legal issues for Microsoft to consider: Redmond has previously found itself in plenty of trouble when selling hard-to-unpick product bundles.

For now, this one looks like a curiosity for IT pros rather than something likely to get the lawyers salivating about a new and very long series of trials.

And at least one IT pro, our own Trevor Pott, finds the article a little disturbing:

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