While setting up your server and planning to do some deployment on the server there could be some features that are part of the requirement for the deployment. For example, you could need to install .NET Framework 3.5 as part of what is needed to make a particular deployment successful. But while installing these features you can encounter an error like ”The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed”. In this guide, I will be showing you how to go about fixing this error so you can successfully complete the installation of the .Net Framework 3.5. If you need to read more on some Windows errors you can read these: How to Fix Windows Error 0x80070057, How to fix Unknown Hard Error on Windows Server and Windows 10, How to Fix “Unknown hard error” on Windows Server and Windows 10, How to Fix “Insufficient System Resources Exist to Complete the Requested Service” error, how to Fix DISM Error 87: The package is unknown, and Hard Drive is Not Accessible: How to fix Cyclic Redundancy Check Data Error.
The image below shows the process of installing the .Net Framework 3.5 Features after going through the Add Roles Features from the Server Manager.
In the image below while installing the .Net Framework 3.5 Features, it gets halted and displays this error “The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed. Installation of one or more roles, role services, or features failed. The source files could not be found” and what you need to do is to locate the source of the file and that is exactly what we will be doing next.
1: Go ahead and close this Installation progress page and restart the installation.
2. When you get to the Confirm installation selections page click on the Specify an alternate source path and locate where the files are located.
3. The .Net Framework 3.5 files can be located in this location \sources\sxs
This is the location displayed in the image below \sources\sxs
4. Now copy the directory where the file is located into the Specify Alternate Source Path and click Ok.
5. After doing all this the installation will continue and will complete successfully
Here is a YouTube video on how to resolve the following error “The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed”.
I hope you found this blog post on How to fix the error: The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed interesting and helpful. In case you have any questions do not hesitate to ask in the comment section.