Sitecore 9.3 SIA Prerequisites Installation Fails

Question

After completing some of the initial developer environment setup, I downloaded the Sitecore 9.3 "Graphical setup package for XP Single" from here. I ran the .exe, and while attempting to install the prerequisites I saw this error (0x800f0954):

Answer 1

Leading up to this installation, I recalled that I had some trouble getting previous prerequisites installed; specifically those mentioned here.

Even more specifically:

• Adding IIS via “Add / Remove Features” dialog
• Installing Web Deploy 3.6 for Hosting Servers (Use Web Platform Installer to install)

It turns out that due to a group policy setting on my machine, installation of .NET 3.5 was failing.

The fix is outlined here:

Temporarily bypass WSUS server using the following registry edit (requires administrator privileges).

1. Right-click Start, and click Run
2. Type regedit.exe and click OK
3. Go to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
4. In the right-pane, if the value named UseWUServer exists, set its data to 0
5. Exit the Registry Editor
6. Restart the Windows Update service or restart the PC.

After performing these actions I was able to install everything necessary without any more errors.