playdohsniffer

I have the same issue as the poster...trying to install paint.net 4.0.21. I am running Windows Version 10.0 (Build 10240), and have checked multiple times that all windows updates are installed. This is a "bare bones" windows installation with *NO* antivirus etc installed. I'm having the same issue on my PC and my laptop. I tried booting into Safe Mode as suggested and running the paint.net installer, however that does not work at all. After running the installer, the first thing is an error message from the .NET installer window saying 1) that .NET installer is not supported in safe mode 2) already running a newer .NET version, and a 3rd error which I don't remember. From what I'm understanding, is that it appears your (4.0.21) Paint.net installer is forcing the 4.7.1 .NET Framework installer to run first, on a Windows 10 OS which already has a *NEWER* version installed, and the 4.7.1 .NET Framework is probably failing to complete with this error: (I do have the same issue as the poster, where the paint.NET installer pauses with a progress bar saying "Preparing to install" and just gets stuck there for 10+ minutes, then eventually fails.) But the way that I got the screenshot above, is that I went into "C:\ac71d656454cd1fa798a7ed3e2" directory (which is where the paint.net installer is being unzipped to) and manually tried to run Setup.exe, which launches the Microsoft .NET Framework installer. And the SetupUtility.exe for .NET 4.5 does not run at all. Basically, I think your installer is broken on the newer Windows 10 releases, because its trying to force the installation of older .NET versions (which fails miserably) since the built-in .NET cannot be modified by an external installer, and so we're never even getting to the installation of paint.net. Please advise.