Ok girls, here is the solution: I've captured the custom action dll from NDP48-KB4552921.msp and analyzed it in IDA. The custom action dll exports a function ValidateESULicense which initially queries a msi property "ESU_LOCK" and compares it to several values that determine the further path of action. Long story short, if that value is "2D40812E-974C-4EA2-8DCC-63C992D505B9" the code path logs "ESU Validation is OFF", yay! So we can override that property via msiexec: msiexec /p PACKAGENAME.msp /log c:\tmp\log.txt ESU_LOCK=2D40812E-974C-4EA2-8DCC-63C992D505B9 Luckily also the ndp48-kb4552921 installer exe accepts msioptions for the embedded package it ships. So the final solution to get KB4556399 installed is: for x86: ndp48-kb4552921-x86_608b67e4011b9e103ca18deadbfc013d1c328508.exe /msioptions "ESU_LOCK=2D40812E-974C-4EA2-8DCC-63C992D505B9" for x64: ndp48-kb4552921-x64_6912af0422fc16a14f4f398fda98117f1e2f01b8.exe /msioptions "ESU_LOCK=2D40812E-974C-4EA2-8DCC-63C992D505B9" reboot as requested and go to windows updates which still believes that KB4556399 is not installed but quickly marks it as installed once you tell it to update.
What are you talking about? Microsoft does not sell the key to the private/final users like us, but only to the companies.
Excellent! Confirmed working for .NET Framework 4.7.2 as well - KB4552919. Same ESU_LOCK value. Note: The log file which is optional will be created only if the folder already exists.
@vinzf Thank you very much: the method you have explained works perfectly and the .NET Framework update is no longer pending in WU
@vinzf Thank you very much: the method you have explained works perfectly and the .NET Framework update is no longer pending in WU +1
@Dgk - the statement was they didn't know other than it was a re-issue (different size) of the old ESU WU enabling System
It works!! As easy as opening a cmd window, navigating to the folder containing the patch, and pasting the corresponding command above. Tested it on both x86 and x64 with the v4 bypass lol. I only have the SSU up till April and no May ESU prep package and all the other updates (including kb4552965 for .net 3.5) installed fine; I'm assuming you'll need the May SSU and that ESU whatever package for the next round though. Thank you so much for figuring this out and saving others precious time. Exactly, thank you. The ESU key is not available to consumers, and let's just say there are very good reasons not to switch to Windows 10 beyond application compatibility. I found the uncharacteristic push to get users onto Win 10 highly suspicious even by those standards, and that's saying something. I do like the added exploit mitigations in 10, but at what cost?
Thanks guys ! I manually installed KB4556836, KB4555449 and KB4552921 on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (ESU Bypass v4). Again,thank you !
Credits to @vinzf and @pesho_georgiev for finding and implementing an excellent solution to this 202005 dotNET update issue... thank you very much! See EXPLANATION and EASIEST SOLUTION to the issue.