How to check if the .NET Framework is on a Windows NT4 server

Is there a way to check and see if someone has installed the .NET Framework on a Windows NT4 server? SP6a is installed, but the system administrator doesn't know if .NET is installed or how to check. I called MS and they told me to use RUN MSCONFIG, but the server couldn't find the command. Can you help? I am a DBA and need to install an ASP.NET app on this server for database connectivity.
The simplest way I have found to detect if the .NET Framework has been installed or not is to check for the existence of the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework." You can find out what versions have been installed by enumerating the keys under the sub-key "policy." However, you are somewhat out of luck using NT4 for ASP.NET since, according to Microsoft: "ASP.NET Web applications and XML Web services can only be hosted on Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003." (see full details). Sorry!

This was first published in May 2004

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