Installing prerequisites for Master Data Services (MDS) failing with error code 0x800F081F

Recently I wanted to try out SQL Server 2017 Master Data Services and started to install the pre-requisites. It requires IIS feature/ role to be added before configuring MDS databases and the web application. I was using Windows 10 and when I selected all the components required from add features dialog and started to install using Windows Update option (it now defaults to downloading required files from Windows Update), it fails with the error code: 0x800F081F (I had an active internet connection).

After searching for sometime I found a work around to use Windows Media disk or ISO file as the source, instead of connecting to internet and downloading the required files.

Step 1 : Create Windows Media ISO using Windows Media Creation tool

Download the tool from here fore Windows 10
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Run the exe file and follow the instructions to create an ISO file of the currently installed windows version.

Step 2: Mount the media ISO
Once the ISO is created, mount it.

Step 3: Change group policy to add Alternate Source File Path

Follow the instructions in the following article under the section "Set Group Policy" to specify an alternate source file path that points to the mounted ISO.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-a-windows-repair-source

It usually is,

:\sources\sxs

Step 4: Update the group policy
Run the following command to apply changes to the group policy,

gpupdate /force

Note: if the computer is in a domain, make sure you have access to the domain controller, usually through a VPN connection.

Step 5: try adding the features again
This time, hopefully, you are not prompted to select windows update, instead, it will locate the files from the location you specified and install the features.

Once the features are successfully installed, don't forget to reset the policy settings.

Cheers!