Windows vista does not have .NET framework 1.1 in it. If you want to run a legacy application developed using .NET framework 1.1, you need to download and install. But you often end up getting the following error:
“Application has generated an exception that could not be handled”
Resolution:
I found this link as a workaround to get this done. Yes, it works!

February 1, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Error 1603 insalling net framwork 1.1 setup on vista