i am developing WPF application in visual studio and using .NET 3.5.
does the application fits Windows7 and Windows8 OS with no .NET framework additional installation?
do i need to add .NET 3.5 installation to setup project?
In Windows 7 .NET framework 3.5 is part of the operating system so all machines should have it.
In Windows 8 or windows 8.1 .NET framework 3.5 is NOT automatically installed (though all machines that are upgraded from win 7 -> win 8 should have it).
To run apps that require the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows 8 or later, you must enable version 3.5 on your computer. There are two ways you can do this: by installing or running an app that requires the .NET Framework 3.5 (that is, by installing the .NET Framework 3.5 on demand), or by enabling the .NET Framework 3.5 in Control Panel. Both options require an Internet connection.
If an app requires the .NET Framework 3.5, but doesn't find that version enabled on your computer, it displays a message box, either during installation, or when you run the app for the first time. In the message box, choose Install this feature to enable the .NET Framework 3.5.
The above require an internet connection. If this is not possible you will have to include the .exe files of .NET 3.5 in your distribution
however as MSDN states:
The .NET Framework 4.5 and its point releases are backward-compatible
with apps that were built with earlier versions of the .NET Framework.
In other words, apps and components built with previous versions will
work without modification on the .NET Framework 4.5. However, by
default, apps run on the version of the common language runtime for
which they were developed, so you may have to provide a configuration
file to enable your app to run on the .NET Framework 4.5
So build your project for 3.5 and just deploy it to windows 8 machines. It should run, but its not the "best" environment for the app. The "best" would be to have .NET 3.5 installed.
Related
I'm working on a C# Code that has as Targeted Framework .NET 4.6, and I'm trying to troubleshoot some issues that occurs during the execution.
That code is running on some clients, that has a .NET 3.5 Version.
My question is, does .NET 4.6 supports retro-compatibility, and if so, should it be wiser to have an aligned Framework versions (Target Version same as Client Version)??
TL;DR: Basically, you can run old on new, but not new on old.
DotNet 4.6+ is backwards compatible in the sense, that you can run an App built with DotNet 3.5 etc. But you cannot run an app built with DotNet 4.6+ while using an older installed framework eg. 3.5 or others. Take it this way:
Imagine you have a windows 10 computer and you want to install an app built for windows 8 or even XP and older. Modern windows has the compatibility layers, necessary to run or install the program.
Now what you/your clients are doing is basically taking an app specifically designed for windows 10, and trying to run it on Windows XP or 95 etc. That won't work as the compatibility layers are not in place to support the "future". No one can foresee the new features and API's that they might add, so the app is incompatible with older Windows.
If you are targeting .NET 4.6, then target .NET 4.6.
Do not expect your code/app to be compatible with anything lower, and if you do need it to be, you have to target that specific version. Which has its own draw-backs as the newer methods / ways of doing things and many libraries you could be using do not apply/are not compatible.
You can either update everything to use 4.6 or higher, or switch your codebase to target 3.5 and live with the drawbacks.
From Backward Compatibility
The .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions are backward-compatible with
apps that were built with earlier versions of the .NET Framework. In
other words, apps and components built with previous versions will
work without modification on the .NET Framework 4.5 and later
versions.
In your case app is built on .Net Framework 4.6 and the platform on client machine is 3.5 version. There might be some issues because app requires newer version than platform it runs.
.NET Framework version 4.6 was included with Windows 10 from version 1507 and .NET Framework version 4.6.2 was included with Windows Server 2016. If your clients are running either of these versions of Windows or newer, you won't have to install anything to run your .NET Framework 4.6 app, and it won't be running on .NET Framework 3.5 even if you do have it installed.
If you're using an older version of Windows than that and don't have .NET Framework 4.6 or newer installed, I wouldn't expect it to run at all.
I have created a WPF application with target Framework 4.5 on Windows 8 machine. The application has reference to two c# dlls with same same target framework. I have used Linq to entities to connect to a MS Sql server database in my application.
Now, When I tried to run the same application by running the exe file located in Debug folder in a Windows XP machine, it gives following error message
D:\Main\TPMS\Debug\TPMS.exe is not a valid win32 application.
What is the issue here?
.NET Framework 4.5 is not supported on windows XP. Try targeting .NET Framework 4.0. Another option is to use Mono but since it lacks support of WPF then you should stick to .NET Framework 4.0
The .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions are not supported on Windows XP
NET Framework 4.5 and Windows XP
i am developing WPF desktop application with visual studio. i want the application to be fit all current common OS with no need to install .NET framework before application installation. i asume that the most common OS today are windows7 and windows8. in witch .NET framework should i develop in order to assure this compatibility?
Refer to this answer on SO for the supported .NET Frameworks per operating system: OS Compatibility for various .NET Framework versions. (it seems to be not totally accurate on the by default installed version on Vista. See MSDN).
If you want to support Windows Vista - Windows 8 (what I would recommend), you could go as far as .NET 4.5.1. The thing you have to keep in mind that this requires the user to upgrade .NET to that version on Vista. Vista has .NET 3 installed by default.
So if you want Windows to support your application out of the box, you have to use .NET 3.
I am facing a lot of trouble while deploying a windows form application on a CD. I have made the application in .NET framework 2.0 and I want to include the setup for the framwork with the installation disk. The application is to run on WindowsXP(damn, user requirement). I tried deploying it with 1 click deployment in VS2010 but the setup does not run on winXP.(Error-.NET framework 4.0 required to run the application). Is there any way of deploying the app which can run on winXP(.NET 2.0), win7(.NET 4.0)-32 bit as well as 64 bit environment.
A 32 bit app will run on 32 or 64 bit operating systems.
A .NET 2.0 application will run on .NET 2.0 or .NET 4.0.
Sounds like your installer is the only dependency on .NET 4. Check the publishing prerequisites you have set on your project.
Visual Studio 2010 doesn't provide a .Net 2.0 pre-requisite for deployment projects. A MSDN support rep explained (?) this in this question:
In VS 2010, it doesn’t support you to set .NET Framework 2.0 as
prerequisite. You can set .NET 3.5 SP1 client profile instead.
Although your application is still build target to .NET 2.0, .NET 3.5
client profile is a light weight .NET framework run time which
supports to run .NET 2.0 based application. So Microsoft removes .NET
2.0 from the prerequisite list.
There's a solution though in that thread:
If you take the .NET 2.0 package from the VS2008 bootstrapper packages
folder and copy it to the corresponding location for VS2010, it works
fine. I tested it in a virtual machine running Windows XP and no .NET.
On Vista or Windows 7, the VS2008 packages are here:
c:\Program Files\Microsoft
SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\DotNetFX (this is .NET 2.0)
On Vista or Windows 7, the VS2010 packages are here:
c:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\BootStrapper\Packages
See the other posts in the thread for more detail.
I'm writing a C# app (in VS 2008). If I target the .Net 3.5 framework, will it run on Windows XP and above? Will XP users potentially have to download a .Net upgrade?
UPDATE
If the app is intended for business / corporate environments do you think it's pretty safe to target 3.5 rather than 2.0?
Only Windows 7 and newer will come with .NET 3.5 (SP1) pre-installed; Windows XP and Vista users, while able to run apps built on .NET 3.5, have to download and install it first in order to use your app.
I think the latest service packs of XP and Vista include .NET 3.5, though.
If the app is intended for business / corporate environments do you think it's pretty safe to target 3.5 rather than 2.0?
Not if the client machines are not able to upgrade or install the 3.5 Framework.
It's not safe to assume they already have the framework. It is realistic, however, to have them install the framework. They probably have it, and if they don't then they should get it if you're writing an app in 3.5.