.net – Does the .Net Framework 4.0 Installer include the .Net Framework 3.5

.net-3.5.net-4.0installationnet

Do .Net components that were compiled against the .Net Framework 3.5 run on a system that has only .Net Framework 4.0 installed?

Or in other words, does the .Net Framework 4.0 Installer include the .Net Framework 3.5?

Best Answer

The .NET 4.0 installer doesn't include the .NET framework 3.5. There is some information on this topic in MSDN:

The .NET Framework 4 is highly compatible with applications that are built with earlier .NET Framework versions, except for some changes that were made to improve security, standards compliance, correctness, reliability, and performance.

The .NET Framework 4 does not automatically use its version of the common language runtime to run applications that are built with earlier versions of the .NET Framework. To run older applications with .NET Framework 4, you must compile your application with the target .NET Framework version specified in the properties for your project in Visual Studio, or you can specify the supported runtime with the <supportedRuntime> Element in an application configuration file.

You can install .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.0 along side each other. Visual Studio 2010 also includes improved targetting support for .NET 3.5. ScottGu's blog talks about this in more detail.

Related Solutions

.net – Entity Framework vs LINQ to SQL

LINQ to SQL only supports 1 to 1 mapping of database tables, views, sprocs and functions available in Microsoft SQL Server. It's a great API to use for quick data access construction to relatively well designed SQL Server databases. LINQ2SQL was first released with C# 3.0 and .Net Framework 3.5.

LINQ to Entities (ADO.Net Entity Framework) is an ORM (Object Relational Mapper) API which allows for a broad definition of object domain models and their relationships to many different ADO.Net data providers. As such, you can mix and match a number of different database vendors, application servers or protocols to design an aggregated mash-up of objects which are constructed from a variety of tables, sources, services, etc. ADO.Net Framework was released with the .Net Framework 3.5 SP1.

This is a good introductory article on MSDN: Introducing LINQ to Relational Data

.net – How to detect what .NET Framework versions and service packs are installed

The registry is the official way to detect if a specific version of the Framework is installed.

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Which registry keys are needed change depending on the Framework version you are looking for:

Framework Version  Registry Key
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Policy\v1.0\3705 
1.1                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322\Install 
2.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727\Install 
3.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.0\Setup\InstallSuccess 
3.5                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5\Install 
4.0 Client Profile HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client\Install
4.0 Full Profile   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Install

Generally you are looking for:

"Install"=dword:00000001

except for .NET 1.0, where the value is a string (REG_SZ) rather than a number (REG_DWORD).

Determining the service pack level follows a similar pattern:

Framework Version  Registry Key
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{78705f0d-e8db-4b2d-8193-982bdda15ecd}\Version 
1.0[1]             HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{FDC11A6F-17D1-48f9-9EA3-9051954BAA24}\Version 
1.1                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322\SP 
2.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727\SP 
3.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.0\SP 
3.5                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5\SP 
4.0 Client Profile HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client\Servicing
4.0 Full Profile   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Servicing

[1] Windows Media Center or Windows XP Tablet Edition

As you can see, determining the SP level for .NET 1.0 changes if you are running on Windows Media Center or Windows XP Tablet Edition. Again, .NET 1.0 uses a string value while all of the others use a DWORD.

For .NET 1.0 the string value at either of these keys has a format of #,#,####,#. The last # is the Service Pack level.

While I didn't explicitly ask for this, if you want to know the exact version number of the Framework you would use these registry keys:

Framework Version  Registry Key
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{78705f0d-e8db-4b2d-8193-982bdda15ecd}\Version 
1.0[1]             HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{FDC11A6F-17D1-48f9-9EA3-9051954BAA24}\Version 
1.1                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 
2.0[2]             HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727\Version 
2.0[3]             HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727\Increment
3.0                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.0\Version 
3.5                HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5\Version 
4.0 Client Profile HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Version 
4.0 Full Profile   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Version 

[1] Windows Media Center or Windows XP Tablet Edition
[2] .NET 2.0 SP1
[3] .NET 2.0 Original Release (RTM)

Again, .NET 1.0 uses a string value while all of the others use a DWORD.

Additional Notes

for .NET 1.0 the string value at either of these keys has a format of #,#,####,#. The #,#,#### portion of the string is the Framework version.
for .NET 1.1, we use the name of the registry key itself, which represents the version number.
Finally, if you look at dependencies, .NET 3.0 adds additional functionality to .NET 2.0 so both .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0 must both evaulate as being installed to correctly say that .NET 3.0 is installed. Likewise, .NET 3.5 adds additional functionality to .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0, so .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, and .NET 3. should all evaluate to being installed to correctly say that .NET 3.5 is installed.
.NET 4.0 installs a new version of the CLR (CLR version 4.0) which can run side-by-side with CLR 2.0.

Update for .NET 4.5

There won't be a v4.5 key in the registry if .NET 4.5 is installed. Instead you have to check if the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full key contains a value called Release. If this value is present, .NET 4.5 is installed, otherwise it is not. More details can be found here and here.