.NET Framework FAQ
What is .NET Framework used for?
The.NET Framework cannot be uninstalled on Windows 8 and 10. It can be removed from Windows 7 and older systems. It will show up in Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs for Windows XP) amidst the list of installed programs. To repair the Microsoft.NET Framework: Download and run the Microsoft.NET Framework Repair Tool. Microsoft.NET Framework 4.7.2 is available on Windows Update and on Windows Server Update Service (WSUS). It will be offered as a recommended update on Windows Update. Note The package installer ( NDP472-KB4054530-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe ) was updated on July 10, 2018. The.NET Framework 4.5 is a highly compatible, in-place update to the.NET Framework 4. By using the.NET Framework 4.5 together with the C#, Visual Basic, or F# programming language, you can write Windows apps. .NET Framework (pronounced as 'dot net') is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows.It includes a large class library called Framework Class Library (FCL) and provides language interoperability (each language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages.
.NET Framework is used to create and run software applications. .NET apps can run on many operating systems, using different implementations of .NET. .NET Framework is used for running .NET apps on Windows.
Who uses .NET Framework?
Software developers and the users of their applications both use .NET Framework:
- Users of applications built with the .NET Framework need to have .NET Framework installed. In most cases, .NET Framework is already installed with Windows. If needed, you can download .NET Framework.
- Software developers use .NET Framework to build many different types of applications—websites, services, desktop apps, and more with Visual Studio. Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) that provides development productivity tools and debugging capabilities. See the .NET customer showcase for examples of what people are building with .NET.
Why do I need .NET Framework?
You need .NET Framework installed in order to run applications on Windows that were created using .NET Framework. It is already included in many versions of Windows. You only need to download and install .NET Framework if prompted to do so.
How does .NET Framework work?
.NET Framework applications are written in C#, F#, or Visual Basic and compiled to Common Intermediate Language (CIL). The Common Language Runtime (CLR) runs .NET applications on a given machine, converting the CIL to machine code. See Architecture of .NET Framework for more info.
What are the main components/features of .NET Framework?
The two major components of .NET Framework are the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is the execution engine that handles running applications. The Class Library provides a set of APIs and types for common functionality. See Architecture of .NET Framework for more info.
Microsoft .net Framework 3.5
What is the difference between .NET Core and .NET Framework?
.NET Core and .NET Framework share many of the same components and you can share code across the two. Some key differences include:
- .NET Core is cross-platform and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. .NET Framework only runs on Windows.
- .NET Core is open-source and accepts contributions from the community. The .NET Framework source code is available, but does not take direct contributions.
- The majority of .NET innovation happens in .NET Core.
- .NET Framework is included in Windows and automatically updated machine-wide by Windows Update. .NET Core is shipped independently.
See Choosing between .NET Core and .NET Framework for more details.
Can you have multiple .NET Frameworks installed?
Some versions of .NET Framework are installed side-by-side, while others will upgrade an existing version (known as an in-place update). In-place updates occur when two .NET Framework versions share the same CLR version.
For example, installing .NET Framework 4.8 on a machine with .NET Framework 4.7.2 and 3.5 installed will perform an in-place update of the 4.7.2 installation and leave 3.5 installed separately.
.NET Framework version | CLR version |
---|---|
.NET Framework 4.x | 4.0 |
.NET Framework 2.x and 3.x | 2.0 |
.NET Framework 1.1 | 1.1 |
.NET Framework 1.0 | 1.0 |
How much does .NET Framework cost?
.NET Framework is free, like the rest of the .NET platform. There are no fees or licensing costs, including for commercial use. See .NET is free for more details.
Which version of .NET Framework should I use?
In most cases, you should use the latest stable release. Currently, that's .NET Framework 4.8 .
Applications that were created with any 4.x version of .NET Framework will run on .NET Framework 4.8 . To run an application that was created for an earlier version (for example, .NET Framework 3.5), you should install that version. See Download .NET Framework for a complete list.
What is the support policy for .NET Framework?
.NET Framework 4.8 is the latest version of .NET Framework and will continue to be distributed with future releases of Windows. As long as it is installed on a supported version of Windows, .NET Framework 4.8 will continue to also be supported.
See the .NET Framework support policy for more details
1,898,501 downloadsUpdated: November 11, 2020Freeware
Microsoft's programming infrastructure for developing and launching Windows apps that use .NET technologies, geared toward both programmers and casual users
What's new in Microsoft .NET Framework 5.0:
- What’s new in .NET 5:
- NET 5.0 is the next major release of .NET Core following 3.1. We named this new release .NET 5.0 instead of .NET Core 4.0 for two reasons:
- We skipped version numbers 4.x to avoid confusion with .NET Framework 4.x.
- We dropped “Core” from the name to emphasize that this is the main implementation of .NET going forward. .NET 5.0 supports more types of apps and more platforms than .NET Core or .NET Framework.
Microsoft .net Framework 4.7.2
Read the full changelogProprietary of Microsoft, .NET Framework is a free programming infrastructure that some developers resort to when creating Windows-oriented applications and services using .NET technologies.
Programming infrastructure for developers
It's basically a large package that already has all the necessary code with libraries, classes and templates needed by programmers to seamlessly put together desktop apps and web services by simply calling the code, instead of having to write everything from scratch. The package contains three major components: Common Language Runtime (CLR), Framework Class Library (FCL), and ASP.NET.Three major components: CLR, FCL and ASP.NET
CLR is the runtime environment, which means that it handles the execution of .NET apps, enabling programmers to develop projects using a language compiler, featuring cross-language integration and exception handling, enhanced support for security, versioning and deployment, along with a simple model for component integration, debugging and profiling services. At the moment, these are the CLR versions available: 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 (includes 4.5.1 and 4.5.2). There's also a 4.6 RC version available.FCL comprises the numerous classes, services, interfaces and namespaces provided by .NET Framework. Apart from the runtime core functions (e.g. file and network I/O), it supports database interaction, XML usage and development, client-oriented apps for the desktop and Internet, along with SOAP-based XML web services.
ASP.NET is the popular open-source service-side framework that programmers use to create dynamic web pages, apps and services with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and any other type of code supported by the .NET language.
Necessary for installing .NET Framework-based applications
.NET Framework addresses not only developers, but also regular users who want to be able to launch a tool written in .NET Framework. Typically, the infrastructure has to be manually downloaded by users. However, it sometimes comes bundled with various software packages, and some versions are built into Windows, so they only need to be enabled. For example, .NET Framework 3.5.1 is integrated into Windows 7, while .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.5 are rolled with Windows 8.Different .NET Framework versions
Worth mentioning is that the version number of a framework shouldn't be understood as a simple 'update' number. For instance, older applications require older .NET Framework editions to work, and users should keep in mind these are not automatically implemented in newer versions. To be more specific, you can have multiple .NET Framework versions installed on your PC to run multiple apps with different requirements. Figuring out what version you already have installed can be tricky, but you can resort to several apps to help you in this regard, such as Speccy Portable.Disadvantages for non-developers
There are several known facts when it comes to the downsides of .NET Framework for casual users. For example, it occupies a significant amount of disk space, the installation step is lengthy, the utility usually hogs system resources, and older editions sometimes become unstable and frequently crash. Although this method doesn't always work (sadly), the last mentioned issue can be typically fixed by reinstalling .NET Framework. This can also be a problematic step because it's tricky to completely eliminate all leftovers (try using .NET Framework Cleanup Tool).Overall, a must-have framework for some Microsoft apps
To conclude, .NET Framework can be viewed as a love-it-or-hate-it platform: it can easily become a solution for developers who fully understand how to work with it, as well as a burden for casual users who frequently run into all sorts of issues. Regardless of what the case may be, .NET Framework is (usually) indispensable for Microsoft users.NOTE: You can also download .NET Framework 2 / 2.0 /1.1 or .NET Framework 3.5.
System requirements
- 1 GHz or faster processor
- 512 MB of RAM (1.5 GB if running on a virtual machine)
- 4.5 GB of available hard disk space (x86)
Microsoft Net Framework 2020
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