In this article, I will explain what is .net framework used for and how to check .net framework version in different ways. You can install and run multiple versions of the .NET framework on your machine. When you develop or deploy your app, you might need to know which .NET Framework versions are installed on the user’s computer.

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What is the .NET Framework?

.NET Framework is a software development framework for building and running applications on the Windows platform. The first version of the .Net framework was released in the year 2002. You need .NET Framework installed in order to run applications on Windows that were created using .NET Framework.

The two major components of the .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 below the Architecture of .Net Framework:-

Check .net framework version installed

The registry contains a list of the .NET Framework versions installed on a machine. You can either use the Registry Editor to view the registry or query it with code:

There are 2 different ways to find what .net framework do I have.

• Using the Registry Editor to find .NET Framework versions.
• Use code to query the registry for .NET Framework versions.

Find newer .NET Framework versions (4.5 and later)

We can use Registry Editor to find version information in the registry, or you can query the registry programmatically.

Use Registry Editor

• From the Start menu, choose Run, enter regedit, and then select OK.
• In the Registry Editor, open the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full. If the Full subkey isn’t present, then you don’t have the .NET Framework 4.5 or later installed.

• Check for a DWORD entry named Release. If it exists, then you have .NET Framework 4.5 or later installed. Its value is a release key that corresponds to a particular version of the .NET Framework. In the following figure, for example, the value of the Release entry is 378389, which is the release key for .NET Framework 4.5.

The following table lists the value of the Release DWORD on individual operating systems for .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions.

Query the registry using code in C#

The following example checks the value of the Release entry in the registry to find the .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions that are installed:

using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;

public class GetDotNetVersion
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Get45PlusFromRegistry();
   }

   private static void Get45PlusFromRegistry()
   {
      const string subkey = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\";

      using (var ndpKey = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry32).OpenSubKey(subkey))
      {
        if (ndpKey != null && ndpKey.GetValue("Release") != null) {
            Console.WriteLine($".NET Framework Version: {CheckFor45PlusVersion((int) ndpKey.GetValue("Release"))}");
        }
         else {
            Console.WriteLine(".NET Framework Version 4.5 or later is not detected.");
         } 
      }
   
      // Checking the version using >= enables forward compatibility.
      string CheckFor45PlusVersion(int releaseKey)
      {
         if (releaseKey >= 528040)
            return "4.8 or later";
         if (releaseKey >= 461808)
            return "4.7.2";
         if (releaseKey >= 461308)
            return "4.7.1";
         if (releaseKey >= 460798)
            return "4.7";
         if (releaseKey >= 394802)
            return "4.6.2";
         if (releaseKey >= 394254)
            return "4.6.1";      
         if (releaseKey >= 393295)
            return "4.6";      
         if (releaseKey >= 379893)
            return "4.5.2";      
         if (releaseKey >= 378675)
            return "4.5.1";      
         if (releaseKey >= 378389)
            return "4.5";      
         // This code should never execute. A non-null release key should mean
         // that 4.5 or later is installed.
         return "No 4.5 or later version detected";
      }
   }
}   
// This example displays output like the following:
//       .NET Framework Version: 4.6.1

MSDN Reference

Conclusion

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