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How to know which version of Microsoft .NET Framework is being used, and how to update it?

Owned by Diogo Teles (Deactivated)
Last updated: Jan 02, 2020
4 min read

The .NET framework should be kept up to date on every computer running GDSLAB or GDSLAB Reports. To find out which is the most recent version available please take a look at Microsoft’s .NET downloads page.

Two different versions of .NET are required to use GDS Software: 3.5 and the latest available version.

.NET is a developer platform made up of tools, programming languages, and libraries for building many different types of applications.

There are various implementations of .NET. Each implementation allows .NET code to execute in different places—Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and many more

.NET Framework is the original implementation of .NET. It supports running websites, services, desktop apps, and more on Windows.

 

.NET 4.5 or later

To use Windows Registry Editor you need to have Administrator rights in your Windows user account.

  1. From the Start menu, choose Run, enter regedit, and then select OK.

    You must have administrative credentials to run regedit.

  2. 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.

    [NOTE] The NET Framework Setup folder in the registry does not begin with a period.

  3. 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.

.NET Framework version

Value of the Release DWORD

.NET Framework version

Value of the Release DWORD

.NET Framework 4.5

All Windows operating systems: 378389

.NET Framework 4.5.1

On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: 378675
On all other Windows operating systems: 378758

.NET Framework 4.5.2

All Windows operating systems: 379893

.NET Framework 4.6

On Windows 10: 393295
On all other Windows operating systems: 393297

.NET Framework 4.6.1

On Windows 10 November Update systems: 394254
On all other Windows operating systems (including Windows 10): 394271

.NET Framework 4.6.2

On Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Windows Server 2016: 394802
On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 394806

.NET Framework 4.7

On Windows 10 Creators Update: 460798
On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 460805

.NET Framework 4.7.1

On Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and Windows Server, version 1709: 461308
On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 461310

.NET Framework 4.7.2

On Windows 10 April 2018 Update and Windows Server, version 1803: 461808
On all Windows operating systems other than Windows 10 April 2018 Update and Windows Server, version 1803: 461814

.NET Framework 4.8

On Windows 10 May 2019 Update and Windows 10 November 2019 Update: 528040
On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 528049

Specific version

To determine whether a specific version of the .NET Framework is installed on a particular version of the Windows operating system, test whether the Release DWORD value is equal to the value listed in the table. For example, to determine whether .NET Framework 4.6 is present on a Windows 10 system, test for the a Release value that is equal to 393295.

Minimum version

To determine whether a minimum version of the .NET Framework is present, use the smallest RELEASE DWORD value for that version from the previous table. (For convenience, the minimum values are also listed in the table that follows.)

For example, if your application runs under .NET Framework 4.8 or a later version, test for a RELEASE DWORD value that is greater than or equal to 528040.

.NET Framework version

Minimum value of the Release DWORD

.NET Framework version

Minimum value of the Release DWORD

.NET Framework 4.5

378389

.NET Framework 4.5.1

378675

.NET Framework 4.5.2

379893

.NET Framework 4.6

393295

.NET Framework 4.6.1

394254

.NET Framework 4.6.2

394802

.NET Framework 4.7

460798

.NET Framework 4.7.1

461308

.NET Framework 4.7.2

461808

.NET Framework 4.8

528040

Multiple versions

To test for multiple versions, begin by testing for a value that is greater than or equal to the smaller DWORD value for the latest .NET Framework version, and then compare the value with the smaller DWORD value for each successive earlier version. For example, if your application requires .NET Framework 4.7 or later and you want to determine the specific version of .NET Framework present, start by testing for a RELEASE DWORD value that is great than or equal to to 461808 (the smaller DWORD value for .NET Framework 4.7.2). Then compare the RELEASE DWORD value with the smaller value for each later .NET Framework version.

 

.NET versions 1 to 4

  1. From the Start menu, choose Run, enter regedit, and then select OK.

    You must have administrative credentials to run regedit.

  2. In the Registry Editor, open the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP:

    • For .NET Framework versions 1.1 through 3.5, each installed version is listed as a subkey under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP subkey. For example, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5. The version number is stored as a value in the version subkey's Version entry.

    • For .NET Framework 4, the Version entry is under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4.0\Client subkey, the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4.0\Full subkey, or under both subkeys.

    [NOTE] The NET Framework Setup folder in the registry does not begin with a period.

    The following figure shows the subkey and its Version entry for the .NET Framework 3.5.