How to Run a .Net 4.5 App on Xp

Is it possible to run a .NET 4.5 app on XP?

I hesitate to post this answer, it is actually technically possible but it doesn't work that well in practice. The version numbers of the CLR and the core framework assemblies were not changed in 4.5. You still target v4.0.30319 of the CLR and the framework assembly version numbers are still 4.0.0.0. The only thing that's distinctive about the assembly manifest when you look at it with a disassembler like ildasm.exe is the presence of a [TargetFramework] attribute that says that 4.5 is needed, that would have to be altered. Not actually that easy, it is emitted by the compiler.

The biggest difference is not that visible, Microsoft made a long-overdue change in the executable header of the assemblies. Which specifies what version of Windows the executable is compatible with. XP belongs to a previous generation of Windows, started with Windows 2000. Their major version number is 5. Vista was the start of the current generation, major version number 6.

.NET compilers have always specified the minimum version number to be 4.00, the version of Windows NT and Windows 9x. You can see this by running dumpbin.exe /headers on the assembly. Sample output looks like this:

OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
             10B magic # (PE32)
            ...
            4.00 operating system version
            0.00 image version
            4.00 subsystem version              // <=== here!!
               0 Win32 version
            ...

What's new in .NET 4.5 is that the compilers change that subsystem version to 6.00. A change that was over-due in large part because Windows pays attention to that number, beyond just checking if it is small enough. It also turns on appcompat features since it assumes that the program was written to work on old versions of Windows. These features cause trouble, particularly the way Windows lies about the size of a window in Aero is troublesome. It stops lying about the fat borders of an Aero window when it can see that the program was designed to run on a Windows version that has Aero.

You can alter that version number and set it back to 4.00 by running Editbin.exe on your assemblies with the /subsystem option. This answer shows a sample postbuild event.

That's however about where the good news ends, a significant problem is that .NET 4.5 isn't very compatible with .NET 4.0. By far the biggest hang-up is that classes were moved from one assembly to another. Most notably, that happened for the [Extension] attribute. Previously in System.Core.dll, it got moved to Mscorlib.dll in .NET 4.5. That's a kaboom on XP if you declare your own extension methods, your program says to look in Mscorlib for the attribute, enabled by a [TypeForwardedTo] attribute in the .NET 4.5 version of the System.Core reference assembly. But it isn't there when you run your program on .NET 4.0

And of course there's nothing that helps you stop using classes and methods that are only available on .NET 4.5. When you do, your program will fail with a TypeLoadException or MissingMethodException when run on 4.0

Just target 4.0 and all of these problems disappear. Or break that logjam and stop supporting XP, a business decision that programmers cannot often make but can certainly encourage by pointing out the hassles that it is causing. There is of course a non-zero cost to having to support ancient operating systems, just the testing effort is substantial. A cost that isn't often recognized by management, Windows compatibility is legendary, unless it is pointed out to them. Forward that cost to the client and they tend to make the right decision a lot quicker :) But we can't help you with that.

Running a .NET 4.5 program on XP with .NET 2.0

AsyncBridge is like the MS Async Targeting Pack, but also available for .NET 3.5.

However, it won't work with .NET 2.0; as the Task Parallel Library (which defines Task<T>) is only available for .NET 3.5 (and built into .NET 4.0).

As for Mono, to create a standalone application that includes the relevant portions of the framework, you need to create a bundle, but I'm not sure if those are supported on Windows. mono --aot and ngen just precompile an application for faster startup on the local machine, they don't remove the need for the framework to be installed.

Is it possible to run a .NET 4.5 app on XP?

I hesitate to post this answer, it is actually technically possible but it doesn't work that well in practice. The version numbers of the CLR and the core framework assemblies were not changed in 4.5. You still target v4.0.30319 of the CLR and the framework assembly version numbers are still 4.0.0.0. The only thing that's distinctive about the assembly manifest when you look at it with a disassembler like ildasm.exe is the presence of a [TargetFramework] attribute that says that 4.5 is needed, that would have to be altered. Not actually that easy, it is emitted by the compiler.

The biggest difference is not that visible, Microsoft made a long-overdue change in the executable header of the assemblies. Which specifies what version of Windows the executable is compatible with. XP belongs to a previous generation of Windows, started with Windows 2000. Their major version number is 5. Vista was the start of the current generation, major version number 6.

.NET compilers have always specified the minimum version number to be 4.00, the version of Windows NT and Windows 9x. You can see this by running dumpbin.exe /headers on the assembly. Sample output looks like this:

OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
             10B magic # (PE32)
            ...
            4.00 operating system version
            0.00 image version
            4.00 subsystem version              // <=== here!!
               0 Win32 version
            ...

What's new in .NET 4.5 is that the compilers change that subsystem version to 6.00. A change that was over-due in large part because Windows pays attention to that number, beyond just checking if it is small enough. It also turns on appcompat features since it assumes that the program was written to work on old versions of Windows. These features cause trouble, particularly the way Windows lies about the size of a window in Aero is troublesome. It stops lying about the fat borders of an Aero window when it can see that the program was designed to run on a Windows version that has Aero.

You can alter that version number and set it back to 4.00 by running Editbin.exe on your assemblies with the /subsystem option. This answer shows a sample postbuild event.

That's however about where the good news ends, a significant problem is that .NET 4.5 isn't very compatible with .NET 4.0. By far the biggest hang-up is that classes were moved from one assembly to another. Most notably, that happened for the [Extension] attribute. Previously in System.Core.dll, it got moved to Mscorlib.dll in .NET 4.5. That's a kaboom on XP if you declare your own extension methods, your program says to look in Mscorlib for the attribute, enabled by a [TypeForwardedTo] attribute in the .NET 4.5 version of the System.Core reference assembly. But it isn't there when you run your program on .NET 4.0

And of course there's nothing that helps you stop using classes and methods that are only available on .NET 4.5. When you do, your program will fail with a TypeLoadException or MissingMethodException when run on 4.0

Just target 4.0 and all of these problems disappear. Or break that logjam and stop supporting XP, a business decision that programmers cannot often make but can certainly encourage by pointing out the hassles that it is causing. There is of course a non-zero cost to having to support ancient operating systems, just the testing effort is substantial. A cost that isn't often recognized by management, Windows compatibility is legendary, unless it is pointed out to them. Forward that cost to the client and they tend to make the right decision a lot quicker :) But we can't help you with that.

.NET 4.5 RC Framework CLR - Windows XP compatibility

From looking at the .NET Framework System Requirements docs - I think you're out of luck.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8z6watww(v=vs.110).aspx

According to the doc, it's certain that it wasn't in the test matrix, you won't get support for the installation. The installer may still work assuming it doesn't explicitly block unsupported OS'. YMMV.

XP is in extended life-support through 2014 - you're only going to see critical security fixes, not new features like this.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?alpha=Windows+XP

Windows Form asking .Net framework 4.5 while installing on Windows Xp sp3

Alryt.. I have figured it out myself...
Thank you dennis.. you gave me the clue...

It have to select from setup project properties--> Prerequisites...

that worked for me... :)

App that targets .NET 4.0 requests .NET 4.5 installation when installed with InnoSetup

Turns out the exe.config had the following line:

<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5.1" />

Changing it to

<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" />

Fixed the issue

Targeting .NET 4.0 gives invalid Win XP application since TFS .NET 4.5 upgrade

.net 4.5 upgrades .net 4.0 so if you have .net 4.5 installed on your build server, and you're targetting .net 4.0, this isn't the same .net 4.0 that you have installed on XP. You cannot install .net 4.5 on XP. This Blog goes in to more detail.

Basically if you want to support XP, you cannot use .net 4.5 / Visual Studio 2012. (or have them installed on your build machines)

.NET framework, Windows XP

.Net framework 4.5 is not supported in Windows XP. If you're not using any .Net 4.5 features you can rebuild your app using .Net Framework 4 (In the Project properties).

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