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Product versioning changes in the .NET Framework 4.6 and later versions

Scope

Minor

Version Introduced

4.6

Source Analyzer Status

NotPlanned

Change Description

Product versioning has changed from the previous releases of the .NET Framework, and particularly from the .NET Framework 4, 4.5, 4.5.1, and 4.5.2.

The following are the detailed changes:

  • The value of the Version entry in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full key has changed to 4.6.xxxxx for the .NET Framework 4.6 and its point releases, to 4.7.xxxxx for the .NET Framework 4.7 and its point releases, and to 4.8.xxxxx for .NET Framework 4.8. In the .NET Framework 4.5, 4.5.1, and 4.5.2, it had the format 4.5.xxxxx.

  • The file and product versioning for .NET Framework files has changed from the earlier versioning scheme of 4.0.30319.x to 4.6.X.0 for the .NET Framework 4.6 and its point releases, and to 4.7.X.0 for the .NET Framework 4.7 and its point releases, and to 4.8.X.0 for .NET Framework 4.8. You can see these new values when you view the file's Properties after right-clicking on a file.

  • The xref:System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersionAttribute and xref:System.Reflection.AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute attributes for managed assemblies have Version values in the form 4.6.X.0 for the .NET Framework 4.6 and its point releases, 4.7.X.0 for the .NET Framework 4.7 and its point releases, and 4.8.X.0 for .NET Framework 4.8.

  • In the .NET Framework 4.6 and later versions, the xref:System.Environment.Version?displayProperty=nameWithType property returns the fixed version string 4.0.30319.42000. In the .NET Framework 4, 4.5, 4.5.1, and 4.5.2, it returns version strings in the format 4.0.30319.xxxxx, where xxxxx is less than 42000 (for example, "4.0.30319.18010"). Note that we do not recommend application code taking any new dependency on the Environment.Version property.

For more information, see How to: Determine which .NET Framework Versions Are Installed.

  • Quirked
  • Build-time break

Recommended Action

In general, applications should depend on the recommended techniques for detecting such things as the runtime version of the .NET Framework and the installation directory:

Important

The subkey name is NET Framework Setup, not .NET Framework Setup.

  • To determine the directory path to the .NET Framework common language runtime, call the xref:System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeDirectory?displayProperty=nameWithType method.

  • To get the CLR version, call the xref:System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeEnvironment.GetSystemVersion?displayProperty=nameWithType method. For the .NET Framework 4 and its point releases (the .NET Framework 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, and .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, and 4.7.1), it returns the string v4.0.30319.

Affected APIs

  • Not detectable via API analysis

Category

Setup and Deployment