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I am creating a project on C#-.Net. The 'exe' file generated from the project is not executable on machines which do not have the .Net already installed. This error is popping up:

To run this application you first must install one of the following versions of the .NET.Framework: V4.0.30319

I don't want to make an installer file which installs the dependency files (.Net FW and other...) on PC.

As project requirement, I want to make an 'exe' that runs on every Windows PC without installing software or dependency sofware -> .Net FW. Just when clicked and the s/w exe should execute.

Is it possible to make such machine independent 'exe' for Windows from .Net ??

marc_s
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sdkjain
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3 Answers3

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That's not exactly possible (there are some tools out there that will allow you to bundle dependencies, but I wouldn't recommend using them).

Your best possible approach to this is using an as-old-as-possible framework, for example .NET Framework 3.0. This way you'll use a framework version that is already preinstalled on pretty much all systems in use. Or in other words, you'll ensure your program runs on as many systems as possible out of the box. Just provide a link to the runtime in case someone is still missing it.

Also just to note that this is far better compared to what happened to the first few iterations of the .NET Framework: Those executables would just crash with a complex error message not telling the user that it's just the runtime missing. It improved a lot over time.

Also, just as an alternative: Have you thought about using ClickOnce deployment? This will allow you to provide users a simple and minimal installer they won't really see either. It will only download and install dependencies that are still missing. Also this is built into any edition of VisualStudio, even the Express ones.

Mario
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  • Is there any alternative language and IDE that I can use in which development is similar to VS and .Net ? Like which can give me a machine independent .exe ?? – sdkjain Jul 29 '13 at 14:45
  • You can use .net. Just use an older version of the .NET runtime and you won't have to worry about that. As an alternative, you could use C or C++ and link your program with static runtime libraries, so you don't have external dependencies. However, if this is feasible is really up to your actual use case, e.g. do you want an easy to create GUI or do you only want to process things, write a game, etc. – Mario Jul 29 '13 at 21:13
  • @Mario: even if I use older .Net runtime(say 2.0), I need to install .Net framework in the machine which does not have .Net fw at all, like XP old versions and thats what the client dont want, he just want and .exe which can be executed in any machine(Old XP or Win7 or etc). and You said i can use C or C++: can u suggest which IDEs like one I know QT, can be used ? – sdkjain Jul 31 '13 at 09:29
  • You can use pretty much any compiler/runtime as long as you compile all your dependencies using the static runtime. This will result in bigger files, but will run without additional files. QT can be used, if compiled apropriately, yes. – Mario Jul 31 '13 at 15:00
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This error is popping up

It is not an error. Just a friendly reminder to the user that your program need .NET 4 to be available before your program can run. He'll click "Yes, please!" and everything solves itself automagically.

You could create an installer to avoid the message. But, given that you don't want to do that, and it already takes care of it for you, there is very little point.

More about what this all looks like and why it works this way in this answer

Community
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Hans Passant
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  • Is there any alternative language and IDE that I can use in which development is similar to VS and .Net ? Like which can give me a machine independent .exe ?? – sdkjain Jul 29 '13 at 14:45
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"As project requirement, I want to make an 'exe' that runs on every Windows PC without installing software or dependency sofware -> .Net FW. Just when clicked and the s/w exe should execute.".

1) What if the version of Windows doesn't have any .Net Framework?

2) What if the version of Windows doesn't support any version of .Net Framework? (.Net didn't come around until Win2K/ME ish times, and Windows 95 won't take most .Net frameworks, 3.1 / 3.5 wont even take Mono)

"Is it possible to make such machine independent 'exe' for Windows from .Net ??"

Sounds like you're trying to make something like a Setup.exe that can be a single download that will work out the specifics after the fact... Actually the "machine independent" makes even C++ unsuitable, because while C++ will work on Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, and a whole slew of more exotic systems with x86, x64, i64, PPC, ARM24/32/64 etc. (all of which exist with Windows installed on them, out there, in the wild, but are pretty rare) once the executable is compiled and linked, it will be targeted towards a single CPU architecture and OS. (OS/2, GEM and DOS all use .exe files, and there are some similarities between them, but most other OS don't require any specific file extension for executable binaries)

So, .Net isn't a terrible idea for this reason, any more than a .jar, .pl or .py would be. (which is relatively common for *nix software that you hope will run on Linux, Mac and BSD Unix... maybe even Solaris or HP/UX etc.) If you target MSIL, rather then x86 or x64, then your .exe will run on PPC Windows, DEC Alpha Windows, Itanium Windows, and ARM Windows, as well as the other two. (although this isn't what you are asking about) If you build it without a dependence on the WPF, or other Windows specific GUI engine, it will also work on Mac, Linux and BSD, so long as they have Mono installed. (it just may be worth considering, while you're at it... Versions of Windows Microsoft don't support with the appropriate .Net version will also need Mono to work this way)

To that end, I would recommend building a command-line executable in Mono, rather than .Net development environment. (Mono executable will run on .Net easier than .Net executables run on Mono... Though either is possible if you are careful about the dependencies you include in headers you import into your source)

I've had some success with this, writing a background service that would install on either Windows or Linux with the same binary executable. I used MonoDevelop. (https://www.monodevelop.com/) However, it's really just a flashy IDE around the core Mono development tools. (https://www.mono-project.com/)

bobsobol
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