What are the differences between managed and unmanaged libraries?

Question

Can you tell me what changes between libraries external managed and unmanaged? is the exact same thing between managed and unmanaged code?

I'd imagine it means the same thing, unless you're using "managed external libraries" as something other than an external library with managed code. — Drew McGowen, Dec 04 '14 at 17:22
Take a look at this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3563870/difference-between-managed-and-unmanaged — cost, Dec 04 '14 at 18:03

Thomas Weller · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-04T20:36:08.857

5

Yes, a managed library contains .NET code (also called an assembly), an unmanaged library contains native code of some sort (C++, VB6 or similar).

External usually means that you didn't compile it yourself but use a 3rd party component.

To check whether as assembly is managed or not,

I open it in dotPeek. If it is .NET, it will say something like "msil", otherwise "not supported".
Another option is ILSpy, which will say "This file does not contain a managed assembly."
The tool ILDASM comes with the Windows SDK and says "no valid CLR header" in case of native assemblies.
You could also see if it has mscoree (.NET) as a dependency

edited Dec 04 '14 at 20:36

answered Dec 04 '14 at 17:23

Thomas Weller

@missenna: I've added that to my answer. At the moment I think you expected some tools to check for .NET, not some code. – Thomas Weller Dec 04 '14 at 20:53
How do I use dotPeek? – missenna Dec 04 '14 at 21:17
Any suggestions to what to do about such messages? – not2qubit Feb 06 '17 at 12:01
@not2qubit: which messages? – Thomas Weller Feb 06 '17 at 22:35
@ThomasWeller "This file does not contain a managed assembly." – not2qubit Feb 07 '17 at 13:13
@not2qubit: The question was how to find out whether or not it's a managed assembly. The message tells that, you confirm the question by a button, you got the information you wanted and the case is solved - isn't it? – Thomas Weller Feb 07 '17 at 18:36

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