How to write a VERY simple, native application for Windows (without needing .NET and going through an installation process)

Question

Im very new to Visual Studio, and the C language family in general. In fact I'm rather new to programming, but I've learned a bit by programming in Java for android in the last few months.

I want to write a very simple application that could run on at least windows XP and up without the need of the .NET framework installed on the machine and without putting the user through an installation process for such a simple app.

The application simply shows a dialog with some information about the system (Ip, domain, user, etc.) and that's about it.

I managed to do it in C# using the windows form template, the problem is that while it runs just fine in Windows 7 and up, it won't run on Windows XP because not every XP installation has some version of the .NET framework installed (or does it?).

I have read that in order to write an application that runs independently of the .NET framework I have to use non intermediate language like C++, the thing is I don't see a windows form template under the C++ drop down in Visual Studio and frankly I have little clue on how to even get started.

Could anyone please advice on how to go about this? Once I have an idea on how to start I think I'll be able to handle it from there.

Thanks in advance.

Windows Forms is .NET. If you want C++ then just learn WinAPI. Not so simple always. — Sami Kuhmonen, Jul 29 '17 at 20:55
If you target old enough .NET version you can install it on XP. — conio, Jul 30 '17 at 02:15

vladasimovic · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-29T22:41:14.457

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Windows API is not easy, but try to create a Win32 C program based on a dialog box (the dialog window as the main window for your program).

edited Jul 29 '17 at 22:41

answered Jul 29 '17 at 22:03

vladasimovic

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Thank you, @vladasimovic. Is that really the only option? Would a C++ CLR project work? Does it need .NET? – Adrian Flores Jul 30 '17 at 00:13
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@Adrian Flores: The Common Language Runtime (CLR) manages the execution of .NET programs. Please read https://stackoverflow.com/a/3797777/2826628 – vladasimovic Jul 30 '17 at 06:11
Thank you very much, vladasimovic. That post was really helpful. Should've found it myself. – Adrian Flores Jul 31 '17 at 05:30
I meant CLI, by the way, not CLR. But I now see that that won't work as it needs .NET – Adrian Flores Jul 31 '17 at 05:41

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 29 '17 at 20:56

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You can use MFC with Microsoft Visual C++, I suggest Microsoft Visual Studio 2017: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ie/cpp/mfc/mfc-desktop-applications

You can also use an old version like Visual Studio 6.0 that now should be available for free.

answered Jul 29 '17 at 20:56

Dario Cancelliere

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Thank you, Dario. I already have Visual Studio 2017, I made the C# application in it. I'll take a look at MFC documentation and see if I can make something of it. At least I now have a clue. – Adrian Flores Jul 29 '17 at 21:03
Visual Studio 6 is available for free? Citation needed. – conio Jul 29 '17 at 21:10
@conio I said: "should"... because is very old right now (1998) and is not compatible with Windows 8/10, I can't really say if it's free or not because the VS6 site is currently down: https://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/previous/vs6/downloads/default.aspx – Dario Cancelliere Jul 29 '17 at 21:16
@DarioCancelliere: Then by "should" you mean what you'd like to happen rather than what you think actually happens, though you can't source it. Well, I think answers on SO should describe the real world rather than hypothetical ones. – conio Jul 29 '17 at 21:22
You are right @conio but please, why are you taking this so serious for a very old product such VS6? I couldn't check properly (site offline) and I'll remove the "should free" statement if breaks some rules – Dario Cancelliere Jul 29 '17 at 21:24

How to write a VERY simple, native application for Windows (without needing .NET and going through an installation process)

2 Answers2