I made an app in visual studio that uses C# and .net. I want people to be able to use that app without installing .net is there some way that I can include .net with the exe
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3You probably want to publish a [self-contained executable](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/deploying/#publish-self-contained). – Chris Yungmann Feb 01 '21 at 03:09
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If you have developed app using .NET Core 3.1+, then Publish self-contained app.
Example: To publish Windows 64-bit executable - dotnet publish -r win-x64
Note - To build and publish, of course, you would need .NET SDK. But once you have published a self-contained app and obtained the executable:
The user of your app isn't required to download and install .NET Core.
Meer
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Thank you I simply overlooked the option for a self-contained app in the publishing options – wesley Feb 03 '21 at 12:38
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I hope I was of some help, can you mark this as answer and close the question? Thanks. – Meer Feb 03 '21 at 14:18
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I was using .NET 6 and just needed to add `--self-contained` to the end. But worked perfectly, thanks! – Caio Campos Oct 27 '22 at 23:51
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C# is tightly bound to the .NET framework, and won't work without it - even "basic" datatypes like string are part of .NET rather than a part of the language. So "no, not really" is the answer here - a version of the framework is necessary in order to run your app. Now, there are things you can do but the simplest is to set the target framework version to one that is installed on your target OS already
If the OS includes it, your app should run without additional framework installation.
But there is a native compiler (since version 4.5), that should solve that problem of the framework.
You can also check this Compiling Apps with .NET Native
JKC
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In many posts people recommend to create a "self-contained executable". But it does not solve the problem, right? You still need .Net in your system for the "self-contained executable" to run? – user3675331 Apr 20 '21 at 09:16
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2@user3675331 No "self-contained exe" includes the .NET runtime and libraries, you will be able to run your application on a machine that doesn't have .Net runtime installed. – JKC Apr 21 '21 at 02:10
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The accepted answer works perfectly. I don't understand this discussion here. What am I missing? – Caio Campos Oct 27 '22 at 23:54
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1@CaioCampos you're not missing anything. This answer is pretty much for .NET Framework not .NET Core – Branislav B. Jul 25 '23 at 14:17