[nuget] Download old version of package with NuGet

Is there a way to download a previous version of a package with NuGet, not the latest one?

This question is related to nuget

The answer is


Bring up the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio - it's in Tools / NuGet Package Manager / Package Manager Console. Then run the Install-Package command:

Install-Package Common.Logging -Version 1.2.0

See the command reference for details.

Edit: In order to list versions of a package you can use the Get-Package command with the remote argument and a filter:

Get-Package -ListAvailable -Filter Common.Logging -AllVersions

By pressing tab after the version option in the Install-Package command, you get a list of the latest available versions.


Browse to its page in the package index, eg. http://www.nuget.org/packages/Newtonsoft.Json/4.0.5

Then follow the install instructions given:

Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json -Version 4.0.5

Alternatively to download the .nupkg file, follow the 'Download' link eg. https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/Newtonsoft.Json/4.0.5

Obsolete: install my Chrome extension Nutake which inserts a download link.


In NuGet 3.0 the Get-Package command is deprecated and replaced with Find-Package command.

Find-Package Common.Logging -AllVersions

See the NuGet command reference docs for details.

This is the message shown if you try to use Get-Package in Visual Studio 2015.

This Command/Parameter combination has been deprecated and will be removed
in the next release. Please consider using the new command that replaces it: 
'Find-Package [-Id] -AllVersions'

Or as @Yishai said, you can use the version number dropdown in the NuGet screen in Visual Studio.


By using the Nuget Package Manager UI as mentioned above it helps to uninstall the nuget package first. I always have problems when going back on a nuget package version if I don't uninstall first. Some references are not cleaned properly. So I suggest the following workflow when installing an old nuget package through the Nuget Package Manager:

  1. Selected your nuget server / source
  2. Find and select the nuget package your want to install an older version
  3. Uninstall current version
  4. Click on the install drop-down > Select older version > Click Install

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Good Luck :)


In NuGet 3.x (Visual Studio 2015) you can just select the version from the UI

NuGet 3 package manager UI


As the original question does not state which NuGet frontend should be used, I would like to mention that NuGet 3.5 adds support for updating to a specific version via the command line client (which works for downgrades, too):

NuGet.exe update Common.Logging -Version 1.2.0

Another option is to change the version number in the packages.config file. This will cause NuGet to download the dlls for that version the next time you build.