If you cannot find the .exe file, rebuild your solution and in your "Output" from Visual Studio the path to the file will be shown.
In the project file is folder "bin/debug/your_appliacion_name.exe". This is final executable program file.
On your project folder, open up the bin\Debug subfolder and you'll see the compiled result.
I'm using Visual Studio 2017.
It will publish, complete with setup file to the location you specified.
Hope this helps
Compile the Release version as .exe file, then just copy onto a machine with a suitable version of .NET Framework installed and run it there. The .exe file is located in the bin\Release subfolder of the project folder.
Source: Stackoverflow.com