What s the foolproof way to tell which version s of NET are installed on a production Windows Server

Question

This question is not so much programming related as it is deployment related   I find myself conversing a lot with the group in my company whose job it is to maintain our production Windows servers and deploy our code on them  For legal and compliance reasons  I do not have direct visibility or any control over the servers so the only way I can tell which version s  of  NET are installed on any of them is through directions I give to that group    So far  all of the methods I can think of to tell which version s  are installed  check for Administrative Tools matching 1 1 or 2 0  check for the entries in the  Add Remove Programs  list  check for the existence of the directories under c  Windows Microsoft NET  are flawed  I ve seen at least one machine with 2 0 but no 2 0 entries under Administrative Tools - and that method tells you nothing about 3 0   the  Add Remove Programs  list can get out of sync with reality  and the existence of the directories doesn t necessarily mean anything    Given that I generally need to know these things are in place in advance  discovering that  oops  this one doesn t have all the versions and service packs you need  doesn t really work well with short maintenance windows  and I have to do the checking  by proxy  since I can t get on the servers directly  what s the foolproof way to tell which version s  of  NET are installed on a production Windows Server  Preferably some intrinsic way to do so using what the framework installs since it will be quicker and not need some sort of utility to be loaded and also a method which will definitely fail if the frameworks are not properly installed but still have files in place  i e   there s a directory and gacutil exe is inded there but that version of the framework is not really  installed    EDIT  In the absence of a good foolproof intrinsic way to do this built into the Framework s   does anyone know of a good  lightweight  no-install-required program that can find this out  I can imagine someone could easily write one but if one already exists  that would be even better

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The official way to detect  NET 3 0 is described here  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library aa480198 aspx  Flawed  because it requires the caller to have registry access permissions   MSDN also mentions a technique for detecting  NET 3 5 by checking the User Agent string   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library bb909885 aspx  I think Microsoft should have done a better job than this

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You should open up IE on the server for which you are looking for this info  and go to this site  http   www hanselman com smallestdotnet   That s all it takes   The site has a script that looks your browser s  UserAgent  and figures out what version  if any  of the  NET Framework you have  or don t have  installed  and displays it automatically  then calculates the total size if you chose to download the  NET Framework

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http   www asoft be prod netver html  Use this  good  lightweight  no-install-required program

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Well  like Dean said  you can look at the registry and do what he did  To check if he really has CLR  NET Framework installed  you should look for the MSCorEE dll file in the  SystemRoot  System32 directory

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To get the installed dotnet version  Create a Console app  Add this class Run that  using Microsoft Win32  using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Text  using System Threading Tasks   namespace ConsoleApplication2       public class GetDotNetVersion               public static void Get45PlusFromRegistry                         const string subkey     SOFTWARE Microsoft NET Framework Setup NDP v4 Full                using  RegistryKey ndpKey   RegistryKey OpenBaseKey RegistryHive LocalMachine  RegistryView Registry32  OpenSubKey subkey                                 if  ndpKey    null  amp  amp  ndpKey GetValue  Release      null                                        Console WriteLine   NET Framework Version      CheckFor45PlusVersion  int ndpKey GetValue  Release                                        else                                       Console WriteLine   NET Framework Version 4 5 or later is not detected                                                           Checking the version using  gt   will enable forward compatibility          private static string CheckFor45PlusVersion int releaseKey                        if  releaseKey  gt   394802                  return  4 6 2 or later               if  releaseKey  gt   394254                                return  4 6 1                             if  releaseKey  gt   393295                                return  4 6                             if   releaseKey  gt   379893                                 return  4 5 2                             if   releaseKey  gt   378675                                 return  4 5 1                             if   releaseKey  gt   378389                                 return  4 5                                This code should never execute  A non-null release key shoul                that 4 5 or later is installed              return  No 4 5 or later version detected                          Calling the GetDotNetVersion Get45PlusFromRegistry method produces         output like the following                NET Framework Version  4 6 1

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The Microsoft way is this   MSDN  How to determine Which  NET Framework Versions Are Installed  which directs you to the following registry key  HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft NET Framework Setup NDP       If you want foolproof that s another thing   I wouldn t worry about an xcopy of the framework folder   If someone did that I would consider the computer broken   The most foolproof way would be to write a small program that uses each version of  NET and the libraries that you care about and run them   For a no install method  PowerBasic is an excellent tool   It creates small no runtime required exe s   It could automate the checks described in the MS KB article above

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I went into Windows Update  amp  looked at the update history  knowing the server patching is kept up-to-date   I scanned down for  NET updates and it showed me exactly which versions had had updates  which allowed me to conclude which versions were installed

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It is probably a nasty way to find versions out  but I was always under the impression that all version got installed to  lt root gt   WINDOWS Microsoft NET Framework   This provides folders with names such as v2 0 50727 which I believe give detailed version information

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OneTouch deployment will do all the detection and installation of pre-requisites  It s probably best to go with a pre-made solution than trying to roll your own  Trying to roll your own may lead to problems because whatever thing you key on may change with a hotfix or service pack  Likely Microsoft has some heuristic for determining what version is running

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As per CodeTrawler s answer  the solution is to enter the following into an explorer window       systemroot  Microsoft NET Framework   Then search for      Mscorlib dll      and right-click   go to the version tab for each result

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If the machine that you want to check has the  NET SDK installed  you can use a SDK command prompt and run the program CLRVer exe

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If you want to find versions prior to  NET 4 5  use code for a console application  Like this   using System  using System Security Permissions  using Microsoft Win32   namespace findNetVersion       class Program               static void Main string   args                        using  RegistryKey ndpKey   RegistryKey OpenBaseKey RegistryHive LocalMachine                       RegistryView Registry32  OpenSubKey   SOFTWARE Microsoft NET Framework Setup NDP                                   foreach  string versionKeyName in ndpKey GetSubKeyNames                                          if  versionKeyName StartsWith  v                                                   RegistryKey versionKey   ndpKey OpenSubKey versionKeyName                           string name    string versionKey GetValue  Version                                string sp   versionKey GetValue  SP       ToString                            string install   versionKey GetValue  Install       ToString                            if  install          no install info  must be later version                             Console WriteLine versionKeyName          name                           else                                                       if  sp        amp  amp  install     1                                                                 Console WriteLine versionKeyName          name      SP    sp                                                                                   if  name                                                              continue                                                    foreach  string subKeyName in versionKey GetSubKeyNames                                                          RegistryKey subKey   versionKey OpenSubKey subKeyName                               name    string subKey GetValue  Version                                    if  name                                        sp   subKey GetValue  SP       ToString                                    install   subKey GetValue  Install       ToString                                if  install          no install info  ust be later                                 Console WriteLine versionKeyName          name                               else                                                               if  sp        amp  amp  install     1                                                                         Console WriteLine        subKeyName          name      SP    sp                                                                     else if  install     1                                                                         Console WriteLine        subKeyName          name                                                                                                                                                                       Otherwise you can find  NET 4 5 or later by querying like this   private static void Get45or451FromRegistry         using  RegistryKey ndpKey   RegistryKey OpenBaseKey RegistryHive LocalMachine         RegistryView Registry32  OpenSubKey   SOFTWARE Microsoft NET Framework Setup NDP v4 Full                   int releaseKey    int ndpKey GetValue  Release                          if  releaseKey    378389                   Console WriteLine  The  NET Framework version 4 5 is installed                 if  releaseKey    378758                   Console WriteLine  The  NET Framework version 4 5 1  is installed                         Then the console result will tell you which versions are installed and available for use with your deployments  This code come in handy  too because you have them as saved solutions for anytime you want to check it in the future

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Also  see the Stack Overflow question How to detect what  NET Framework versions and service packs are installed  which also mentions      There is an official Microsoft answer to this question at the knowledge base article  How to determine which versions and service pack levels of the Microsoft  NET Framework are installed  2    Article ID  318785 - Last Review  November 7  2008 - Revision  20 1 How to determine which versions of the  NET Framework are installed and whether service packs have been applied   Unfortunately  it doesn t appear to work  because the mscorlib dll version in the 2 0 directory has a 2 0 version  and there is no mscorlib dll version in either the 3 0 or 3 5 directories even though 3 5 SP1 is installed     Why would the official Microsoft answer be so misinformed

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To determine your server s support for  NET Framework 4 5 and later versions  tested through 4 5 2   If you don t have Registry access on the server  but have app publish rights to that server  create an MVC 5 app with a trivial controller  like this   using System Web Mvc   namespace DotnetVersionTest Controllers       public class DefaultController   Controller               public string Index                         return  simple  NET version test                          Then in your Web config  walk through the desired  NET Framework versions in the following section  changing the targetFramework values as desired    lt system web gt       lt customErrors mode  Off   gt       lt compilation debug  true  targetFramework  4 5 2   gt       lt httpRuntime targetFramework  4 5 2   gt   lt  system web gt    Publish each target to your server  then browse to  lt app deploy URL gt  Default   If your server supports the target framework  then the simple string will display from your trivial Controller   If not  you ll receive an error like the following     So in this case  my target server doesn t yet support  NET Framework 4 5 2

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You can programmatically check the registry and a few other things as per this blog entry   The registry key to look at is   HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft NET Framework Setup NDP

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Strangely enough  I wrote some code to do this back when 1 1 came out  what was that  seven years ago   and tweaked it a little when 2 0 came out   I haven t looked at it in years as we no longer manage our servers   It s not foolproof  but I m posting it anyway because I find it humorous  in that it s easier to do in  NET and easier still in power shell   bool GetFileVersion LPCTSTR filename WORD  majorPart WORD  minorPart WORD  buildPart WORD  privatePart        DWORD dwHandle      DWORD dwLen   GetFileVersionInfoSize filename  amp dwHandle       if  dwLen            LPBYTE lpData   new BYTE dwLen           if  lpData                if  GetFileVersionInfo filename 0 dwLen lpData                     UINT uLen                    VS FIXEDFILEINFO  lpBuffer                    VerQueryValue lpData  T        LPVOID   amp lpBuffer  amp uLen                      majorPart   HIWORD lpBuffer- gt dwFileVersionMS                    minorPart   LOWORD lpBuffer- gt dwFileVersionMS                    buildPart   HIWORD lpBuffer- gt dwFileVersionLS                    privatePart   LOWORD lpBuffer- gt dwFileVersionLS                   delete   lpData                  return true                                    return false     int  tmain int argc  TCHAR  argv           TCHAR filename MAX PATH        TCHAR frameworkroot MAX PATH       if   GetEnvironmentVariable  T  systemroot   frameworkroot MAX PATH           return 1       tcscat s frameworkroot  T    Microsoft NET  Framework            WIN32 FIND DATA FindFileData      HANDLE hFind   FindFirstFile frameworkroot  amp FindFileData       if  hFind    INVALID HANDLE VALUE          return 2      do           if   FindFileData dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY   amp  amp               tcslen FindFileData cAlternateFileName     0                 tcsncpy s filename frameworkroot  tcslen frameworkroot -1               filename  tcslen frameworkroot     0               tcscat s filename FindFileData cFileName                tcscat s filename  T    mscorlib dll                 WORD majorPart minorPart buildPart privatePart              if  GetFileVersion filename  amp majorPart  amp minorPart  amp buildPart  amp privatePart                       tprintf  T   d  d  d  d r n   majorPart minorPart buildPart privatePart                                 while  FindNextFile hFind  amp FindFileData     0       FindClose hFind       return 0

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The official Microsoft answer on how to do this is in KB article 318785

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I found this one quite useful  here s the source

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Found answer from here      Check which  NET Framework version is installed   Open Command Prompt and copy paste one of the below command lines  dir  WINDIR  Microsoft Net Framework v    or  dir  WINDIR  Microsoft Net Framework v   O -N  B

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Well  like Dean said  you can look at the registry and do what he did  To check if he really has CLR  NET Framework installed  you should look for the MSCorEE dll file in the  SystemRoot  System32 directory

[.net] What's the foolproof way to tell which version(s) of .NET are installed on a production Windows Server?

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