How to find the .NET framework version of a Visual Studio project?

Question

I have a project in Visual Studio. How can I find out which .NET Framework version it\'s for?

Answer 1

The simplest way to find the framework version of the current .NET project is:

1. Right-click on the project and go to "Properties."
2. In the first tab, "Application," you can see the target framework this project is using.

Answer 2

You can also search the Visual Studio project files for the XML tag RequiredTargetFramework. This tag seems to exist on .NET 3.5 and higher.

For example: <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>

Answer 3

It depends which version of Visual Studio:

• In 2002, all projects use .Net 1.0
• In 2003, all projects use .Net 1.1
• In 2005, all projects use .Net 2.0
• In 2008, projects use .Net 2.0, 3.0, or 3.5; you can change the version in Project Properties
• In 2010, projects use .Net 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0; you can change the version in Project Properties
• In 2012, projects use .Net 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 or 4.5; you can change the version in Project Properties

Newer versions of Visual Studio support many versions of the .Net framework; check your project type and properties.