How do I tell if a win32 application uses the .NET runtime

Question

How do I tell if an executable is a .NET application?

I prefer not to have to install Visual Studio. But if I have to I will. A commandline program is preferred.

Answer 1

Drop it into Reflector and it will be de-compiled.

Answer 2

"I prefer not to have to install Visual Studio. But if I have to I will. A commandline program is preferred."

You don't have to install Visual Studio just to run a .NET application - just the .NET framework which you can download on it's own.

But, if you want to determine whether it's a .NET application, you can download and use .NET Reflector or use ILDasm, which comes with the .NET framework SDK.

Answer 3

Process Explorer colors dotNet applications using yelow color by default. That should be enough :)

Answer 4

Or simpler : use the Process Explorer. Free download here

Answer 5

Simpler yet:

1. Open the properties, look at the tab "Version", if under "Other information" you see a property called "Assembly version" then it is likely a .NET application.

2. Open the EXE or DLL with notepad or similar app and look for the text "mscorlib" (without the quotes). If you find it, it will most likely be a .NET application.

Answer 6

PEVerify will do that :)