How to find out which version of the .NET Framework an executable needs to run?

Question

Trying to make a meteor package that would help people connect DBaaS platforms.

After adding the package, I'd like to have a prompt for CLI input. The input would effectively be the "string" of your database hostname.

Is there a way to invoke a prompt after typing 'meteor add'? Can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks!

Solution 1

I think the closest you can reliably get is to determine what version of the CLR is required. You can do this by using ILDASM and looking at the "MANIFEST" node or Reflector and looking at the dissasembly view of the "Application.exe" node as IL. In both cases there is a comment that indicates the CLR version. In ILDASM, the comment is "// Metadata version" and in Reflector the comment is "Target Runtime Version".

Here are examples for a .NET WinForms application named WindowsFormsApplication1.exe:

ILDASM:

// Metadata version: v2.0.50727
.assembly extern mscorlib
{
  .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89 )                         // .z\V.4..
  .ver 2:0:0:0
}
.assembly extern System
{
  .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89 )                         // .z\V.4..
  .ver 2:0:0:0
}

Reflector:

.module WindowsFormsApplication1.exe
.subsystem 0x0002
// MVID: {CA3D2090-16C5-4899-953E-4736D6BC0FA8}
// Target Runtime Version: v2.0.50727

You can also look at the list of referenced assemblies and look for the reference with the highest version number.

Again, using ILDASM looking at the "MANIFEST" node data:

.assembly extern System.Drawing
{
  .publickeytoken = (B0 3F 5F 7F 11 D5 0A 3A )                         // .?_....:
  .ver 2:0:0:0
}
.assembly extern System.Core
{
  .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89 )                         // .z\V.4..
  .ver 3:5:0:0
}

And using Reflector, looking at the dissambly (still as IL) for each reference listed:

.assembly extern System.Core
{
    .ver 3:5:0:0
    .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89)
}

By finding the reference with the highest version metadata you can determine what version of the Framework that reference came from, which would indicate that you need the same version of the Framework installed for the application to run. That being said, I wouldn't treat this as 100% reliable, but I don't think it will change any time soon.

Solution 2

Using Notepad, three decades old, 200kb in size, preinstalled tool:

• open application with notepad appname.exe,
• search for word framework,
• repeat last search with F3 until .NET Framework,version=vX.Y shows up
• if nothing found (versions below 3.0) search for v2. ... still 100 times easier then installing gigabytes of dot net analyzer tools and garbage studios.

update: Thought and Marcus suggested in comments that search term could also be netstandard or netframework

Solution 3

A more simplified approach would be to use dotPeek and see what shows up in the tree.

See the properties panel:

Solution 4

You can now use ILSpy to examine the target framework of an assembly. After loading the assembly, click on the root of the assembly node, and you can find the information under the TargetFramework declaration:

[assembly: TargetFramework(".NETFramework,Version=v4.5", FrameworkDisplayName = ".NET Framework 4.5")]

Solution 5

From code you can use Assembly.ImageRuntimeVersion but by looking at the file probably the best thing to do would be to use reflector and see which version of mscorlib is being referenced.

Edit: Even better would be to use ildasm, open your assembly and then view the manifest for the assembly. The first line of the manifest will tell you the exact version of CLR that the assembly was built for.

View more solutions

Comments

[Raymond]

See also stackoverflow.com/questions/3460982/…

[AquaAlex]

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads -- Process Explorer does this very well and easy to use, just run it as admin

[Lex Li]

Unfortunately Microsoft introduces a breaking change for the above technique. .NET 4.5 assemblies cannot run on raw .NET 4, and to tell a .NET 4.5 assembly you need to also read System.Runtime.Versioning.TargetFrameworkAttribute. lextm.com/2013/02/how-to-tell-net-45-only-assemblies.html

[mheyman]

Cannot distinguish between .Net4 and .Net4.5

[Paul Totzke]

I don't think this is true. I have a target framework of 4.5 but use System.Core 4.0.XXX.XXX

[Tom Baxter]

This is wrong. The OP asked about the version of .NET Framework, not the version of the CLR Runtime. This answer address the latter. As an example, I am running against Framework 4.7.2531.0 which uses the CLR Runtime version 4.0.30139. ImageRuntimeVersion returns the CLR version, not the Framework version.

[Craig]

This is great- especially if you don't have access to decompile/other tools

[Wai Ha Lee]

Note that TargetFrameworkAttribute was only added in .NET 4.0, so will not be present on assemblies compiled against .NET 3.5 or earlier.

[ryancdotnet]

ILSpy shows "Runtime: vXXX" in comments when clicking the loaded assembly root node. I was able to see a v1.1.4322 framework project.

[edo101]

This didn't work for me. I copied and pasted everything into powershell with my path altered to the exe path and it just tells me the name of the application, nothing else

[Thought]

Update: It may not be found, and instead there may be a ".NETStandard,version=..."

[Marcus]

Update: on an app I've just verified, the string does not include the space: .NETFramework,Version=v4.7.2