Visual Studio 2022 cannot locate installed .net framework

Tiny Night 31

I have installed SDK and runtime for .net framework 4.8 in visual studio installer.

However, I cannot find the installed frameworks in visual studio 2022.

I have checked my VS 2019 and it can locate net framework 4.8 well, and it can build my project. But VS 2022 cannot.
I have re-installed VS 2022 and VS 2019 but VS 2022 still cannot locate my frameworks but VS 2019 can.
I have checked in regedit and it has infomation about .net framework 4.8.

Andreas 11 Reputation points

2022-06-29T13:59:41.757+00:00

Just in case anyone else finds this question:

There are actually 2 templates to choose from when creating a new project, e.g. WinForms and WinForms (.Net framework). Selecting the latter one offers 4.8 and all the older versions.
Andreas 11 Reputation points

2022-06-29T13:59:51.42+00:00

Just in case anyone else finds this question:

There are actually 2 templates to choose from when creating a new project, e.g. WinForms and WinForms (.Net framework). Selecting the latter one offers 4.8 and all the older versions.
Jeffrey P. Scott 0 Reputation points

2023-07-07T14:47:10.29+00:00

Hello. I have a similar question. I did choose Windows Forms App (.NET Framework)

Under Framework, it shows the following:

.NET Framework 2.0

.NET Framework 3.0

.NET Framework 3.5

.NET Framework 4.7.2

.NET Framework 4.8

So, I choose the (default) .NET Framework 4.7.2

When I go to create a C# Class Library, it shows the following:

.NET Standard 2.0

.NET Standard 2.1

.NET 6.0 (Long Term Support)

.NET 7.0 (Standard Term Support)

I have tried all of these but I get an error (in my form file) that they are incompatible with Version 4.7.2 in my Windows forms app (when I try to link to the Class Library).

I also went into the Visual Studio Installer to make sure that the 4.7.2 .NET Framework project and item templates in the Individual Components tab were installed. They already were.

Also, I saw in the Visual Studio Installer Individual Components tab that the .NET 6.0 Runtime (Long Term Support) and .NET 7.0 Runtime are also checked.

Would unchecking these help with my problem or make it worse? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Jeff S.

1 answer

Tiny Night 31 Reputation points

2022-02-12T18:09:57.753+00:00

It seems that VS2019 is locating .net framework from hard coded path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies", but VS 2022 is locating them under "ProgramFilesDir (x86)" in regedit.
I have modified the value of "ProgramFilesDir (x86)" to manage my apps. But .net framework it is still placed under the hard coded location so that VS 2019 can find them but VS 2022 cannot. After copied "Reference Assemblies" to my custom path, VS 2022 works well.

This question can be closed.
It will be good if VS installer and VS 2019 could take care of the path of Program Files.
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4 people found this answer helpful.
Yibo Liang 0 Reputation points

2023-06-24T03:01:47.1866667+00:00

You are a life saver! It was indeed caused by the change of ProgramFilesDir. Just created a soft link using mklink and problem solved.
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