.Net 2.0 SP1 or 2

[rguggisberg]

The Release wizard gives me choices for .NET 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. How can I make it offer the choice of .NET 2.0 SP1 or SP2?

I suppose a dirty way to get SP1 would be to replace the dotnetfx20.exe file in my 'C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2010\Redist\0409\i386' folder with NetFx20SP1_x86.exe and rename it... but that is stooping to low!

Thanks,
Ron

[Reureu]

Hi,

Just use the redistributable view and tick the .NET framework you want to install as prerequisite. You have a whole lot more choice doing it this way, and you can reconfigure how these prerequisites are installed.

I believe Acresso has left this setting in the release view for compatibility reasons.

Choosing which version to install can be a complex problem.
So it is worth mentioning a few important points which can influence the compatibility matrix of your application.

• .NET 2.0 without SP can be installed on
  
  
  
  • Windows 2000 SP3 & SP4
    
  • Windows XP SP2 & SP3
    
  • Windows Vista comes with .NET 3.0 (without SP) preinstalled, which covers .NET 2.0 (without SP).
    
  
  
  
• .NET 2.0 SP1 can be installed on
  
  
  
  • Windows 2000 SP4
    
  • Windows XP SP2 & SP3
    
  • Windows Vista: as you cannot launch the installer of .NET 2.0 on Vista, you need to install .NET 3.5 (without SP) to match .NET 2.0 SP1.
    
  
  
  
• .NET 2.0 SP2 can be installed on
  
  
  
  • Windows 2000 SP4, but only if you install KB835732 or KB891861 first, which are not redistributables (heck!) and which require a different installer version for each OS language. By the way, Microsoft does not explicitely mention that .NET 2.0 SP2 can run on Windows 2000.
    
  • Windows XP SP2 & SP3
    
  • Windows Vista: once again, you cannot launch the installer of .NET 2.0 on Vista, you need to install .NET 3.5 SP1 to match .NET 2.0 SP2. This can make your setup quite big, as the whole .NET 3.5 SP1 redistributable package is around 230 MB!
    
  
  

Windows 7 (or its release candidate) comes with .NET 3.5 SP1 preinstalled, which covers .NET 2.0 SP2.

The next point is: Do you need to support 64 bit OS's?

• the .NET 2.0 installer has got dedicated versions for the 64 bit OS.
  
• the .NET 3.0 installer also has dedicated versions for the 64 bit OS.
  
• the .NET 3.5 installer includes everything for both 32 and 64 bit OS.
  

Also think about the language packs you might have to install, which also exist in 32 and 64 bit versions.

Don't forget that you don't want to implement the whole functionality of Windows Update in your setup.

Finally, the wiki page about .NET is a good source of information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework

Regards

[rguggisberg]

Thanks for some good info... and for the ugly truth!:)