Unable to target .NET 2.0 in Visual Studio 2010

Question

What steps are needed to target previous versions of the .NET framework in Visual Studio 2010?

I installed Visual Studio and the .NET 2.0 SDK (from here), but only .NET 4.0 is in the list of available frameworks.

What am I missing?

Iodine

How strange. I've never seen anything like that. – Polynices

Can you change it in the project settings after creation? – Farrah

what happens if you click "More frameworks" ? – Affixation

Project settings are the same, and "more frameworks" links to the .NET framework download site. – Iodine

Answer 1

Download and install .NET Framework 3.5. .NET Framework 3.5 includes 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5, though it is not included with Visual Studio 2010.

Dugout

This worked, thanks. I downloaded 3.5 SP1 instead of plain old 3.5. – Iodine

That was the solution. I would have never considered it (I already had it, but was having a heck of a time finding it). Thanks! – Pickens

Answer 2

The .NET 2.0 SDK doesn't actually include the .NET 2.0 framework. It is merely a collection of tools and header files; they are nowadays included with the Windows SDK. You've already got that in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs directory.

You'll need to download and install an earlier version of .NET. Using 3.5 SP1 is the best choice, and the download is here. Pick one that's appropriate for your language.

Muzzy

Answer 3

Which version of Visual Studio are you using?

I would suspect something like that would occur with an Express edition.

I use Premium and 2.0 is definitely there.

Overbite