How can I install an older version of a package via NuGet?

Question

I want to install an older version of a package (Newtonsoft.Json). But NuGet rolls back:

PM> Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json -Version 4.0.5
Successfully installed 'Newtonsoft.Json 4.0.5'.
Install failed. Rolling back...
Install-Package : Already referencing a newer version of 'Newtonsoft.Json'.

How can I do it?

Weltanschauung

possible duplicate of Download old version of package with nuget – Musa

Answer 1

Try the following:

Uninstall-Package Newtonsoft.Json -Force

Followed by:

Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json -Version <press tab key for autocomplete>

Peltast

twitterizer uses Newtonsoft.Json, I have to install older without uninstall newer. PM> Uninstall-Package Newtonsoft.Json Uninstall-Package : Unable to uninstall 'Newtonsoft.Json 4.0.8' because 'twitterizer 2.4.0.26532' depends on it. – Weltanschauung

You didn't mention existing dependencies to the package so I was unware of that: try adding the -Force switch to the uninstall-package command (as edited above) – Peltast

Sorry for my missing. -Force worked and I installed the older one. Thank you so much. – Weltanschauung

when uninstalling EntityFramework 6 beta to downgrade to version 5 I kept getting messages telling me to restart VS to complete uninstall but doing so didn't remove the message. I just went into packages folder and deleted the remaining empty tree structure from there and it was then successful – Semi

@Semi I suspect the EF 6 pkg is doing something that causes this (noticed some AppDomain code for instance in the PowerShell scripts, so likely VS is holding on to some of the dll's) – Peltast

I don't see the specific version I need in the dropdown list (7.0.0). And when I specify the version number it gives an error. Any ideas? – Graves

This may be an unlisted version? Unlisted packages are filtered out of search results and autocomplete. – Peltast

Answer 2

As of NuGet 2.8, there is a feature to downgrade a package.

NuGet 2.8 Release Notes

Example:

The following command entered into the Package Manager Console will downgrade the Couchbase client to version 1.3.1.0.

Update-Package CouchbaseNetClient -Version 1.3.1.0

Result:

Updating 'CouchbaseNetClient' from version '1.3.3' to '1.3.1.0' in project [project name].
Removing 'CouchbaseNetClient 1.3.3' from [project name].
Successfully removed 'CouchbaseNetClient 1.3.3' from [project name].

Something to note as per crimbo below:

This approach doesn't work for downgrading from one prerelease version to other prerelease version - it only works for downgrading to a release version

Sawhorse

This should now be the accepted answer as its the best solution with minimal effort. – Babara

Yes, works like a charm, including downgrading all dependencies - perfect – Racecourse

Unfortunately this approach doesn't work for downgrading from one prerelease version to another prerelease version - it only works for downgrading to a release version. – Leghorn

@James Roland it'd great if you can highlight the prerelease warning by crimbo on the answer – Brandenbrandenburg

Answer 3

I've used Xavier's answer quite a bit. I want to add that restricting the package version to a specified range is easy and useful in the latest versions of NuGet.

For example, if you never want Newtonsoft.Json to be updated past version 3.x.x in your project, change the corresponding package element in your packages.config file to look like this:

<package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="3.5.8" allowedVersions="[3.0, 4.0)" targetFramework="net40" />

Notice the allowedVersions attribute. This will limit the version of that package to versions between 3.0 (inclusive) and 4.0 (exclusive). Then, when you do an Update-Package on the whole solution, you don't need to worry about that particular package being updated past version 3.x.x.

The documentation for this functionality is here.

Free

Very useful to prevent NuGet updates from breaking your solution! (Microsoft.Net.Http v2.1.10, I'm looking at you...) – Rayfordrayle

I'm looking at JQuery 1.9 & 2.0. – Pulvinate

Microsoft.Owin for me :-) – Elma

Answer 4

Now, it's very much simplified in Visual Studio 2015 and later. You can do downgrade / upgrade within the User interface itself, without executing commands in the Package Manager Console.

1. Right click on your project and *go to Manage NuGet Packages.

2. Look at the below image.

   • Select your Package and Choose the Version, which you wanted to install.

Very very simple, isn't it? :)

Ridotto

yep! This is the way to go :) – Coordinate

This only shows recent versions. On packages that is older or have a high turnover you are out of luck – Septuplet

Answer 5

Another more manual option to get it:

.nuget\nuget.exe install Newtonsoft.Json -Version 4.0.5

Dunaway

Perfect for those who's programming toolset includes a good programming editor, tail and a web browser =) – Hormuz