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Water Cooler v2
Water Cooler v2

Reputation: 33880

Will installing .NET 1.1 or 2.0 on my computer that already has .NET 4.5 screw things up?

I sometimes feel like looking at the source code as it might have been inside an assembly when it was in .NET 2.0 or .NET 1.1.

For example, the APM methods such as FileStream.BeginRead etc. have since .NET v4.0 been implemented using TPL but I want to see what the source code of this method was like during .NET 2.0 days or at .NET 1.1 time.

So, I would like an earlier version of the whole framework on my machine though I would not want it to replace anything in the GAC or screw up ASP.NET or IIS installations telling them that they need to use it because it was installed later than the presently existing .NET 4.5.x.

Will installing .NET 1.1 on my 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium Edition laptop be safe or will it screw things up?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 43

Answers (2)

Luis
Luis

Reputation: 3033

There should not be any issues, since they use different CLR versions (CLR 2 in .NET 4, CLR 1 in .NET 2), libraries, Registry entries and directory installations.

The only issue I can think of regarding .NET compatibility issues is about .NET 4 and .NET 4.5, since the latter overwrites the .NET 4 when installing.

Actually, when installing some Visual Studio version, it includes several .NET versions and they work side by side without issues.

Upvotes: 1

D Stanley
D Stanley

Reputation: 152634

Not according to MSDN:

Compatibility and side-by-side execution

If you cannot find a suitable workaround for your issue, remember that the .NET Framework 4.5 runs side by side with versions 1.1, 2.0, and 3.5, and is an in-place update that replaces version 4. For apps that target versions 1.1, 2.0, and 3.5, you can install the appropriate version of the .NET Framework on the target machine to run the app in its best environment. For more information about side-by-side execution, see Side-by-Side Execution in the .NET Framework.

But note that .NET 1.1 is not compatible with Windows 8 or later - you might be able to unpack the installer to get to the assemblies if you just want to decompile them, though.

Upvotes: 2

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