Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.6

Question

I'm trying to set the 4.6 .NET framework for my project and in the settings, as it wasn't listed, I chose the last option - to install more frameworks. That directed me to a page where I selected VS2013, clicked on .NET 4.6 and downloaded the software but despite the installation being successful and restart of the computer, I still don't get to see the 4.6 .NET in the list of available options.

I've googled around for it and found mentioned that 4.6 is available on Win 8.1 (which is my system). However it doesn't say explicitly that it's available for VS 2013 (it doesn't say that it isn't, neither, though).

It's being said that .NET 4.6 is included in VS 2015 but I'm not clear if it's available for VS 2013. Is it? And how to get it to work?

Edit

After having installed the TP (a.k.a. Targeting Pack), I still get nothing new in the options, as the image depicts. Suggestions?

Answer 1

By putting together various pieces from the previous answers I was finally able to get a matching .Net Framework 4.6 and the Targeting Pack for it, and once both were installed the v4.6 Framework shows up as an available target framework Visual Studio 2012.

I downloaded the standalone installer for Framework 4.6 (NDP46-KB3045557-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe) from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48130, and installed it first.

Then I downloaded and mounted the ISO for Visual Studio 2015 Professional ISO from https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs, browsed to the netfx_46mtpack subdirectory, and installed netfx_46mtpack.msi.

Answer 2

You need to install the .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack.

The .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack is a package that enables developers to build applications targeting the .NET Framework 4.6 using either Visual Studio 2013, Visual Studio 2012 or third party IDEs. You need to download and install the .NET Framework 4.6 prior to installing the targeting pack.

Answer 3

Referring to this support article by Microsoft:
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack and Language Packs for Windows

In short you need three components:

1. The .Net 4.6 Framework itself of course
2. The .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack
   • language neutral reference assemblies to compile against
   • download file name like “NDP46-TargetingPack-KB3045566.exe”
3. optional: The .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack Language Packs
   • translated IntelliSense help files
   • download file name like “NDP46-TargetingPack-KB3045566-ENU.exe”
     (suffix -ENU for english, -DEU for german etc.)

Answer 4

I am experiencing the very same issue with Visual Studio 2012 and .NET 4.6. I have installed both, the runtime and targetting pack from http://getdotnet.azurewebsites.net/target-dotnet-platforms.html

I made a mistake in installing first the targetting pack and then runtime. I reinstalled the targetting pack after installing the runtime and voilá, it's alive! The solution mentioned by Brandon is correct.

Answer 5

The easiest solution is to install Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition. Not elegant, but it resolves all the dependencies automatically. After it's installed you can use Visual Studio 2013 with .NET 4.6

Answer 6

You're looking for the .NET Targeting Pack, which you can find here.

Answer 7

I followed the steps presented here, but Visual Studio didn't display the .NET Framework 4.6.2 on the project property target framework list. I had to download NDP462-DevPack-KB3151934-ENU in order to be added on the list. You can download it from Microsoft Download Center. Hope it helps!

Answer 8

Just download SDK for .net framework developer pack, that you need (it worked for me):

https://www.microsoft.com/net/targeting

(In my sytuation it was .NET Framework 4.6.2 Developer Pack )

Answer 9

for the sake of completeness to what answered by @jerhewet, download the lasted Visual Studio Installer: vs_community (2017). while in the normal installation process you need to select all the needed workloads, here uncheck all but the .NET Framework 4.6 Targeting Pack. Wait for the installation process to complete and just close the installer.

In this way, you don't even need to install a standalone .NET 4.6.