Using Visual Studio .NET to Redistribute the .NET Framework

Microsoft Corporation
January 2002
Summary: This article describes how to use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET to deploy Microsoft .NET Framework applications with Dotnetfx.exe, the .NET Framework redistributable package. (8 printed pages)

Note   These papers refer to dotnetfx.exe as the setup file that contains the run time elements for the .NET Framework. If you download the "Microsoft .NET Redistributable Package" from MSDN you will receive a file named dotnetredist.exe. This file contains dotnetfx.exe. In order to extract dotnetfx.exe, double-click dotnetredist.exe. You will be prompted to save the extracted files on your computer. The extracted file is dotnetfx.exe. Use dotnetfx.exe for deployment purposes.

If you choose to use the dotnetfx.exe for distribution with an application created by you, you must have a validly licensed copy of the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK and you agree that any use or distribution of the dotnetfx.exe associated with your Licensed Product as "Licensed Product" is defined in the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK end user license agreement (the "EULA"), is subject to the terms of the EULA. If you do not have a validly licensed copy of the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK or you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you are not authorized to distribute the dotnetfx.exe and your use of the dotnetfx.exe is subject to the terms of the end user license agreement contained in the dotnetredist.exe.

Contents

Introduction
Where to Obtain the .NET Framework Redistributable
Visual Studio .NET Deployment Scenarios
Installing Localized Versions of Dotnetfx.exe
Minimum Configuration Requirements

Introduction

The version 1.0 release of the Microsoft® .NET Framework provides one redistributable installer that contains the Common Language Runtime and .NET Framework components that are necessary to run .NET Framework applications. The .NET Framework redistributable is available as a stand-alone executable file, Dotnetfx.exe. The .NET Framework requires a license agreement that gives you specific rights to redistribute Dotnetfx.exe. If you have previously installed the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, Microsoft® Visual Studio® .NET, or downloaded Dotnetfx.exe from the Web, you have accepted the license agreement for Dotnetfx.exe. For the terms of the license agreement, see .NET Framework Redistributable EULA.
You can manually launch and install Dotnetfx.exe on a computer, or it can be launched and installed as part of the setup program for a .NET Framework application. Note that administrator privileges are required to install Dotnetfx.exe. If you have previously installed the .NET Framework SDK or Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, you do not need to install Dotnetfx.exe.
This article covers deployment scenarios for Visual Studio .NET users. For more information about deploying Dotnetfx.exe, see the .NET Framework Deployment Guide. This Web site provides detailed deployment information including a white paper that addresses specific deployment scenarios for .NET Framework SDK users.
There are minimum configuration requirements that must be met in order to install Dotnetfx.exe. For more information about software and hardware requirements and recommendations, see Minimum Configuration Requirements.

Where to Obtain the .NET Framework Redistributable Package

You can download Dotnetfx.exe from the Download Center or from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site.
Alternately, you can get the redistributable package on