Trying to Publish Application for use on Older Computers

[brengine]

My old computer died. It was running XP and VB.Net2005. I have a new computer (Windows 7) and I could only find VB.Net2010 available for download and install.

My application migrated to 2010 fine and works correctly. I can Build an EXE and Publish the Installer CD files. Everything works fine on my new computer, the problem is I can't get the program to install/run on older computers now. It looks like, for the application to work the target computer must be running .Net Framework 4.0 (but I am still far from an advanced programmer, so I may be wrong).

I have done some research and tried including a Bootstrapper for .Net Framework 3.5 or older...but no additional files are being created for my install CD.

So my question is...Is getting the bootstrapper the key to getting this issue resolved, or do you know what else I could try?

Thank you.
brengine

 

[tcsbiz]

In Visual Studio, you can set the target framework for the application. This is done in the project properties on the compile tab - advanced compile options button.

The way to get there is:

1. Right click the project and select properties -or- highlight the project and select project from the menu and then properties.

2. Click the compile tab on the left.

3. Click the advanced compile options button.


4. The target framework setting is on the bottom. Try setting it to 2.0 of the framework and see if that works.

 

[brengine]

Thanks. I'll try that and ignore the bootstrapper (just set it to download prerequisites from the Internet).

I was told that some of the computers this application will be installed on are XP Service Pack 1. Any idea what the standard install version of .NET was for those? Or for Service Pack 2?

Thanks for the help!
brengine

 

[tcsbiz]

At work, we're on XP SP2 and .NET framework 2.0 works fine. I don't know about XP SP1. Here's a link to an old blog that may help.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2006/01/16/513018.aspx

 

[RiverGuy]

If you look here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...cb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en

It says for the .Net framework 2.0 Redistributable, the XP requirement is Service Pack 2. So it might not work on SP1. I'm not sure I would want to run a PC on SP1 anyhow. I'm sure it's not considered very secure to do so.

 

[brengine]

I was only able to downgrade the application to .NET 3.5. It is now working on all but one of their computers no...THANKS! The people at the other end aren't the most technical, so I'm trying to get the computer's specifications from them. It's got XP, but they haven't let me know much else about it.

I don't know why I was so fixated on getting the bootstrapper to work... tunnel vision I guess

I'm trying to get an idea of the minimum requirements needed for a computer to run my application. It would be easier if I could just say XP...but it looks like I need to say XP, at least SP2, and with .NET 3.5

Thanks for all the help!
brengine

 

[tcsbiz]

I think it's odd that you could only downgrade to 3.5. I can go all the way to 1.0 if I have to. Although I do have .NET 2008. I'll check my .NET 2005 and see what it allows me to do.

What version of .NET 2005 are you using; express, pro?