Windows Installer

This documentation is intended for software developers who want to use Windows Installer to build installer packages for applications. If you’re looking for a redistributable for Windows Installer 4.5 and earlier, see this article. Note that there is no redistributable for Windows Installer 5.0. This version is included with the OS in Windows 7, Windows ServerВ 2008В R2, and later client and server releases (including Windows 10).

Microsoft Windows Installer is an installation and configuration service provided with Windows. The installer service enables customers to provide better corporate deployment and provides a standard format for component management. The installer also enables the advertisement of applications and features according to the operating system. For more information, see Platform Support of Advertisement.

This documentation describes Windows InstallerВ 5.0 and earlier versions. Not all the capabilities available in later Windows Installer versions are available in earlier versions. This documentation does not describe versions earlier than Windows InstallerВ 2.0. Installation packages and patches that are created for Windows InstallerВ 2.0 can still be installed by using Windows InstallerВ 3.0 and later.

Windows InstallerВ 3.0 and later, can install multiple patches with a single transaction that integrates installation progress, rollback, and reboots. The installer can apply patches in a specified order regardless of the order that the patches are provided to the system. Patching using Windows InstallerВ 3.0 only updates files affected by the patch and can be significantly faster than earlier installer versions. Patches installed with Windows Installer 3.0 or later can be uninstalled in any order to leave the state of the product the same as if the patch was never installed. Accounts with administrator privileges can use the API of Windows InstallerВ 3.0 and later to query and inventory product, feature, component, and patch information. The installer can be used to read, edit, and replace source lists for network, URL, and media sources. Administrators can enumerate across user and install contexts, and manage source lists from an external process.

Windows Installer 4.5 and later can install multiple installation packages using transaction processing. If all the packages in the transaction cannot be installed successfully, or if the user cancels the installation, the Windows Installer can roll back changes and restore the computer to its original state. The installer ensures that all the packages belonging to a multiple-package transaction are installed or none of the packages are installed.

Beginning with Windows Installer 5.0, a package can be authored to secure new accounts, Windows Services, files, folders, and registry keys. The package can specify a security descriptor that denies permissions, specifies inheritance of permissions from a parent resource, or specifies the permissions of a new account. For information, see Securing Resources. The Windows Installer 5.0 service can enumerate all components installed on the computer and obtain the key path for the component. For more information, see Enumerating Components. By Using Services Configuration, Windows Installer 5.0 packages can customize the services on a computer. Setup developers can use Windows Installer 5.0 and Single Package Authoring to develop single installation packages capable of installing an application in either the per-machine or per-user installation context.

Where applicable

Windows Installer enables the efficient installation and configuration of your products and applications running on Windows. The installer provides new capabilities to advertise features without installing them, to install products on demand, and to add user customizations.

Windows Installer 5.0 running on Windows ServerВ 2012 or WindowsВ 8 supports the installation of approved apps on WindowsВ RT. A Windows Installer package, patch, or transform that has not been signed by Microsoft cannot be installed on WindowsВ RT. The Template Summary property indicates the platform that is compatible with an installation database and in this case should include the value for WindowsВ RT.

Windows Installer is intended for the development of desktop style applications.

Developer audience

This documentation is intended for software developers who want to make applications that use Windows Installer. It provides general background information about installation packages and the installer service. It contains complete descriptions of the application programming interface and elements of the installer database. This documentation also contains supplemental information for developers who want to use a table editor or a package creation tool to make or maintain an installation.

Run-time requirements

Windows InstallerВ 5.0 is included with, Windows 7, Windows ServerВ 2008В R2, and later releases. There is no redistributable for Windows Installer 5.0.

Versions earlier than Windows Installer 5.0 were released with Windows ServerВ 2008, WindowsВ Vista, Windows ServerВ 2003, WindowsВ XP, and WindowsВ 2000. Windows Installer Redistributables are available for Windows Installer 4.5 and some earlier versions.

Windows InstallerВ 4.5 requires Windows ServerВ 2008, WindowsВ Vista, WindowsВ XP with Service PackВ 2 (SP2) and later, and Windows ServerВ 2003 with Service PackВ 1 (SP1) and later.

Windows InstallerВ 4.0 requires WindowsВ Vista or Windows ServerВ 2008. There is no redistributable for installing Windows InstallerВ 4.0 on other operating systems. An updated version of Windows InstallerВ 4.0, which does not add any new features, is available in WindowsВ Vista with Service PackВ 1 (SP1) and Windows ServerВ 2008.

Windows InstallerВ 3.1 requires Windows ServerВ 2003, WindowsВ XP, or WindowsВ 2000 with Service PackВ 3 (SP3).

Windows InstallerВ 3.0 requires Windows ServerВ 2003, WindowsВ XP, or WindowsВ 2000 with SP3. Windows InstallerВ 3.0 is included in WindowsВ XP with Service PackВ 2 (SP2). It is available as a redistributable for WindowsВ 2000 Server with Service PackВ 3 (SP3) and WindowsВ 2000 Server with Service PackВ 4 (SP4), WindowsВ XP RTM and WindowsВ XP with Service PackВ 1 (SP1), and Windows ServerВ 2003 RTM.

Windows InstallerВ 2.0 is contained in Windows ServerВ 2003 and WindowsВ XP.

Windows InstallerВ 2.0 is available as a package for installing or upgrading to Windows InstallerВ 2.0 on WindowsВ 2000. This package should not be used to install or upgrade Windows InstallerВ 2.0 on Windows ServerВ 2003 and WindowsВ XP.

How to: Determine which .NET Framework versions are installed

Users can install and run multiple versions of .NET Framework on their computers. When you develop or deploy your app, you might need to know which .NET Framework versions are installed on the user’s computer. The registry contains a list of the versions of .NET Framework installed on the computer.

This article is specific to .NET Framework. To determine which .NET Core and .NET 5+ SDKs and runtimes are installed, see How to check that .NET is already installed.

.NET Framework consists of two main components, which are versioned separately:

A set of assemblies, which are collections of types and resources that provide the functionality for your apps. .NET Framework and the assemblies share the same version number. For example, .NET Framework versions include 4.5, 4.6.1, and 4.7.2.

The common language runtime (CLR), which manages and executes your app’s code. A single CLR version typically supports multiple .NET Framework versions. For example, CLR version 4.0.30319.xxxxx where xxxxx is less than 42000, supports .NET Framework versions 4 through 4.5.2. CLR version greater than or equal to 4.0.30319.42000 supports .NET Framework versions starting with .NET Framework 4.6.

Community-maintained tools are available to help detect which .NET Framework versions are installed:

A .NET Framework 2.0 command-line tool.

A PowerShell 2.0 module.

For information about detecting the installed updates for each version of .NET Framework, see How to: Determine which .NET Framework updates are installed.

Determine which .NET implementation and version an app is running on

You can use the RuntimeInformation.FrameworkDescription property to query for which .NET implementation and version your app is running on. If the app is running on .NET Framework, the output will be similar to:

By comparison, if the app is running on .NET Core or .NET 5+, the output will be similar to:

Detect .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions

The version of .NET Framework (4.5 and later) installed on a machine is listed in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full. If the Full subkey is missing, then .NET Framework 4.5 or above isn’t installed.

The NET Framework Setup subkey in the registry path does not begin with a period.

The Release REG_DWORD value in the registry represents the version of .NET Framework installed.

.NET Framework version	Value of Release
.NET Framework 4.5	All Windows operating systems: 378389
.NET Framework 4.5.1	On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: 378675 On all other Windows operating systems: 378758
.NET Framework 4.5.2	All Windows operating systems: 379893
.NET Framework 4.6	On Windows 10: 393295 On all other Windows operating systems: 393297
.NET Framework 4.6.1	On Windows 10 November Update systems: 394254 On all other Windows operating systems (including Windows 10): 394271
.NET Framework 4.6.2	On Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Windows Server 2016: 394802 On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 394806
.NET Framework 4.7	On Windows 10 Creators Update: 460798 On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 460805
.NET Framework 4.7.1	On Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and Windows Server, version 1709: 461308 On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 461310
.NET Framework 4.7.2	On Windows 10 April 2018 Update and Windows Server, version 1803: 461808 On all Windows operating systems other than Windows 10 April 2018 Update and Windows Server, version 1803: 461814
.NET Framework 4.8	On Windows 10 May 2019 Update and Windows 10 November 2019 Update: 528040 On Windows 10 May 2020 Update and Windows 10 October 2020 Update: 528372 On all other Windows operating systems (including other Windows 10 operating systems): 528049

Minimum version

To determine whether a minimum version of .NET Framework is present, check for a Release REG_DWORD value that’s greater than or equal to the corresponding value listed in the following table. For example, if your application runs under .NET Framework 4.8 or a later version, test for a Release REG_DWORD value that’s greater than or equal to 528040.

.NET Framework version	Minimum value
.NET Framework 4.5	378389
.NET Framework 4.5.1	378675
.NET Framework 4.5.2	379893
.NET Framework 4.6	393295
.NET Framework 4.6.1	394254
.NET Framework 4.6.2	394802
.NET Framework 4.7	460798
.NET Framework 4.7.1	461308
.NET Framework 4.7.2	461808
.NET Framework 4.8	528040

Use Registry Editor

From the Start menu, choose Run, enter regedit, and then select OK.

(You must have administrative credentials to run regedit.)

In the Registry Editor, open the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full. If the Full subkey isn’t present, then you don’t have .NET Framework 4.5 or later installed.

Check for a REG_DWORD entry named Release. If it exists, then you have .NET Framework 4.5 or later installed. Its value corresponds to a particular version of .NET Framework. In the following figure, for example, the value of the Release entry is 528040, which is the release key for .NET Framework 4.8.

Use PowerShell to check for a minimum version

Use PowerShell commands to check the value of the Release entry of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full subkey.

The following examples check the value of the Release entry to determine whether .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later is installed. This code returns True if it’s installed and False otherwise.

Query the registry using code

Use the RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey and RegistryKey.OpenSubKey methods to access the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full subkey in the Windows registry.

If the app you’re running is 32-bit and running in 64-bit Windows, the registry paths will be different than previously listed. The 64-bit registry is available in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ subkey. For example, the registry subkey for .NET Framework 4.5 is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full.

Check the Release REG_DWORD value to determine the installed version. To be forward-compatible, check for a value greater than or equal to the value listed in the .NET Framework version table.

The following example checks the value of the Release entry in the registry to find the versions of .NET Framework 4.5-4.8 that are installed:

The example displays output like the following:

This example follows the recommended practice for version checking:

• It checks whether the value of the Release entry is greater than or equal to the value of the known release keys.
• It checks in order from most recent version to earliest version.

Detect .NET Framework 1.0 through 4.0

Each version of .NET Framework from 1.1 to 4.0 is listed as a subkey at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP. The following table lists the path to each .NET Framework version. For most versions, there’s an Install REG_DWORD value of 1 to indicate this version is installed. In these subkeys, there’s also a Version REG_SZ value that contains a version string.

The NET Framework Setup subkey in the registry path does not begin with a period.

Framework Version	Registry Subkey	Value
1.0	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\Policy\v1.0\3705	Install REG_SZ equals 1
1.1	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322	Install REG_DWORD equals 1
2.0	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0.50727	Install REG_DWORD equals 1
3.0	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.0\Setup	InstallSuccess REG_DWORD equals 1
3.5	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5	Install REG_DWORD equals 1
4.0 Client Profile	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client	Install REG_DWORD equals 1
4.0 Full Profile	HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full	Install REG_DWORD equals 1

If the app you’re running is 32-bit and running in 64-bit Windows, the registry paths will be different than previously listed. The 64-bit registry is available in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ subkey. For example, the registry subkey for .NET Framework 3.5 is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5.

Notice that the registry path to the .NET Framework 1.0 subkey is different from the others.

Use Registry Editor (older framework versions)

From the Start menu, choose Run, enter regedit, and then select OK.

You must have administrative credentials to run regedit.

Open the subkey that matches the version you want to check. Use the table in the Detect .NET Framework 1.0 through 4.0 section.

The following figure shows the subkey and its Version value for .NET Framework 3.5.

Query the registry using code (older framework versions)

Use the Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey class to access the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP subkey in the Windows registry.

If the app you’re running is 32-bit and running in 64-bit Windows, the registry paths will be different than previously listed. The 64-bit registry is available in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ subkey. For example, the registry subkey for .NET Framework 3.5 is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5.

The following example finds the versions of .NET Framework 1-4 that are installed:

The example displays output similar to the following:

Find CLR versions

The .NET Framework CLR installed with .NET Framework is versioned separately. There are two ways to detect the version of the .NET Framework CLR:

The Clrver.exe tool

Use the CLR Version tool (Clrver.exe) to determine which versions of the CLR are installed on a computer. Open Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt or Visual Studio Developer PowerShell and enter clrver .

The Environment class

For .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions, don’t use the Environment.Version property to detect the version of the CLR. Instead, query the registry as described in Detect .NET Framework 4.5 and later versions.

Query the Environment.Version property to retrieve a Version object.

The returned System.Version object identifies the version of the runtime that’s currently executing the code. It doesn’t return assembly versions or other versions of the runtime that may have been installed on the computer.

For .NET Framework versions 4, 4.5, 4.5.1, and 4.5.2, the string representation of the returned Version object has the form 4.0.30319.xxxxx, where xxxxx is less than 42000. For .NET Framework 4.6 and later versions, it has the form 4.0.30319.42000.

After you have the Version object, query it as follows:

For the major release identifier (for example, 4 for version 4.0), use the Version.Major property.

For the minor release identifier (for example, 0 for version 4.0), use the Version.Minor property.

For the entire version string (for example, 4.0.30319.18010), use the Version.ToString method. This method returns a single value that reflects the version of the runtime that’s executing the code. It doesn’t return assembly versions or other runtime versions that may be installed on the computer.

The following example uses the Environment.Version property to retrieve CLR version information:

The example displays output similar to the following: