Visual Studio 2012 Express and .NET 2.0

Question

My installation of VS 2012 Express does not show the .NET Framework 2.0 when creating a new project. I know that 2.0 is supported on VS 2012, but it does not appear in the menu as shown below.

When I create a project with one of the available options (4.0 / 4.5), and then change it to 2.0, it gives a lot of errors during assembly.

Is there any way to make VS 2012 show old versions in the menu?

Answer 1

It looks like you need to download the targeting package for version 2.0. This page lists the targeting packages available for VS 2012; this is similar to downloading the .NET 3.5 SP1 runtime package, which should then include the .NET 2, 3, and 3.5 targets.

EDIT: I just noticed that you are using Express. I don’t know if the targeting packages work the same way with the Express version, but I would at least try.

Answer 2

You cannot install 2.0 (or anythign, but 4.0 or 4.5) during the create operation, but you can change it after creating the project using the project properties. This is true for VS express Web and VS express desktop (others have not tried).

You will need to update your links to meet their respective goals. You must also use various instructions, such as System.Linq and System.Threading. Tasks must be deleted.

Obv MS is pushing 4.0 and 4.5 in its products, but support for old stuff is still grateful.

Answer 3

The express version of Visual Studio 2012 only supports the .NET Framework 4.0 and 4.5. If you want to develop applications that target an earlier version of the .NET Framework, you need to choose a different version of Visual Studio Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2010 Express.