How are version numbers of the .NET Framework, CLR, and Visual Studio related to each other?

Question

With the recent announcement of .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of which versions of the .NET Framework are based on which version of the CLR and which version of Visual Studio belongs to.

Is there a specific table that shows this relationship?

Answer 1

 Visual Studio CLR .NET Framework
 -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
 Visual Studio .NET (Ranier) 1.0.3705 1.0
 Visual Studio 2003 (Everett) 1.1.4322 1.1
 Visual Studio 2005 (Whidbey) 2.0.50727 2.0
 Visual Studio 2005 with .NET 3.0 Extensions 2.0.50727 2.0, 3.0
 Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas) 2.0.50727 2.0 SP1, 3.0 SP1, 3.5
 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 2.0.50727 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2, 3.5 SP1
 Visual Studio 2010 (Hawaii) 4.0.30319 4.0

Turning around a bit and including some of the information from dok1's answer, the actual version numbers for the various .NET Framework collections submitted are available on the Aaron Stebner blog , which covers everything from 1.0 to 3.5 SP1.

Actual version numbers of Visual Studio:

 Product Name Version Ship Date
 -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
 Visual Studio .NET 7.0. ??  02/2002
 Visual Studio .NET 2002 Service Pack 1 7.0. ??
 Visual Studio 2003 7.1. ??  04/2003
 Visual Studio 2003 Service Pack 1 7.1.6030 13/09/2006
 Visual Studio 2005 8.0.5072.42
 Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 12/14/2006
 Visual Studio 2008 9.0.21022.8 11/19/2007 
 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 9.0.30729.1
 Visual Studio 2010 10.0.30319.1 12/04/2010
 Visual Studio 2010 SP1 10.0.40219.1 03/03/2011

Please help fill in the missing parts. That is all I could easily find on the Internet.

Thanks to @DannySmurf for information on the full version numbers for the CLR.

Answer 2

Please note that while in the base unit 3.0 only new assemblies are added (the same CLR), 3.5 new assemblies are added, a new compiler and the CLR level is updated to the SP1 level.

Framework 4.0 will be the new CLR (4.0, without CLR 3.x), which will work alongside CLR 1.1 and 2.0. It will also have all new builds of version 4.0 instead of using builds 2.0.

 Framework CLR and Assemblies Release
 -------------------------------------------------- --------
 1.0 RTM 1.0.3705.0 Visual Studio .NET (aka VS.NET 2002)
 1.0 SP1 1.0.3705.209
 1.0 SP2 1.0.3705.288
 1.0 SP3 1.0.3705.6018

 1.1 RTM 1.1.4322.573 VS.NET 2003
 1.1 SP1 1.1.4322.2032
 1.1 SP1 1.1.4322.2300 Windows Server 2003

 2.0 RTM 2.0.50727.42 Visual Studio 2005 RTM
 2.0 RTM 2.0.50727.312 Windows Vista
 2.0 SP1 2.0.50727.1433 Visual Studio 2008 RTM and .NET 3.5 RTM
 2.0 SP2 2.0.50727.3053 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1
 2.0 SP2 2.0.50727.4016 Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2
 2.0 SP2 2.0.50727.4927 Windows 7

 Framework CLR New assemblies
 -------------------------------------------------- --------
 3.0 RTM 2.0 RTM 3.0.4506.30 The only "out-of-band" non-SP framework release
 3.0 SP1 2.0 SP1 3.0.4506.648 Visual Studio 2008 RTM and .NET 3.5 RTM
 3.0 SP2 2.0 SP2 3.0.4506.2123 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1

 3.5 RTM 2.0 SP1 3.5.21022.8 Visual Studio 2008 RTM and .NET 3.5 RTM
 3.5 SP1 2.0 SP2 3.5.30729.01 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1
 3.5 SP1 2.0 SP2 3.5.30729.4926 Windows 7

 Framework CLR and Assemblies Release
 -------------------------------------------------- --------
 4.0 RTM 4.0.30319.1 Visual Studio 2010

(This was compiled from various answers and related documents, especially MSDN articles How to determine which versions and levels of the Microsoft.NET Framework Service Pack are installed , related DOK .) A complete list of KB update versions and support for retirement dates can be found on Wikipedia List versions of the .NET Framework .

Answer 3

Hard to find, right? I believe that these are versions (excluding service packs)

• Visual Studio version 6 = latest before .NET , released in 1998
• Visual Studio 2002 = version 7.1, Rainier, the first version of .NET with retroactivity added 2002 to the title, .NET 1.0 - released in February 2002.
• Visual Studio 2003 = Version 7, Everett, .NET 1.1 - Released in early 2003.
• Visual Studio 2005 = version 8 of Whidbey, .NET 2.0 and 3.0 - the launch was November 2005. It was no longer called Visual Studio.NET.
• Visual Studio 2008 = Version 9 Orcas, .NET 3.5 - Released 11/19/2007 as 9.0.21022.8
• Visual Studio 2010 = version 10 of Hawaii

The next version of Visual Studio Team System is Rosario.

To determine which versions and levels of the Microsoft.NET Framework Service Pack are installed , you will get more information about package build numbers and services, but only through .NET 2.0.

Answer 4

Framework 4.0 RTM

Visual studio 2010

Build Version 4.0.30319

Date 4/12/2010