How To Check Which Version Of DotNet Is Installed In Windows

With multiple versions of Microsoft DotNet available, finding which version is installed, can be confusing for users to identify. And to make it more difficult, installing applications that require a specific version of DotNet, sometimes don't provide a method of checking and reporting if DotNet is installed on your Computer.

Fortunately, there are two easy ways to check which version is installed or if DotNet is installed in the first place.

Both of these methods apply to either Windows XP or Vista. All screen shots shown in this guide are from XP, but will be similar in Vista.

Using the manual method to determine which version(s) of the .NET Framework is installed on your Computer:

 - Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework folder (If the folder cannot be found, you do not have any version of DotNet installed)

- If you have more than one version of DotNet installed you will see multiple directories similar to the below screenshot.

 - Open any of the folders under Framework, then locate the Mscorlib.dll file.

 - Right click on the file and select Properties.

 - Click the Version tab, and then note the file version.

You can cross reference the service pack versions using the below chart::

NOTE: not shown in the above list is DotNet version 3, which is installed by default on Vista.

Multiple versions of DotNet can be installed and should not be un-installed. Any application that requires DotNet, will be able to determine if the needed version is installed on your Computer. Un-installing any version of DotNet, will cause applications to not run anymore.

While it is important that you understand where and how to check if DotNet is installed on your Computer, if you do not want the hassle of checking the version manually, a free tool is available for download from TMG Development LTD called DotNet Version Checker.

After downloading the DotNet Version Checker tool, unzip the file versioncheck.zip. Then click on VersionCheck.exe to run the tool and display the version(s) of DotNet on your Computer.

As you can see, the tool reports the same version that we found using the manual method. With this information, you can use the above chart to cross reference the DotNet service pack version installed on your Computer.

The tool will also display the version of Internet Explorer at the bottom of the display.