The SocketTools .NET Edition includes assemblies which support several different versions of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio. When you add a reference to an assembly, make sure you are using the correct version which corresponds to the toolchain you are using to build your projects.
When you install SocketTools, assemblies for each supported version of .NET will be copied to the following folder:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\SocketTools\11.0\Assemblies
The assemblies are not specific to the x86 platform, they are platform-independent and will work on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. We install them in the 32-bit area of the file system for backwards compatibility with older 32-bit versions of Windows and future versions of SocketTools will continue to provide support for legacy 32-bit platforms.
The following versions of Visual Studio and the latest version of their supported .NET Framework are as follows:
| Visual Studio Version | .NET Version |
|---|---|
| Visual Studio 2005 | .NET Framework 2.0 |
| Visual Studio 2005 | .NET Framework 2.0 |
| Visual Studio 2008 | .NET Framework 3.5 |
| Visual Studio 2010 | .NET Framework 4.0 |
| Visual Studio 2012 | .NET Framework 4.5 |
| Visual Studio 2013 | .NET Framework 4.5.2 |
| Visual Studio 2015 | .NET Framework 4.6, 4.6.1 |
| Visual Studio 2017 | .NET Framework 4.7, 4.7.2 |
| Visual Studio 2019 | .NET Framework 4.8, .NET 5.0 |
| Visual Studio 2022 | .NET Framework 4.8.1, .NET 8.0 (LTS), .NET 9.0 |
For projects which use .NET 4.0, you should always use the v4.0 assemblies. For projects which target version 4.5 through 4.8, you should reference the v4.5 assemblies.
.NET Frameworks 2.0, 3.5 and 4.0
We include assemblies which target older versions of the .NET Framework for backwards compatibility with legacy projects. These are built using older versions of Visual Studio which are no longer supported by Microsoft; however, we will continue to maintain them as part of the standard installation package to assist with migration to a supported version of the .NET Framework. The interfaces for the different versions are the same, regardless of the target framework.
.NET Framework 4.8.1
For the broadest compatibility with supported Windows platforms, we recommend that you use the .NET 4.8 Framework. The 4.8.1 Framework is limited to Windows 10 and later versions using Visual Studio 2022. Both versions 4.8 and 4.81 continue to receive updates through the Windows Update channels for Windows 10 and 11.
.NET Core
Microsoft introduced .NET Core as a way to provide some cross-platform compatibility, merged with the functionality of the .NET 4.8 Framework. Early in its development, they referred to them as .NET Core 2.0, 2.1, 3.0 and so on. Those versions are no longer supported and have been replaced.
SocketTools no longer includes assemblies for .NET Core. Those have been replaced by the more recent .NET versions (e.g.: .NET 5.0 and later). The current Long-Term Support (LTS) release for .NET is .NET 8.0 and the current Short-Term Support (STS) release is .NET 9.0 which was released in November 2024. We offer older versions for legacy projects but recommend upgrading to a supported .NET version.
The general strategy that Microsoft has been to release an STS version, followed by an LTS version the next year. Although you can still build projects using versions of .NET which are out-of-support, you need to explicitly download them (or install them using the Visual Studio Installer), they will not be installed by default.
| .NET Version | Release Date | End of Support | Support Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NET 5.0 | November 10, 2020 | May 10, 2022 | STS |
| .NET 6.0 | November 8, 2021 | November 12, 2024 | LTS |
| .NET 7.0 | November 8, 2022 | May 14, 2024 | STS |
| .NET 8.0 | November 14, 2023 | November 10, 2026 | LTS |
| .NET 9.0 | November 12, 2020 | May 12, 2026 | STS |
| .NET 10.0 (Preview) | November, 2025 | November, 2028 | LTS |
In most cases, we recommend using the current LTS release for most projects. This will provide the longest period of support from Microsoft, ensuring the .NET libraries continue to receive security updates and other fixes. Microsoft has released the .NET 10 Preview and it is expected they will release it in November, 2025. This will be the next LTS release which will be supported until 2028.
See Also
Supported Versions of Visual Studio
SocketTools 11 .NET Redistribution
SocketTools Installer Packages