Create a standalone exe without the need to install .NET framework

Question

I'm a student and at the moment i'm doing an internship at a company. This internship is about analysing a project. For this project I have made a demo to show to the Marketing director. The demo I have made is a simple project created in Visual Studio 2010 in c# with Windows Forms and a connection to an Access database.

So now i have to show this demo to this director in a presentation but after this presentation the director wants the project on his computer so he can try and use it. The problem is now that the computers here in this company don't have .NET framework 4.0 and the computers are so protected over here that we can't install anything new. To install something you have to go through a procedure that takes weeks.

I have looked al over the internet but all i find is how to install the .NET framework.

Is there any possible way that I can create an standalone exe without the need to install .NET framework? Please help!

Answer 1

If you want to execute an application that is developed using Net Framework 4, you will need to have installed .Net Framework 4 on client computer.

Your application is compiled in CIL (Common Intermediate Language), so it needs to be interpreted by the framework engine.

It is the same if you want to execute a Java program. You will have to install the Java Machine.

The only way you don't need to install frameworks is programming native applications with C, C++.

Answer 2

C# now supports this with .NET Native.

Instead of compiling to intermediate language, it will compile to native code and run with statically linked .NET libraries. Therefore, there will be no .Net Runtime requirements for end-users.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dn642499.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn584397(v=vs.110).aspx

Only works for Windows 10

Answer 3

You can't build a C# executable without .NET Framework. Even if some resources indicate that you can, that only works in theory.

But you could use an older version of .NET Framework like .NET 4.0. If this doesn't work for you, you have to choose a language like C++ which doesn't require CLR at all.

Update 2018:

Do not target .NET 2.0 or 3.5. It's not compatible with the 4.x version. However, .NET 4.0 targeted binaries work with .NET Framework 4.0, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and so on. So to reach maximum compatibility, compile with .NET 4.0. You will have to accept that some features will not be available, however, your binary will run virtually anywhere.

(2018: By now, .NET 2.0 - 3.5 has much lower distribution than 4.x)