Determine highest .NET Framework version [duplicate]

Question

I need to determine the highest .NET framework version installed on a desktop machine from C\C++ code. Looks like I can iterate the folders under %systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework, but that seems kind of error prone. Is there a better way? Perhaps a registry key I can inspect? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use the Windows Registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP.

Answer 2

Registry keys for the .NET Framework start like this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\

Depending on the version, the rest of the key will be different (check this page).

You can look up how to access the registry in MSDN article Using the registry in a C++ application.