How to find out which version of the .NET Framework an executable needs to run?

Question

I've got an executable file, and I would like to know which version(s) of the Microsoft .NET Framework this file needs to be started.

Is there an easy way to find this information somewhere?

(So far I tried ILDASM and DUMPBIN without any luck.)

Answer 1

Using Notepad, three decades old, 200kb in size, preinstalled tool:

• open application with notepad appname.exe,
• search for word "framework",
• repeat last search with F3 until .NET Framework,version=vX.Y shows up
• if nothing found (versions below 3.0) search for v2. ... still 100 times easier then installing gigabytes of dot net analyzer tools and garbage studios.

Any other editor/viewer can open binaries too, like Notepad++ or totalCommander's great text/hex viewer lister.