Targeting pack for .NET 4.5.2 not installed

Question

When opening an already existing solution in Visual Studio, it says

The C# project "..." is targeting ".NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2", which is not installed on this machine.

I have already tried

• Selecting option 2, but it brings me to a generic Microsoft search page (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx)
• Installing the .NET Framework 4.5 SDK (as proposed by this answer)

Answer 1

Official list of all targeting packs: https://www.microsoft.com/net/targeting. Make sure you download the "developer pack", not "runtime".

Direct links to offline installers: 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2

This problem seems to affect Visual Studio 2013 and Visual Studio 2015. The targeting packs are included in Visual Studio 2017.

Outdated links:

• http://getdotnet.azurewebsites.net/target-dotnet-platforms.html
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/p/dotnet_sdks.aspx

How I found that link

First, choose option 1, "Change the target to .NET Framework 4.5"

Next, go to the project options of the affected project, select "Application" and then choose "Install other frameworks..." from the list of target frameworks:

This brings you to a website where you can choose your version of Visual Studio and download the targeting pack (called developer pack).

Answer 2

I had the same issue. When I loaded the project it always asked for the .NET framework 4.5.2 and I was not able to install it because it always said that it was already there.

What worked for me was to install the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 Developer Pack from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42637

Give it a try. It may work for you as well.