Visual Studio 2019 Not Showing .NET 6 Framework

Question

I've been struggling to change an asp.net core web api project's target framework to .NET 6 which was started using target framework .net5. I've already tried a few options but couldn't find the .NET 6 framework listed in the target dropdown.

1. I am using Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2019 Version 16.11.3.
2. I've installed .NET 6.0.0-rc.2.21480.5. which is verified through dotnet --version.
3. Enabled "Use previews of the .NET Core SDK", and restarted the program.
4. restarted workstation several times & still no luck.

Looking forward to availing of community help!

Answer 1

.NET 6 is not supported in VS2019. You might make it work by manually editing your project file, but for a fully supported experience you should upgrade to VS2022.

Answer 2

You don't need to use the dropdown - open your .csproj file and change target framework manually:

<TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>

As for dropdown - it seems that there is some bug in VS - I have 16.11.5 installed alongside VS 2022 preview and the "Use previews of the .NET Core SDK" flag enabled and even project using .NET 6 (which builds and runs via VS2019). Also despite missing .NET 6 in the project properties the new project wizard has it.

P.S. Submitted an issue for Visual Studio.

UPD

Visual Studio 2019 does not support .NET 6 (also see VS support in the release notes). Install VS 2022 for full .NET 6 support.

Answer 3

To get Visual Studio 2019 to work with .NET 6 all you have to do is the following:

• Install the .NET 6 SDK: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download
• Open your VS project that you want to switch to .NET 6
• Build your project with .NET 5(+)
• go into the project dir and find your project file: .csproj
• open the project file in notepad or Notepad++, basically any txt editor and find the node: <TargetFramework>
• If you built your project with .NET 5(+) it will read as: <TargetFramework>net5.0-windows</TargetFramework>
• Simply switch the value to: net6.0-windows 5 changed to 6
• Your TargetFramework entry should be edited to: <TargetFramework>net6.0-windows</TargetFramework>
• Now save your project file
• Next simply boot up Visual Studio 2019 and the target project you just modified to run .NET 6.
• Do a clean on your project under the [ Build ] menu item
• Now re-build your project and you are good to go \m/ :) \m/

Note I am using a Windows platform example the same concept should work for Linux etc just look at what the .NET 5 node looks like for the <TargetFramework> and just swap in the 6 instead of 5 and keep what ever other txt is in the value. I have not tried other platforms other than Windows but I am sure it will work as well.

I have swapped various projects and complicated ones and .NET 6 works perfectly in all cases on Visual Studio 2019! I personally will get Visual Studio 2022 as soon as I can but am very happy I can start .NET 6 development on day one on VS2019 till I can upgrade to 64bit goodness and Hot Reloading etc.

Anyways I hope this helps someone.

Answer 4

Update Visual Studio to Vs2019 16.11.7 My Problem solved But First you have to Check the Checkbox: Tools>Options>Environment>Preview Features>Use Preview Of .Net SDK(requires restart)

Answer 5

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Dotnet 6.0 is only supported in visual studio 2022. you can check details from here: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0