WPF apps and operating system

Question

WPF apps only work on win XP ,Win vista and windows 7. is it true. can't we run on windows 2003 server. please discuss the limitation if is there anything for WPF.

Answer 1

WPF runs fine on Windows 2003 (currently supporting .NET 3.0 through .NET 4.0). (I'd suggest using .NET 4.0 if you're starting a new project, or at least 3.5 SP1).

• 3.5sp1 supported OS: Windows Server 2003;Windows Server 2008;Windows Vista;Windows XP
• 4.0 supported OS: Windows 7;Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2;Windows Server 2008;Windows Server 2008 R2;Windows Vista Service Pack 1;Windows XP Service Pack 3

Aero glass is available in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 2008+ (when enabled). You will not get a "glassy" effect in Server 2003 or XP without implementing it yourself, or copying the themes and forcing it (although you still won't get Aero glass windows without even more extra work).

You may find that many graphics and animations are software rendered rather than hardware rendered if the video card does not support DirectX9+ adequately (check Graphics Rendering Tiers for more information). This may affect the performance of your application.

The look and feel of the application is based on the operating system theme by default. So, if Aero glass is disabled (by using the "classic" look in Windows Vista/7), your application will take on a look of Windows 2000 for example.

Answer 2

WPF will run if .NET 3.0 and above in installed.