.Net 4.0 App targeting the client profile still prompts the user to download full profile

Question

I have a .NET Winform application that targets the '.NET Framework 4 Client Profile', it uses four more class library assemblies but they are also all targeting the client profile.

When I test this on a vanilla Windows XP box with just the 4.0 Client Profile installed, I still get a '.NET Framework Initialization Error':

To run this application, you first must install one of the following versions on the .NET framework: .NETFramework, Version=v4.0

How can I find out what part of the app still needs a component of the full framework?

I assumed that by setting the target framework to 'client profile' the compiler would make sure I am only using components of the client profile.

Answer 1

I went through all the assemblies again to make sure that they all target the client profile: yes.

Then I started with a fresh empty WinForms app and it ran on the client profile as expected. I then added my assemblies I use in my main app to this fresh app one by one. Even after referencing them all, the fresh app still ran.

I then looked at the app.config which has some DbProviderFactories entries but removing them did not help. While there I saw the first node:

<startup>
  <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" />
</startup>

hmm, maybe that specific sku stands for the full version. And indeed, changing it to

<startup>
  <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" />
</startup>

solved all my problems.