Unable to target .NET 2.0 in Visual Studio 2010

Question

What steps are needed to target previous versions of the .NET framework in Visual Studio 2010?

I installed Visual Studio and the .NET 2.0 SDK (from here), but only .NET 4.0 is in the list of available frameworks.

What am I missing?

Answer 1

Download and install .NET Framework 3.5. .NET Framework 3.5 includes 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5, though it is not included with Visual Studio 2010.

Answer 2

The .NET 2.0 SDK doesn't actually include the .NET 2.0 framework. It is merely a collection of tools and header files; they are nowadays included with the Windows SDK. You've already got that in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs directory.

You'll need to download and install an earlier version of .NET. Using 3.5 SP1 is the best choice, and the download is here. Pick one that's appropriate for your language.

Answer 3

Which version of Visual Studio are you using?

I would suspect something like that would occur with an Express edition.

I use Premium and 2.0 is definitely there.