Make .NET exes compatible with all windows users (xp to 7)

If I create an application in c# 3.5, how could I make the exe compatible with all windows users? I tried creating a couple of simple applications and send the exes from the bin folder and everyone has complained that th开发者_高级运维ey could not use them because they didn't have the update platform.

Any suggestions?

IIRC, C# 3.5 can generate code for .NET 2.0 or newer, by changing the project options.

But your users still will need the right version of .NET installed, and .NET 2.0 is not included in XP, not even with SP3.

If installing framework updates is too much to expect of your users, you will need to use native code instead of .NET.

You can change the target platform to a previous .NET framework version:

Check Menu| Project | Properties | Application and the setting Target framework, set it i.e. to .NET 2.0 if required - you will not be able to use new features then though - a better alternative would be updating those machines to add .NET 4.

It should be fine as long as you have it set to Any CPU and the users have the same .NET framework version installed.