Run a .net application without installing .net client profile?

I have built a c#.net application in framework 4.0, i have no objection in installing .net for client's pc, but its so big to install on client end, is this not possible that there is some small setup or redist package, which we install and helps to run .net application easily, because installing a full fledge framework for just small apps looks very awkward. Plea开发者_JS百科se help.

Thanks in advance Atif

If using .NET 4 specific features is less important than avoiding installation you can try to downgrade your app to .NET 2 or even .NET 1. Most modern versions of Windows come with older versions of .NET pre installed. The full list is here.

The .NET client profile is the small redist package. ("Small" by comparison to the full .NET framework install.) That's as small as .NET gets.

No, there is nothing smaller than the .NET Framework Client Profile 4.0. If this doesn't suit you, .NET is probably not the right platform for you.

The client profile is already a smaller version than the full framework.

There is also a very small web installer, but that doesn't change the fact that the user will need to do a larger download. There's no way around the client profile.

If you targeted .Net Framework 4.0 with your application, it must be installed on the client PC as well, there is no way around that...

If I had to make a serious recommendation, targeting the Client Profile would be the way to go.

For informational purposes however, there are a few commercial programs out there that supposedly perform native compilation, by converting all managed assemblies into actual native code. You can do a search for ".NET native compiler" or ".NET deployment without framework" if you are curious.

I have personally never used any of them before, and have to wonder about the performance of the application in the absence of a JIT compiler. There may be some people on SO that have had experience with some of these that could better address if they are effective, or just a waste of money.

You could try Silverlight (i.e., out-of-browser, trusted app). It's smaller than the client profile, and many machines already have it.