How to compile dotnet 6/7 in vs2019

Question

Hi there,

Just before Visual studio 2022 was released (we didn't see any upcoming releases at that point), our company bought a dozen of licenses for visual studio 2019, so that we can make the step to dotnet 5 applications.

Within a year, dotnet 5 became obsolete. Now it is not possible for us to make dotnet 6 or 7 applications in visual studio 2019. I've seen some "solutions" to this, but does not work.

We have actually bought a pig in a poke because of this.

I actually think that Microsoft should contribute to this.

Jeroen.

Answer 1

Hi @Jeroen van Langen ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A! 

Visual Studio 2019 supports the .NET version 5 (Visual Studio 16.8 or later). Visual Studio 2022 supports the .NET version 6 and 7.

But you can try the following steps:

1. Manually install the .NET 6 SDK.
2. Update your VS2019 to the latest version
3. Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Preview Features > enable “Use previews of the .NET Core SDK”.
4. Restart your VS2019
5. Change the target framework from .NET 5 to .NET 6

<TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>

6. Save your project file and build your project again (it may have a warning) 

If it still doesn’t work, I would like to recommend you use VS2022. 

Or you can also report to product team to add .NET 6/7 support in VS2019:

Visual Studio Feedback 

Thanks for your understanding! 

Sincerely,

Anna

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