How to target .NET 6.0 with Visual Studio 2019?

john zyd 421

Hello:
I know .NET 6.0 is released, but I don’t know how to create a WinForm App targeting .NET 6.0 with Visual Studio 2019 (Version 16.11.5) on Windows 10 (Version 21H1)
I can download the following packages:
.NET 6.0 SDK (v6.0.100) - Windows x64 Installer!
.NET 6.0 Desktop Runtime (v6.0.0) - Windows x64 Installer!
But when I create a WinForm App project, there is no place to target .NET 6.0.
Please give detailed instructions.
I know I can use Visual Studio 2022 can target .NET 6.0, but currently we can’t use Visual Studio 2022 yet, have to wait at least one year.
Thanks,

Accepted answer

Karen Payne MVP 35,421 Reputation points

2021-11-09T09:44:58.98+00:00
First off, for proof the following works, the following Visual Studio Solution was created in VS2019, runs fine. As a side note I have samples for DateOnly and TimeOnly struct and a few other goodies.

Under Options, Environment, Preview Features set Use previews of the .NET SDK to true, restart Visual Studio.

Restart, in a Visual Studio solution create a new Windows Form app.

To validate double click the project file in Solution Explorer and you should see

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType> <TargetFramework>net6.0-windows</TargetFramework> <Nullable>enable</Nullable> <UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms> </PropertyGroup> </Project>

Or create via PowerShell at the root folder of a Visual Studio solution

dotnet new winforms --name WinApp1 --output WinApp1 dotnet sln add .\WinApp1\WinApp1.csproj
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6 people found this answer helpful.
john zyd 421 Reputation points

2021-11-09T10:00:29.587+00:00

Hello:
I tried to follow your advice from VS 2019, see the pictures.
But I don't know if the settings are OK or not.
I have concerns that the project is targetting .NET 6.0 or not, how to know this?

Karen Payne MVP 35,421 Reputation points

2021-11-09T11:57:56.307+00:00

As indicated before, double click on the project file and you can see the Framework version. You will not see the Framework version under project properties.

cleric145-6909 11 Reputation points

2021-11-09T12:36:20.123+00:00

Don't do this; bad advice
Preview is not final release and your code won't work in final version of .net 6

John Carew 1 Reputation point

2021-12-02T07:33:24.98+00:00

This is not bad advice... The context of preview here is not the framework, but a feature of Visual Studio. You will be compiling against .Net 6.0 SDK full release, not a preview release.

By selecting the Visual Studio option, and installed .Net 6.0 SDK, you can use .Net 6.0 in Visual Studio 2019.

Alberto Monteiro 1 Reputation point

2021-12-24T03:42:34.243+00:00

I was able to reproduce, but this way you cant use file scoped namespaces feature from C# 10 sadly, I`ve tried some others and no problem.

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-03-29T04:41:32.61+00:00

Just add <LangVersion>preview</LangVersion> to your project file and you'll be able to use C# 10 fetaures with Visual Studio 2019.

Nicolas 1 Reputation point

2022-09-08T21:09:22.047+00:00

Does this still work? I cannot reproduce this behavior using VS 2019 16.11.18. I get :

Error NETSDK1045 The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 6.0. Either target .NET 5.0 or lower, or use a version of the .NET SDK that supports .NET 6.0.

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-09-09T04:42:07.603+00:00

Looks like they finally transformed Error NETSDK1045 message from warning to an critical error. That workaround was working for sure at least in May 2022. Full error message is

C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.411\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.TargetFrameworkInference.targets(141,5): error NETSDK1045: The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 6.0. Either target .NET 5.0 or lower, or use a version of the .NET SDK that supports .NET 6.0.

So I suppose they applied that change directly in .NET 5.0 SDK. If you wish you may try SDK 5.0.408 from May 10, 2022 which is included in Visual Studio 16.11.14 - the workaround should still work in it. If not - try Visual Studio 16.11.13.

DaveInCaz 1 Reputation point

2022-09-09T12:33:48.757+00:00

@Alexey Leonovich FWIW I happen to have VS2019 16.11.12 installed and I have the same hard error (not warning) about NETSDK1045. And dotnet --list-sdks reports that I have

5.0.407 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk] 6.0.301 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk] 6.0.400 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-09-12T13:51:14.737+00:00

I've found my old test PC with Visual Studio 2019 Pro 16.11.5 and now it also produces hard error (not warning). This PC has .NET 5.0 SDK 5.0.402 and recently I've updated .NET 6 SDK to version 6.0.300 (runtime version is 6.0.5). So maybe described workaround depends on .NET 6 SDK version - you may try some very first versions. Or may be installing one of the latest .NET 6 SDK intself transforms warning to a hard error - cannot test it because I don't have clean PC nearby :(

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-09-26T06:49:07.24+00:00

@DaveInCaz I’ve just created a new VM with Windows 10 21H2 Pro x64, installed Visual Studio 2019 16.11.6 Pro (November 9, 2021) and .NET SDK 6.0.100 REL (November 8, 2021). Then I’ve created new Windows Forms App targeting .NET 5.0 and builded it. After that changed <TargetFramework> tag in .csproj file from net5.0-windows to net6.0-windows (also added <LangVersion> preview </LangVersion> line to be able to use C# 9.0 features) and Rebuilded my solution. NETSDK1182 is a warning (not hard error) and allows me to compile, run and debug my application.
I will try to figure out if the NETSDK1182 warning is converted to a hard error by a Visual Studio 2019 version update or a .NET 6 SDK version update…

T.I Ali 0 Reputation points

2023-03-22T16:23:15.7133333+00:00

This method did not work with the non-preview release version of dotnet-sdk-6.0.310-win-x64.exe with VS 2019.

Even with the Preview options selected in Visual Studio, while creating a new Project type .NET 6.0 was unavailable as a Target Framework.
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Jeroen van Langen 1 Reputation point

2022-08-04T06:36:20.757+00:00

If it should be possible, I must have it running. I'll try it again. Thanks.
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Robin Erlacher 1 Reputation point

2022-09-13T11:55:51.573+00:00

i installed the .net 6 sdk and that's it.
i just can't select .net 6 from the visual studio create solution wizard, but when i select .net 5 and then switch it to .net 6 within the csproj file, i can compile and other .net 6 projects run aswell.

i'm using visual studio 2019 community and haven't installed vs2022 on my private machines.
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Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-09-13T13:28:34.287+00:00

What exact version of Visual Studio 2019 and .NET 6 SDK do you have installed? And share your dotnet --list-sdks output please.

Robin Erlacher 1 Reputation point

2022-09-13T14:34:16.497+00:00

will check that, when i'm at home.
right now i can just say, it is the community version, which i updated on a regular basis.

i had a c# course from oct till april this year, somewhere around jan/feb we tried to use .net 6 .. everyone installed vs2022 for that.
i don't wanted to switch to vs2022, so i tried just installing the sdk and it worked for me.

but as i said, i have to create a dotnet 5 project/solution and change the targetframework to 6.

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-09-26T06:46:36.967+00:00

So could you share your setup.

What Visual Studio 2019 version do you have?

What .NET 6 SDK do you have (dotnet --list-sdks output may help to figure it out)?

Do you have Visual Studio 2022 installed?

John Henckel 1 Reputation point

2022-10-14T20:45:57.733+00:00

I am using VS 2019 pro. 16.11.20. I am trying to create a REST API using .NET6

I selected the option, and modified the csproj as it says above. but always I get this error...

------ Build started: Project: restapi6, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------ C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.413\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.NET.TargetFrameworkInference.targets(141,5): error NETSDK1045: The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 6.0. Either target .NET 5.0 or lower, or use a version of the .NET SDK that supports .NET 6.0. Done building project "restapi6.csproj" -- FAILED.

when i type dotnet --list-sdks it says...

2.1.526 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk] 5.0.413 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk] 6.0.401 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

Please help. what am i doing wrong?

Alexey Leonovich 96 Reputation points

2022-10-15T04:05:01.1+00:00

6.0.4xx SDK produces hard error. 6.0.1xx SDK produces warning (and SDK branch is still supported till 11 April 2023) and allows to compile. Just uninstall 6.0.401 and install latest 6.0.1xx (see my answer below).
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Maksym Zaiarniuk 1 Reputation point

2022-09-13T13:19:45.79+00:00

SAME 16.5.4 com and 16.6.0 ent;
will try update to latest vs 19
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charlievog 1 Reputation point

2022-09-13T20:51:14.033+00:00

Was able to make the sample WinApp1 that runs with vs 2019 after commenting out the line: ApplicationConfiguration.Initialize();. I haven't been able to make it work for an MVC web app, however.
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How to target .NET 6.0 with Visual Studio 2019?

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