Introducing ASP.NET—Installing the .NET Framework and the SDK
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
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Installing the .NET Framework and the SDK
To begin creating ASP.NET applications, you’ll need to install the .NET Framework and the Software Development Kit (SDK). The .NET Framework includes the files necessary to run and view ASP.NET pages, while the SDK includes samples, documentation, and a variety of free tools.
Installing the .NET Framework
The best method of acquiring the .NET Framework is to download and install it directly from the Web. Note that it is also delivered through Windows Update, so you may already have it installed on your system. To check, open the folder C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework (if your copy of Windows is installed somewhere other than C:\WINDOWS, change this path accordingly). If this folder doesn’t exist, you definitely don’t have the .NET Framework installed. If it does exist, you should find inside it at least one folder with a name like v1.1.4322. Each of these kinds of folders holds a different version of the .NET Framework you have installed. If at least one of these folders’ names doesn’t start with v2 or higher, you’ll need to install the latest version of the .NET Framework.
To install the latest version of the .NET Framework, simply follow the steps outlined below:
- 1. Go to the ASP.NET support site and click the Download the .NET Framework link.
- 2. Under the .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package heading, click the appropriate download link for your hardware. Remember, we’ll install the redistributable package first, then the SDK. The link will advance you to a download page.
- 3. Choose the language and version of the installation you want, and click Download.
- 4. Save the file to a local directory. After the download is complete, double-click the executable to begin the installation.
- 5. Follow the steps presented by the wizard until installation completes.
Installing the SDK
Now that you’ve installed the redistributable package, you need to install the Software Development Kit (SDK):
- 1. Go back to the ASP.NET support site and follow the Download the .NET Framework link again.
- 2. This time, click the appropriate download link under the .NET Framework Version 2.0 Software Development Kit heading. The link will advance you to a download page.
- 3. Choose the language version of the installation you want to use and click Download, as you did to download the redistributable package.
- 4. When prompted to do so, save the file to a local directory.
- 5. After the download is complete, double-click the executable to begin the installation. Before you do so, I strongly recommend that you close all other programs to ensure the install proceeds smoothly.
- 6. Follow the steps outlined by the .NET Setup Wizard until installation completes. When asked for setup options, it’s safe to use the default values.
The SDK will take slightly longer to install than the framework.
- A Big Download!
- The .NET Framework SDK weighs in at about 350MB, so it will probably take a while to download.
 
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