Updated (2017): See .NET Framework Releases to learn about newer releases.

We are happy to announce that the .NET Framework 4.6.1 and its language packs are now available on Windows Update (WU) and WSUS for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. An offline installer is available here for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2012. Additionally, the .NET Framework 4.6.1 is included in the Windows 10 November Update for Windows 10 computers.

This update is available in the Windows Update applet within the Control Panel. You may need to use the Check for updates feature from within the Windows Update applet to get the release to show up.

You can learn more about .NET Framework 4.6.1 here. Changes shipping in this release are covered in the .NET 4.6.1 release announcement blogpost.

How is this release made available?

Automatic Updates

To start with, .NET Framework 4.6.1 is offered as an Optional update which means you would need to use the Check for updates feature to get .NET Framework 4.6.1.

In a few weeks, .NET 4.6.1 will be made available as a Recommended update which means that users with Automatic Updates (AU) enabled (which is most users) will get the release automatically. Users that have modified their AU settings to notify them when updates are available or downloaded will see a notification in their system tray about this update.

As a Recommended update, the deployment will be rolled out to various geographies globally over a few weeks. So, if you do not get the update offered on the first day and do not want to wait until the update is offered, you can use the Check for updates feature, as described above.

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Catalog

WSUS administrators will see this update in their WSUS admin console. The update is also available in the MU catalog for download and deployment.

When you synchronize your WSUS server with Microsoft Update server (or use the Microsoft Update Catalog site for importing updates), you will see that there are two updates for .NET Framework 4.6.1 published for each platform. The difference in the updates is scoped to the different applicability logic for targeting different computers. Please read the details included in the description of the respective update to get more information. We recommend that you import both the updates if you plan to deploy .NET Framework 4.6.1 in your environment.

• One of the .NET Framework 4.6.1 updates will install only on computers that have an earlier version such as .NET 4, 4.5, 4.5.1, or 4.5.2 installed.
• The other .NET Framework 4.6.1 update will install on those computers that either have .NET 4.6 installed or no .NET Framework installed on supported operating systems.

WU Applicability information

The .NET Framework 4.6.1 Language Packs is available via WU and WSUS. This is to support the upgrade of previous language packs for .NET Framework 4, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6. The language packs are also supported for those computers that either have the localized version of the base operating system or have one or more Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packs installed. Further details on language packs for .NET 4.6.1 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 are covered in KB3102433 and KB3102521 respectively.

Computers that do not have .NET Framework 4.5.2 or a higher version installed, are offered both .NET Framework 4.5.2 and .NET Framework 4.6.1. You have an option to choose the .NET Framework version you need. Here’s how the offering matrix looks like depending on the .NET Framework version you have installed on your machine.

Blocking the automatic deployment of .NET Framework 4.6.1

Enterprises may have client machines that connect directly to the public Windows Update servers rather than to an internal WSUS server. In such cases, an administrator may have a need to prevent the .NET Framework 4.6.1 from being deployed to these client machines in order to allow testing of internal applications to be completed before deployment.

In such scenarios, administrators can deploy a registry key to machines in order to prevent the .NET Framework 4.6.1 from being offered to those machines. More information about how to use this blocker registry key can be found in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

KB3133990:  How to temporarily block the installation of the .NET Framework 4.6.1 and its corresponding language packs

Developing using .NET Framework 4.6.1 and Visual Studio 2013

Developers using Visual Studio 2013 can build applications targeting the .NET Framework 4.6.1 by installing the .NET Framework 4.6.1 Developer Pack. The developer pack is a single package that installs .NET Framework 4.6.1 as well as the .NET Framework 4.6.1 Targeting Pack and the .NET 4.6.1 SDK.