Cleaning up old .NET Runtime installations

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out!

My name is William and I’ll be happy to help.

Before uninstalling any runtime packages, it is important to verify whether other applications on the server depend on them. Devolutions Server only requires the runtimes listed below, but other software installed on the same machine may rely on different versions.

Because of this, we cannot recommend removing specific packages beyond confirming what DVLS requires. Ensuring that other applications are not dependent on those runtimes remains the responsibility of the server administrator.

For reference, here are the .NET versions required by Devolutions Server and the Devolutions Server Console:
Console

• Before 2024.1 — .NET Framework 4.8
• 2024.1 — .NET 8
• 2025.1 — .NET 9
• 2026.1 — .NET 10

Server

• Before 2023.1 — .NET Framework 4.8
• 2023.1 — .NET 6
• 2024.1 — .NET 8
• 2025.1 — .NET 9
• 2026.1 — .NET 10

If you are planning a cleanup, the safest approach is to confirm the current DVLS version in use and verify that no other applications on the server require the older runtimes before removing them.

Best regards,

Thank you!

The Server is running nothing but Devolutions Server and Console. I uninstalled every .NET component older than Version 9 without any problems.

I still need to figure out the Visual C++ Runtime

Best regards,
Daniel

Maybe you can point me in the right direction regarding patching too...

An early version of .NET Runtime 9.0.0 was installed with Devolutions Server, but it was never patched. The currently available version is 9.0.13.
Is this usually done with Windows Updates? Should we just download and install these patches manually, or is there a better way?

If I need to patch manually, I'm also not sure which package(s) I actually need. On Microsoft's download page, there's x64 and x86 versions of:

• .NET Runtime
• ASP.NET Core Runtime (Hosting Bundle?)
• .NET Desktop Runtime

If Devolutions Console installed these Runtime packages, can it also patch them?

Thank you!
Best regards,
Daniel

Hello Daniel,

Good questions.

Devolutions Server itself does not manage or patch the .NET runtimes installed on the system. Runtime updates are handled by the operating system or by the system administrator.

In most environments, Windows Update will automatically deliver security and servicing updates for installed .NET runtimes, so keeping the server fully updated through Windows Update is generally the recommended approach.

If you prefer to update manually, the component required for Devolutions Server is the ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle for the appropriate .NET version (x64). This bundle installs the ASP.NET runtime along with the required .NET runtime components used by the server.

For a typical DVLS installation:

• Install ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle (x64) for the required .NET version.
• The Desktop Runtime is not required for the server component.
• The x86 versions are not needed unless you specifically run 32-bit applications on the same machine.

Regarding Visual C++ runtimes, these are standard Microsoft redistributables that may be installed by many applications. Because of that, we generally recommend leaving them installed unless you can confirm that no other software depends on them.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Best regards,

Thank you for the guidance!

If .NET should normally be patched with Windows Update, that didn't work in our case for some reason. I'll try manually patching once and see if it works automatically in the future, or after installing DVLS 2026.1 and .NET 10.0. If not, we'll continue to install patches manually or through RMM software.

I'll post again with my findings :)

Best regards,
Daniel