Do Portable Class Libraries work with .net 3.5?

Question

I am running Windows 8 and have both Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate w/sp1 and Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate and I am trying to create a Portable Class Library that supports .net 3.5 and greater.

When I first try to create a PCL I get a screen like this:

I noticed that .net 3.5 is not in the list so I clicked on "Install additional frameworks" and found a Targeting Pack for version 3.5. But when I download and run "dotnetfx35setup.exe" nothing happens. And when I go back into VS and try to create a new Portable Class Library, it lists the same target frameworks as before.

I have also turned on the Windows Features for .NET Framework 3.5 and am now out of ideas. Here is a screen shot in case I missed something else.

Thanks,

Answer 1

.NET Framework 3.5 didn't have a portable profile. Do you have this problem within Visual Studio 2010? I noticed once I installed Visual Studio 2012 on my own computer, the .NET Framework 3.5 was actually removed, likely because .NET 4.5 contains it.

Because you can still target to the .NET 3.5 if you want, just not a portable profile ( PCL ), which is easily proven by this article what you want is simply not supported.