Is there a way to determine the .NET Framework version from the command line?

Question

To troubleshoot an installation, sometimes I just want a quick answer to what version of .NET is installed.

Is there a way to determine the .NET Framework version on a standard Windows system, other than looking at the directories?

NOTE: This is not for a development machine, just out-of-the-box windows

The following works, but I'm looking for a simpler way.

dir %WINDIR%\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v*

Directory of C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework

07/13/2009  07:20 PM    <DIR>          v1.0.3705
07/13/2009  07:20 PM    <DIR>          v1.1.4322
01/20/2010  01:16 PM    <DIR>          v2.0.50727
07/13/2009  09:37 PM    <DIR>          v3.0
01/20/2010  01:02 PM    <DIR>          v3.5
02/10/2010  03:20 AM    <DIR>          v4.0.21006

UPDATE: Not a solution, but another cool directory formatted listing

dir %WINDIR%\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v* /O:-N /B

v4.0.21006
v3.5
v3.0
v2.0.50727
v1.1.4322
v1.0.3705

Answer 1

Based on your update which indicates this is for walking a non-tech savvy end user through it, I suggest going to Scott Hanselman's site http://www.smallestdotnet.com (use Internet Explorer) which uses the user agent string to tell you which .NET Framework you've got and gives you recommendations for getting up to the latest version in the most efficient manner.

Old Answer
With PowerShell you could do this (although the presence of PowerShell already implies at least .NET 2.0)

Get-ChildItem "$($Env:WinDir)\Microsoft.Net\Framework" -i mscorlib.dll -r |
    ForEach-Object { $_.VersionInfo.ProductVersion }

I don't know if there's a comparable way to get the version information in plain old crusty cmd.exe.