Every 2 years, Microsoft releases a Long Term Support (LTS) version of .NET, and this year they released .NET 6 LTS with a 3-year support cycle. Between those 2 years, .NET versions that are meant to be supported for a shorter term are also released. You can download .NET 6 LTS using the links given below for your respective operating system. That said, the following operating systems are supported with .NET 6:
WindowsLinuxMacOS
Before the stable version was released, Microsoft had publically released .NET 6 Release Candidate (RC) 1 and Release Candidate 2 whose purpose was to receive feedback from the users and fix any anomalies discovered. Moreover, these early releases also introduced some new features for the first time. Those features, along with many others, have now made their way to the stable .NET 6 LTS version. Let us continue to see what .NET 6 is all about before you download and install it. Since there are many new features and improvements, we have only discussed a few which we think are of great significance.
What’s new in .NET 6 LTS
Support
Before we dig into the new features of .NET 6, let us inform you about its compatibility and support. To begin, .NET 6 is only stable with Visual Studio 2022, which has been released just alongside .NET 6 LTS. This means that anyone on VS 2019 or older will have to upgrade to version 2022 if they wish to use .NET 6. Likewise, it will only be compatible with MS Build 17.x, and not with any of its predecessors. In operating systems, Microsoft states that .NET 6 will be compatible with the following architectures on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 8:
AMD x64Intel x64ARM (aarch64)IBM ZLinuxONE (s390x)
Microsoft also suggests that you upgrade your apps to .NET 6 immediately. Performing the upgrade process from .NET 3.1 and .NET 5 is pretty straightforward. However, if you are already running the apps on a .NET 6 Preview release, then those will automatically upgrade to .NET 6 LTS (stable) once .NET 6 is installed and the system is rebooted.
Hot Reload
The Hot Reload feature in .NET 6 allows a developer to make changes to their code while the application is running and see the results on the go. This feature was first introduced in .NET 6 Preview 3. However, Microsoft then later announced that they are planning to drop this feature. After facing backlash from the developers, Microsoft then later decided to include this feature after all. Hot Reload is available through both the dotnet watch CLI tool as well as Visual Studio 2022. You can use this feature with a large variety of application types such as ASP.NET Core, Blazor, .NET MAUI, Console, Windows Forms (WinForms), and others.
Unified Platform
Microsoft has updated the underlying platform for .NET 6 so it is easier for the developers to reuse their code across the different platforms, such as web browsers, desktops, cloud, and mobile apps. The statement by Microsoft above also ensures that future updates to .NET 6 will ensure uniformity in terms of features and improvements across the different platforms.
Significant Performance Improvements
Microsoft has straightaway gloated about the significant performance upgrades in .NET 6. Here are their own words: Microsoft seems to be proud of what they have achieved thus far in terms of speeds and performance of .NET 6. That said, Microsoft had also published an entire blog post just to illustrate what could be achieved with these performance improvements. You can learn more about what’s new in .NET 6 LTS in this Microsoft’s announcement.
Download .NET 6 LTS
Use the direct download links below to download the .NET 6 LTS Runtime and SDKs matching your operating system and architecture:
Runtime:
Download .NET 6.0.0 Desktop Runtime for Windows x64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Desktop Runtime for Windows x86 Download .NET 6.0.0 Desktop Runtime for Windows ARM64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime for macOS x64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime for macOS ARM64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux Arm32 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux Arm64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux Arm32 Alpine Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux Arm64 Alpine Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux x64 Download .NET 6.0.0 Runtime Binaries for Linux x64 Alpine
SDKs
Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 for Windows x64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 for Windows x86 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 for Windows ARM64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 for macOS x64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 for macOS ARM64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux Arm32 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux Arm64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux Arm32 Alpine Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux Arm64 Alpine Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux x64 Download .NET SDK 6.0.100 Binaries for Linux x64 Alpine
ASP.NET Core
Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Hosting Bundle for Windows Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 for Windows x64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 for Windows x86 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Windows ARM64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for macOS x64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for macOS ARM64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux Arm32 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux Arm64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux Arm32 Alpine Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux Arm64 Alpine Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux x64 Download ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0.0 Binaries for Linux x64 Alpine More download and install options here.
Install .NET 6 LTS
You can begin by downloading .NET 6 for your architecture from the links above and then execute it to begin the installation process. You have now installed .NET 6. You may check which .NET version is running by typing in the following command in Command Prompt:
Closing Words
.NET 6 has been refined over the course of time through more than 1000 volunteers, according to Microsoft. Therefore, it may just be safe to deploy the latest stable .NET version in a production environment as most of the bugs should be already fixed. .NET 6 introduces a plethora of new features as well as improvements. We believe that you can benefit from these and be an early bird to test them out. Not only that, since it is an LTS release, you may not have to upgrade your .NET version for the next 3 years! Also see:
Download and Install .NET 6.0.6 LTS (Offline Installer)Download .NET 6.0.11 (Offline Installers)Download And Install .NET 6 Preview 3 (Offline Installers)Download and Install .NET Framework 6 Preview 1 (Offline Installers)Download and Install .NET 6 Release Candidate 1 (Offline Installers)
