Download .NET 7 Preview 2 (Offline Installers)

Subhan Zafar|August 29, 2022

After nearly a month’s gap, .NET 7 Preview 2 has been released by Microsoft for you to test and try out. This release focuses on RegEx source generators and other improvements to the “dotnet new” Command Line Interface (CLI) experience.

If you are willing to try out the new features, you can download the runtimes, SDKs, and the ASP .NET Core from the direct download links given below for the following operating systems:

Windows

Linux
MacOS

But before you do, we suggest you read through the new features highlighted below.

New in .NET 7 Preview 2

Support

Since .NET 7 is the current release of .NET, it will receive free support and patches from Microsoft for the next 18 months.

In terms of operating systems, this release will be compatible with the following architectures on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 8:

AMD x64

Intel x64
ARM (aarch64)
IBM Z

LinuxONE (s390x)

RegEx Source Generator

The RegEx source generator was first introduced in .NET 7 Preview 1. It is a RegEx engine optimized for your particular pattern, just without the overhead of having to build the engine at runtime.

It brings all of the performance benefits from the compiled engine without the startup cost, and it also has additional benefits, like providing a great debugging experience as well as being trimming-friendly.

To learn how to use this feature, refer to this Microsoft post.

SDK Improvements

The “dotnet new” command has been given a more consistent and intuitive interface for many of the subcommands that users already use. Furthermore, support for tab completion of template options and arguments has been massively updated, which now gives rapid feedback on valid arguments and options as the user types.

All of the commands in the “dotnet new --help” output no longer have the “--” prefix that they do today. This is more in line with what users expect from subcommands in a CLI application.

There are many other improvements in .NET 7 Preview 2. If you want to read more, refer to this Microsoft blog post.

Download .NET 7 Preview 2

Use the direct download links below to download the .NET 7 Preview 2 Runtime, SDKs, and ASP.NET Core matching your operating system and architecture:

More download and install options here.

Install .NET 7 Preview 2

You can begin by downloading .NET 7 Preview 2 for your architecture from the links above and then execute it to begin the installation process.

Run the installation package by double-clicking it (in the case of macOS and Windows), and then clicking Install on the installation wizard.

The installation will now begin. It does not take much time nor does it require a restart. Click Close once it has been installed successfully.

You have now installed .NET 7 Preview 1. You may check which .NET version is running by typing in the following command in Command Prompt:

wmic product get description | findstr /C:.NET

check 3 — .NET 7 Preview 2 successfully installed

Final Thoughts

Since this is a preview release, it might not be entirely stable. Therefore we suggest that you only install it on non-production environments until the stable release.

For now, it can be used with Visual Studio 17.2 Preview 1 since Microsoft has already tested its compatibility.

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Tags: .NET 7, .NET Preview, Software Updates

Subhan Zafar

Subhan Zafar is an established IT professional with interests in Windows and Server infrastructure testing and research, and is currently working with Itechtics as a research consultant. He has studied Electrical Engineering and is also certified by Huawei (HCNA & HCNP Routing and Switching).

See all posts from Subhan Zafar

Subhan Zafar|November 15, 2023

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