Download .NET 9 Preview 2 (Offline Installers)

Microsoft released the first preview version of .NET 9 last month, and now it is time for the next preview release. Microsoft has rolled out .NET 9 Preview 2 which is now available to download. This update makes changes to the binaries which have been discussed on GitHub.

Going forward, Microsoft has changed its strategy for announcing .NET updates. Now, Microsoft will make the announcements for preview versions of .NET in GitHub Discussions, while leaving the blog posts for the stable releases. You can read about their announcement plan in the following Discussion thread:

Welcome to .NET Release News on GitHub Discussions!

.NET 9 focuses on cloud-native and intelligent app development with artificial intelligence (AI) integration. Of course, Microsoft keeps on making improvements to its binaries for a better development experience.

You can download .NET 9 Preview 2 SDKs, Runtimes, and ASP.NET Cores using the direct download links provided below.

Download .NET 9 Preview 2

Use the direct download links below to download the .NET 9 Preview 2 Runtime, SDKs, and ASP.NET Core matching your operating system and architecture. Simply click on the respective link in the “Download” column to begin the download.

Runtime

SDK

ASP.NET Core

Click on this link for more .NET 9 download options.

Once downloaded, simply execute the package and proceed with the on-screen instructions to install .NET.

Once you have installed the newer .NET preview version, all your applications will run using the new build as the previous preview version will be replaced. However, if a stable version is installed and running, it will not be replaced.

When installed, you may check which .NET version is running by running the following command in Command Prompt:

wmic product get description | findstr /C:.NET

What’s new in .NET 9 Preview 2

.NET 9 will be the regular release (Standard Term Release) of .NET, as opposed to .NET 8, which was the Long Term Servicing (LTS) release. It will be supported for 18 months from its stable release expected on 12th November 2024.

This .NET release brings breaking changes to the technology with a primary focus on cloud integration and intelligent application development. It is compatible with Visual Studio 17.10 latest preview release.

The following are the focus areas and new features in .NET 9 Preview 2:

• [Repository Updates]

  • dotnet/sdk: .NET SDK
  • dotnet/aspnet: ASP.NET Core Runtime
  • dotnet/runtime: .NET Runtime
  • dotnet/runtime-deps: .NET Runtime Dependencies
  • dotnet/samples: .NET Samples

• Serialization

  .NET 9 now has new options for serializing JSON and a new singleton that makes it easier to serialize using web defaults. You can read more about it here.

• LINQ

  Microsoft has introduced new methods, CountBy and AggregateBy, which make it possible to aggregate state by key without needing to allocate intermediate groupings via GroupBy.

  CountBy lets you quickly calculate the frequency of each key, and AggregateBy lets you implement more general-purpose workflows.

• Collections

  Microsoft has added the PriorityQueue<TElement,TPriority> collection type in the System.Collections.Generic namespace which includes a new Remove(TElement, TElement, TPriority, IEqualityComparer<TElement>) method that you can use to update the priority of an item in the queue.

• Cryptography

  .NET 9 adds a new one-shot hash method on the CryptographicOperations type. It also adds new classes that use the KMAC algorithm. To read more about new cryptography features, go here.

• Other improvements

  Microsoft also makes other improvements with .NET 9 Preview 2, which have been made in the following domains:

  • Reflection
  • Performance

.NET 9 Release History