Microsoft has released next version of .NET Framework (do not get confused with .NET Core) .  Though the .NET Framework 4.7 was released as part of Windows 10 Creators Update a month ago. You can now install the .NET Framework 4.7 on other versions of Windows

Download the: .NET Framework 4.7  – Web installer  |  Offline Installer

.NET Framework 4.7 Developer Pack  In order to add support for .NET Framework 4.7 in Visual Studio 2012 or later we need to install Developer Pack.

Windows Versions and Support:

The .NET Framework 4.7 is supported on the following Windows versions:

  • Windows 10 Creators Update (included in-box)
  • Windows 10 Anniversary Update
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 7 SP1

The .NET Framework 4.7 is supported on the following Windows Server versions:

  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

New Features in .NET Framework 4.7:

On a high-level below are the set of new features introduced in following areas:

Core

Networking  Default operating system support for TLS protocols*

ASP.NET

  • Object Cache Extensibility  (plug in new implementations of an object cache for an ASP.NET application by using the new ICacheStoreProvider interface. )
  • Memory monitoring (Developers can now write their own memory monitors to replace the default by using the ApplicationMonitors.MemoryMonitor property.)
  • Memory Limit Reactions. (Developers can now replace or supplement the default behavior by subscribing IObserver implementations to the application’s memory monitor.

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) 

  • Ability to configure the default message security settings to TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2
  • Improved reliability of WCF applications and WCF serialization

Windows Forms – High DPI support

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

  • Support for a touch/stylus stack based on Windows WM_POINTER messages
  • New implementation for WPF printing APIs

Also improvements in :

  • High DPI support for Windows Forms applications on Windows 10
  • Touch support for WPF applications on Windows 10
  • Enhanced cryptography support
  • Support for C# 7 and VB 15, including ValueTuple
  • Support for .NET Standard 1.6
  • Performance and reliability improvements

 

Additional References: