Setting CPU target to x86 on .NET 2.0 project adds .NET 3.5 dependencies.

Question

I have a project in VS2008 that targets .NET 2.0 framework. It was original set to build for AnyCPU. I changed it to x86 and for whatever reason, VS adds the following lines to .csproj:

<ItemGroup>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Client.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework Client Profile</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    ...
    ...
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1">
        <Visible>False</Visible>
        <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1</ProductName>
        <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
</ItemGroup>

Can someone explain as to why this is being added and whether I can safely remove it, as I still have to target the .NET 2.0 framework.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Probably you've changed something in Publish section of your project. However this shouldn't affect your project behavior.

Check this link