Info source: Wikipedia
Windows Server OSes are ignored.
| NT4 | 98 | 98SE | Me | 2000 | XP | Vista | 7 | 8 | 8.1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1.0 SP1 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1.0 SP2 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1.0 SP3 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 1.1 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 1.1 SP1 | SP6a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | SP3 | SP2 | * | * | * | * | |
| 2.0 SP1 | SP4 | SP2 | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 2.0 SP2 | SP4 | SP2 | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 3.0 | SP2 | Yes | * | * | * | |||||
| 3.0 SP1 | SP2 | SP1 | * | * | * | |||||
| 3.0 SP2 | SP2 | SP2 | * | * | * | |||||
| 3.5 | SP2 | Yes | * | * | * | |||||
| 3.5 SP1 | SP2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| 4.0 | SP3 | SP1 | Yes | * | * | |||||
| 4.5 | SP2 | SP1 | Yes | * | ||||||
| 4.5.1 | SP2 | SP1 | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| 4.5.2 | SP2 | SP1 | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| 4.6 | SP2 | SP1 | Yes | Up | ||||||
| 4.6.1 | SP1 | Yes | Up | |||||||
| 4.6.2 | SP1 | Up | ||||||||
| 4.7 | SP1 | Up | ||||||||
| 4.7.1 | SP1 | Up | ||||||||
| 4.7.2 | SP1 | Up | ||||||||
| 4.8 | SP1 | Up |
| Version | 10240 | 10586 | 14393 | 15063 | 16299 | 17134 | 17763 | 18362 | 18363 | 19041 | 19042 | 19043 | 19044 | 19045 | 22000 | 22621 | 22631 | 26100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6 | Yes | |||||||||||||||||
| 4.6.1 | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||||||||
| 4.6.2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||||||||||
| 4.7 | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||||||||
| 4.7.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||||||||||
| 4.7.2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||||||||
| 4.8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| 4.8.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Note: .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is considered a component of the OS in Windows 7 SP1 and above, including 10 and 11 (and perhaps later). In Windows 8 and above, they need to be enabled in the control panel, or by trying to run the installer (which would be intercepted by the OS and redirected to the "add system component" wizard). To save space, 3.5 SP1 is not included in this table.
.NET Framework Beta 1 supported Windows 95, but Beta 2 no longer does. (source)
1.1 can run 1.0 applications (for the most part). 1.0 and 1.1 can coexist. (source)
Installing 3.0 also installs 2.0, and installing 3.5 also installs 3.0 and 2.0. This is because these 3 versions share version 2.0 of the CLR.
4.5 onwards replace earlier 4.x versions, as they share version 4.0 of the CLR. For the most part, a later 4.x framework can run applications written for an earlier 4.x framework.
See also dotnet9x, a project that backports .NET Framework 3.5 to Windows 9x.