What version(s) of the .NET framework are included in windows 8?

If I install windows 8 what version(s) of the .NET framework will be installed before any auto-updating?
What about after applying any automatic updates?

Solution 1:

By default Windows 8 has .NET 4.5 installed. .NET 4.5 is an in-place upgrade for .NET 4. This means that you can run applications targeting .NET 4 and 4.5 by default on Windows 8. Also .NET 3.5 SP1 is available as a Windows feature in Windows 8. That means that all you have to do is go to Add and Remove Features and just select the .NET 3.5 SP1 feature and you will have .NET 2, .NET 3.0 and .NET 3.5 on your machine.

So in short, without downloading any installers, you have following .NET versions on a Windows 8 machine:

1. NET 4.5
2. NET 4.0
3. NET 3.5 (Need to enable feature)
4. NET 3.0 (Need to enable feature)
5. NET 2.0 (Need to enable feature)

(Not sure if you can install .NET 1.1 on Windows 8. It was supported on Windows 7)

Edit: As per Graham Wager, we can install and use .NET 1.1 on Windows 8.

Solution 2:

Windows 8 comes with .net 4.5 advanced services built in. If you install an application which needs .net 3.5 or earlier, it will automatically pull it in .net 3.5 as part of the install process - mine installed it when I was installing paint.net

Solution 3:

Seems like .NET Framework version 4.5 is already installed as listed here.

Also on this page, under the "Instructions", there is a Note specified which says:

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 include the .NET Framework 4.5. Therefore, you don't have to install this software on those operating systems.

Typically, it includes these:

1. .NET 4.5
2. .NET 4.0
3. .NET 3.5 (Need to enable this)
4. .NET 3.0 (Need to enable this)
5. .NET 2.0 (Need to enable this)

No official information has yet been provided by Microsoft.