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Deploying WinForms .NET Application

Updated on Aug 4, 2026

This article shows how to deploy a WinForms .NET Application using Visual Studio.

Read more about the deployment approaches, their benefits and differences, in the 3 Ways to Deploy a WinForms or WPF .NET Core Application blog post.

Create .NET Application

This step is described only for testing purposes. If you prefer, you can go directly to the Deploy the Application section of this article.

1. Create a new WinForms project using the Telerik Visual Studio Extensions. If the VSX is installed you will see the Telerik C# WinForms Application (.NET) template in the Visual Studio's project templates list.

Visual Studio New Project dialog with the Telerik UI for WinForms .NET application template

2. Select one of the application templates from the New Project Wizard. For this example, I use the Excel-Inspired template. Currently, Telerik WinForms .NET project templates support both .NET assembly references (2020.3.915.310) and .NET package references (2020.3.915.310 NuGet).

Telerik UI for WinForms New Project Wizard with the Excel-Inspired template and target distributions

2a. Choosing 2020.915.310 option and finishing the wizard will create a new Telerik WinForms Excel-Inspired project template with assembly references:

Telerik UI for WinForms project template configured with .NET assembly references Telerik UI for WinForms Excel-Inspired project wizard step for assembly-reference deployment

2b. Choosing 2020.3.915.310 NuGet distribution, the Telerik WinForms Excel-Inspired project template will use a package reference to the UI.for.WinForms.AllControls.NetCore.2020.3.915 NuGet package.

Telerik UI for WinForms project template configured with a NuGet package reference Telerik UI for WinForms Excel-Inspired project wizard step for NuGet-based deployment

Figure 1: Spreadsheet application created with the New Project Wizard

Telerik UI for WinForms Excel-Inspired spreadsheet application created by the New Project Wizard

Deploy the Application

The approach shown here is available with the official Visual Studio 2019 and later versions. If you use a previous build of VS, check the Deploy .NET apps with Visual Studio MSDN article.

1. Right click the project in Visual Studio and select the Publish option. This will open the Pick a publish taget dialog.

Visual Studio project context menu with the Publish command for a Telerik UI for WinForms application

2. Choose a publish location. For this example, click on the Folder option and choose a directory where the application should be deployed. Then click Create profile.

Visual Studio Publish dialog for choosing a deployment target

Visual Studio Publish dialog for selecting a folder deployment location

3. Open the Profile Settings via the Configuration options and set the Deployment Mode to Self-contained. Then select a Target Runtime.

Visual Studio publish profile settings with Self-contained deployment and a target runtime

4. Save the configuration and click the Publish button. This will generate files in the publish location.

Visual Studio publish output files generated for a Telerik UI for WinForms application

5. Copy the output files from the publish location to your deployment environment.

You can package your application using the MSIX format. Read more, in the What is MSIX? MSDN article.