Update 4.0.3 Beta for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 – Runtime Update

Update 4.0.3 Beta for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 is now available. This update includes a set of new features and fixes some bugs, based on top customer requests and the .NET Framework scenarios.

Notes

• This update release updates only the runtime files for the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. For more information about the details of this update, see the "More Information" section.
• This update contains all the runtime changes from the following update:
  
  • 2544514
    (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2544514/ )
    Update 4.0.2 for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 - Runtime Update
  • 2478063
    (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2478063/ )
    Update 4.0.1 for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 - Runtime Update
  Therefore, this update is a cumulative update. Any application built for the .NET Framework 4.0.1 or the .NET Framework 4.0.2 can run on a computer that has the .NET Framework 4 and the .NET 4.0.3 Beta runtime installed. 
• We do not support any application that this update was used to build on any prerelease version of the .NET Framework 4, such as a Beta. Additionally, we recommend that any such application be upgraded to at least the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 RTM.

Features that are introduced by this update

SustainedLowLatency added to GCLatencyMode

Some applications perform time-sensitive operations throughout the day, during which interruptions from long full blocking garbage collection could be disruptive. For example, applications that need quick response times because of financial market data changes during trading hours. If an application has a large managed heap in this environment, it could become unresponsive for long periods of time if full blocking garbage collection occurs.

To resolve this issue, a new setting called SustainedLowLatency is added to GCLatencyMode. This new setting minimizes the situations in which a full blocking garbage collection can occur. However, full blocking garbage collection may still occur in other situations, such as low memory or if garbage collection is deliberately induced.

Note The SustainedLowLatency setting is applicable only when concurrent garbage collection is enabled. If concurrent garbage collection is not enabled, SustainedLowLatency does not affect garbage collection behavior.

For more information about Latency Modes, visit the following Microsoft website:

General information about Latency Modes

Support running Workflows in partial trust

Workflows that use Windows Workflow Foundation 4 (WF4) can run only in fully trusted application domains. This update enables WF to run in partially trusted environments. The scope of the change is enabling the core workflow runtime (execution model, activity and data model, tracking, and serialization) to run in partial trust. To enable this change, some WF assemblies are made conditional AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute (APTCA). 

Note SqlWorkflowInstanceStore and Visual Basic expression are not supported by this change. Therefore, they are not available in partial trust.

Enable WF messaging activities across multiple hosts

WF4 messaging activities (Send, Receive, ReceiveReply, SendReply, and so on) use WCF to send and receive messages. This update introduces a new WF extension that is used by these activities to send or receive messages (or both). The extension has to be provided by the host. If the extension is not present, the WF4 behavior and execution is preserved (no changes to current code path). If the extension is present, the activities call the methods in the extension.

The new extension has methods for each of the steps that are involved in different messaging patterns. The host authors can implement those methods to implement the messaging semantics that they want to use with the existing WF4 programing model. 

XLinq and DataAnnotations added to .NET Framework 4 Portable Class Libraries

Portable reference assembly support for System.Xml.Linq.dll and System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.dll is added to the Portable Class Library project. For more information about how to install Portable Class Library support and supported assemblies on the available platforms, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2468871 and the Portable Class Library article on MSDN.

Issues that this update resolves

Issue 1: Cannot set the WWW-Authenticate HTTP Response header in self-hosted WCF service scenarios

If you have a self-hosted WCF service, you could not send a www-Authenticate HTTP header in the response message. This is required for many custom authentication scenarios, such as enabling OAuth. This limitation was removed.

Issue 2: Self-hosted BasicHttp service that uses https enabled fails in partial trust

If you have a self-hosted WCF service that uses BasicHttpBinding with security mode Transport and ClientCredentialType=None or Certificate, you could not run it in partial trust. The client request fails with the following exception:

This issue is resolved. 

Issue 3: WCF: Identical binding extension elements in machine.config and app.config throws an exception

If identical (names and types) extension elements exist in machine.config and app.config, a ConfigurationErrorsException exception is thrown, and you receive the following error message:
This limitation was removed.

Issue 4

Consider the following scenario:

• You run a client application to access a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) duplex service that uses the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.
• The application calls the OnClose event of a channel on the WCF service.
• This channel is then ended in another event thread.

In this scenario, the application crashes and you receive one of the following exception messages:
Exception 1
Exception 2
Issue 5

Consider the following scenario:

• You have some nonstandard bindings that is defined for the following services:
  
  • Net.Pipe Listener
  • Net.Tcp Listener
  • Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service
  • Net.Msmq Listner Adapter
• You install a .NET Framework 4.0 Extended Profile update

In this scenario, the Internet Information Services (IIS) configuration is changed to the default value of port 808 instead of your custom port.

Issue 6
When you try to access a hosted webpage created for .NET 4.0.1 or .NET 4.0.2 (that is, the targetFramework property is set to one of these targets), you receive an error message that resembles the following:
This issue is now resolved. 

Issue 7

Consider the following scenario:

• A process is running managed code against the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 common language runtime (CLR)
• At the same time, an update is installed that services Microsoft .NET Framework 4 assemblies

In this scenario, the process that is running managed code against the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 CLR may end unexpectedly. This issue occurs because of a condition in which servicing of Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 assemblies could lead to loaded modules, in a process that is running managed code against the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 CLR, to enter an inconsistent state. The process ends unexpectedly.

Issue 8

AlwaysOn is the new high-availability solution that is part of SQL Server Code Named "Denali." It enables failure recovery scenarios between multiple sites without specialized hardware. We have introduced a fix that improves the failover reconnection performance in multi-site clusters that are not using a stretch VLAN.

Issue 9

Failover reconnect performance against an SQL Server Denali AlwaysOn Availability Group is not in parity with failover reconnect performance to a SQL Server 2008 R2 database by using DB Mirroring. This issue is resolved, improving the SQL Server Code Named "Denali" AlwaysOn failover reconnection performance, bringing it in parity with traditional Database Mirroring failover.

Visual Studio 2010 support

To use any new feature installed by this update, install the following update, and then develop applications in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1):
Note This update installs a multi-targeting pack and other supporting files for the development environment. After you install these files, you can develop applications for the .NET Framework 4.0.3 Beta.

Download information

The update is available for download from the following Microsoft Download Center website:
Download the update package now.
For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Prerequisites

To install this update, you must have the following software installed:

• Windows Installer 3.1 or a later version of Windows Installer
  
  To obtain the latest version of Windows Installer, visit the following Microsoft website:
  
  Download Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable

  (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132022)
• The Microsoft .NET Framework 4 or the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile

Note The .NET 4.0.3 Beta – Runtime Update is a targetable framework and is built for the .NET Framework 4. This update is not a cumulative framework version.

Command-line switches for this update

For more information about the command-line switches for Windows Installer, visit the following Microsoft website:
For more information about Windows Installer, visit the following Microsoft website:

Restart requirement

You have to restart the computer after you install this update if the files that are being updated are locked or are being used when you install this update.

Known issues with this update

Issue 1

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You create a .NET 4.0.3 Beta application and deploy the same on a computer that has .NET Framework 4 and 4.0.3 Runtime Update installed. 
• You install the Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview or .NET Framework 4.5 Developer Preview on the same computer.
• You try to run the application.

In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

Cause

Because .NET 4.0.3 Beta for .NET 4 was created after Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview was released, it cannot be used together with .NET 4.5 Developer Preview.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, uninstall Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview and .NET 4.5 Developer Preview to make your applications work. Only the next major release of the .NET Framework 4.5 will support .NET 4.0.3.


Issue 2

Symptoms
Consider the following scenario:

• You install .NET Framework 4.0.2 Runtime Update
  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2544514)
  on a computer.
• You then install.NET Framework 4.0.3 Beta Runtime update on the same computer
• You check the installed updates entry for .NET Framework 4.0.2 Runtime from "View installed updates" in Control Panel.

The entry for .NET Framework 4.0.2 Runtime is corrupted like the following:
There is no downside to this string corruption, and you can still use the entries to uninstall .NET Framework 4.0.2 Runtime. 

File information

The global version of this update uses a Microsoft Windows Installer package to install the update. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in the following table. When you view the file information, the date is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

For all supported x86-based versions of Windows

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows

For all supported IA-64–based versions of Windows