In a team setting, it is crucial that every developer compiles against the exact same framework references. The targeting pack ensures that "it works on my machine" translates to "it works on the production server."
The is for end-users to run software.Installing the pack does not install the .NET 4 runtime on your machine; it only provides the tools to create software for it. The Future of Multi-Targeting microsoft .net framework 4 multi targeting pack
If you open a project and see an error stating "The target framework '.NETFramework,Version=v4.0' was not found," it almost always means the multi-targeting pack is missing. Installing the component via the VS Installer usually fixes this instantly. In a team setting, it is crucial that
The pack includes the XML documentation files that power IntelliSense, giving you real-time code completion and documentation for .NET 4 specific APIs. Installing the component via the VS Installer usually
For older environments or standalone build servers, Microsoft previously offered these as part of the Windows SDK, though today the Visual Studio Installer is the preferred method. Common Troubleshooting
At its core, a multi-targeting pack (also known as a targeting pack) is a set of binaries and metadata that allows Visual Studio to "see" and compile code for a specific version of the .NET Framework that may not be the primary version installed on your development machine.
These are "metadata-only" versions of the framework libraries. They contain no executable code but provide the signatures for all classes, methods, and properties required for compilation.