Build .exe file in .NET Core RC2

There are actually 2 app models in .NET Core:

Portable apps: heavily inspired by "DNX console apps", these apps don't produce .exe files and are instead executed by the .NET Core shared runtime (whose version is defined by the Microsoft.NETCore.App package, thanks to its special type: platform attribute). The corresponding .NET Core runtime must be installed on the machine to be able to use portable apps. If the exact version cannot be found, an exception is thrown when running dotnet run.

Standalone apps: standalone apps are really similar to good old .NET console apps as they produce .exe files. The .NET Core runtime doesn't have to be installed on the machine, because it is directly embedded with the application itself.

You're currently using the first model. To use the standalone model, you need to tweak your project.json:

Add a runtimes section to list the environments your app will target (e.g win7-x64 or ubuntu.14.04-x64). You can find the complete list here.

Remove the Microsoft.NETCore.App dependency. You can replace it by this package instead: "NETStandard.Library": "1.5.0-rc2-24027".

Here's an example of a standalone app:

{
  "buildOptions": {
    "emitEntryPoint": true,
    "preserveCompilationContext": true,
    "warningsAsErrors": true
  },

  "dependencies": {
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Binder": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.CommandLine": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console": "1.0.0-rc2-final",
    "NETStandard.Library": "1.5.0-rc2-24027"
  },

  "frameworks": {
    "net451": { },

    "netcoreapp1.0": {
      "dependencies": {
        "System.Net.Ping": "4.0.0-rc2-24027"
      },

      "imports": [
        "dnxcore50",
        "dotnet5.6",
        "portable-net451+win8"
      ]
    }
  },

  "runtimes": {
    "win7-x64": { }
  }
}

The answer is in the documentation with complete steps now.

You can create two types of deployments for .NET Core applications: Framework-dependent deployment Self-contained deployment

For a runnable .EXE file, the Publish self-contained should be used.

To create a runnable application from a .NET Core console application you can use the dotnet tool. Just run in your project directory:

dotnet publish --runtime win7-x64

This creates a standalone app (self-contained deployment; includes all necessary libraries consuming at least 60MB on your disk). Of course you can also choose other runtimes, like osx.10.11-x64 or ubuntu.16.04-x64.

If you used the default configuration (New Project -> Console App (.NET Core)), there is no modification of any configuration file necessary.

step 1: remove "type": "platform", from Project.json under frameworks section

step 2: add run time section to your project.json. Note each section is separeted by a comma. Add your runtime. below is just an example for win 10.

"runtimes": {
       "win10-x64": {}      
     }

Step 3: dotnet restore command on your project. ( open cmd, go to your project folder wherever src folder is there, run dotnet restor)

step 4: dotnet pack step 4: dotnet build -r win10-x64 - or just build.

Step 5: you can notice .exe created under debug/netcore/win10/

In ASP.NET Core try changing your app type to default, in project.json:

"Microsoft.NETCore.App": {
  "type": "default",
  "version": "1.0.0-*"
}