Update (August 14, 2015) – We’re happy to announce that .NET Framework 4.6 has been rolled out to Azure App Service. So Web App developers can now build and deploy ASP.NET applications running .NET Framework 4.6 to Azure Web Apps.

An exciting time for developers

A few weeks ago, we released Visual Studio 2015 RTM and the latest version of our cloud development tools in the Azure 2.7 SDK for .NET. Included with Visual Studio was support for .NET Framework 4.6. Microsoft is excited about the new features in Visual Studio 2015 and .NET Framework 4.6, and many teams across the company have worked together tirelessly to ensure the latest version provides developers a rich ecosystem of tools. These new tools and frameworks bring all new power to the .NET developer ecosystem, and we’ve been hearing exciting things from the community since the release.

With great power…

The tooling, framework and Azure platform teams want to ensure the powerful tools we give you to help build your dream is matched by the responsibility we recognize we have to keep it running in the cloud. At the time of the Visual Studio and Azure SDK 2.7 releases, Framework 4.6 wasn’t supported broadly throughout Azure. This is due in large part to the fact that just as many teams (or more) are responsible for the ongoing development and stability of the Azure platform.

For now, we have an update on the availability of .NET Framework 4.6 for Azure App Service and an article demonstrating how to get .NET Framework 4.6 working in your Cloud Service roles.

Azure IaaS

For customers using Azure’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services, installation of .NET Framework 4.6 is manual. To install .NET Framework 4.6 on an Azure IaaS virtual machine, the process is as simple as logging into the virtual machine using Remote Desktop. Once on the machine, the .NET Framework 4.6 installer can be downloaded and installed directly onto the virtual machine. Customers using Azure Automation could also choose to automate the installation onto Azure virtual machines using PowerShell.

Azure App Service Update

The Azure App Service team is nearing the end of the testing phase for .NET Framework 4.6 and planning the deployment to the environments. Currently, the plan is to roll out the updates to Azure App Service during August 2015.

Azure Cloud Services

Saurabh Bhatia authored an article in the Azure documentation center outlining how to install the .NET Framework in a Cloud Service Role. The content has been recently updated to include commentary specific to .NET Framework 4.6. You can find the updated article here on the Azure documentation center.

Summary

Hopefully this article provides some insight into the progress and road map for our new Framework’s availability in Azure and eases some concern customers have had on the delay in availability. We take the responsibility for your application’s stability seriously and want to communicate that we’re taking every precaution to ensure your deployment and hosting experiences will be as rewarding as your development experience. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.