Reason: Visual Studio 2022 dropped support for .NET Framework 4.0 and older.
Furthermore, .NET Framework 4.0 isn't compatible with .NET Standard, which a lot of 3rd party libs available on Nuget require. For .NET Framework, this requires at least .NET Framework v4.6.1.
The Runtime used by Windows when running the app is the current .NET Framework v4, which is usually NET Framework v4.8 anyway. Any later versions of .NET Framework v4 is used to run .NET Framework 4.0 apps.
As for app requirements, .NET Framework 4.8 is shipped with Windows since the Windows 10 May 2019 update.
Finally, the binaries produced by the compiler when targeting .NETFX4.8 should be identical as when target .NETFX4.0 (same MSIL)
Process: All the changes where generated by Visual Studio, which has asked for and done the .NETFX 4.8 migration itself.
Other details: The .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile (a lighter runtime, essentially for thick client apps only) was dropped in later releases on the .NET Framework, this is why any reference to it is removed.
Also, the 'Prefer32Bit' was presumably removed because nowadays the x86_64 platform is everywhere.
Reason: Visual Studio 2022 dropped support for .NET Framework 4.0 and older.
Furthermore, .NET Framework 4.0 isn't compatible with .NET Standard, which a lot of 3rd party libs available on Nuget require. For .NET Framework, this requires at least .NET Framework v4.6.1.
The Runtime used by Windows when running the app is the current .NET Framework v4, which is usually NET Framework v4.8 anyway. Any later versions of .NET Framework v4 is used to run .NET Framework 4.0 apps.
As for app requirements, .NET Framework 4.8 is shipped with Windows since the Windows 10 May 2019 update.
Finally, the binaries produced by the compiler when targeting .NETFX4.8 should be identical as when target .NETFX4.0 (same MSIL)
Process: All the changes where generated by Visual Studio, which has asked for and done the .NETFX 4.8 migration itself.
Other details: The .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile (a lighter runtime, essentially for thick client apps only) was dropped in later releases on the .NET Framework, this is why any reference to it is removed. Also, the 'Prefer32Bit' was presumably removed because nowadays the x86_64 platform is everywhere.