.NET Windows® Forms Custom Controls

GAC (Global Assembly Cache) Versus Local Assemblies

Deploying any .NET application, or any .NET assembly for that matter, requires determining where the physical assemblies will be installed. One of the major advantages of the .NET platform is the capability for xcopy-style deployment of applications and components.

Note

For those of you who don't remember the days of DOS, xcopy-style deployment means to simply copy the application and its dependencies to a target destination. No registration of components is required, except changes to the operating system itself. In Microsoft's words, it just works.

With classic COM, all COM servers require registration before the COM object can be used by client applications. This registration process involves ...