Hello:

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I have a couple of .NET apps made by a freelancer (no longer reachable via the platform as they were made several years ago) that require Windows Vista and .NET Framework 4.0 and I'd like to re-target these apps to work in Windows XP at a minimum and with a minimum of .NET 3.5. The applications in question are recovery tools for programs no longer sold/supported by their vendors which is why I went the 3rd-party freelancer route when getting them done. At the time they were written, I didn't know they wouldn't work in my client environment of Windows XP and thus didn't think to ask to have XP-compatible versions made... Flash-forward to now when I have a cleint that needs them to be XP compatible and now I'm sunk.

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The question of the day is now can I (having nothing more than the final EXEs from the freelancer all those years ago, no experience in what looks to be C#, and a copy of Visual Studio 2008 SP1) look into the code and either get the original source code out and re-compile it for the target OS/Net Framework, or otherwise fix this issue?

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Yes, I've told my client "Please take the program (stand-alone EXE) and your effected file(s) to a computer running Windows Vista or Newer with at least .NET framework 4.0 or newer" and they've told me "My site only has these ancient machines on our desks so no-can-do at work and I only have a Mac at home." and the files in question are student grade book files and the applications are to recover passwords. I have said to the client "I will not do the recovery on your files and send you back the unlocked versions as 1) I don't know if I'm dealing with the rightful owner of the files, and 2) I don't want that kind of data anywhere near my machine just in case something goes horribly wrong. You must do the recovery of the files on your own machines and at your own risk as the programs are no longer sold/supported by their vendors."They (the client) said they understand and agree to the risks and would like me to provide the tools; I did so hoping all would be well untill I was told the tools wouldn't run on their XP machine at their site.

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Anyhow, if anyone has any thoughts on how to fix this issue to re-target these apps that would be wonderful. Thanks in advance for any help given.