How to Deploy a .NET Application from Visual Studio to a Linux Server

Deploying a .NET application to a Linux server might sound challenging, especially if you’ve built and tested it entirely on Windows using Visual Studio. But with the cross-platform power of .NET Core and .NET 5+, deploying your app to Linux has never been easier. In this guide, we’ll walk through the exact steps to get your .NET app running on a Linux server — whether you’re managing a startup, building your own side project, or migrating workloads.

What You’ll Learn

• What type of .NET application works on Linux
• How to prepare your build in Visual Studio
• How to publish your app for Linux deployment
• What files to copy to the Linux server
• How to run and optionally daemonize your app as a service

Step 1: Check Your .NET Version

The first and most important thing is understanding what type of .NET you’re using:

If your app is built with .NET Core or .NET 5/6/7/8, you’re good to go!

✅ Tip: To check, open your .csproj file and look for the TargetFramework. Example:

<TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>

Step 2: Publish for Linux

Open Visual Studio and follow these steps:

1. Go to Build > Publish.
2. Choose a folder as the target.
3. Click Edit next to “Configuration” and set:
   • Target Framework: .NET 6 (or the version you’re using)
   • Deployment Mode: Self-contained
   • Target Runtime: linux-x64
4. Click Publish.

Alternatively, run this from the terminal (recommended for control):

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --self-contained true

This creates a standalone Linux build, complete with a native executable and all needed dependencies.

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Step 3: Copy Files to Linux Server

You can now copy the published output to your Linux server:

scp -r bin/Release/net6.0/linux-x64/publish/ user@yourserver:/opt/mydotnetapp

🔐 Tip: Make sure the Linux server has the right permissions and SSH access.

Step 4: Run the App on Linux

SSH into your server:

ssh user@yourserver
cd /opt/mydotnetapp
chmod +x MyAppExecutable
./MyAppExecutable

If it starts successfully, you’ve just run your Windows-built .NET app on Linux!

Step 5 (Optional): Run as a Linux Service

To run the app in the background or on boot, create a systemd service:

1. Create a file: /etc/systemd/system/mydotnetapp.service
2. Add the following:

[Unit]
Description=My .NET App
After=network.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/opt/mydotnetapp
ExecStart=/opt/mydotnetapp/MyAppExecutable
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
SyslogIdentifier=mydotnetapp
User=www-data
Environment=DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT=Production

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Run:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable mydotnetapp
sudo systemctl start mydotnetapp

💡 You can check status with systemctl status mydotnetapp or view logs using journalctl -u mydotnetapp

Common Problems & Fixes

“No such file or directory”

Check if the app executable has execution permissions:

chmod +x MyAppExecutable

“Cannot run app: missing dependencies”

Make sure you used --self-contained true or install the required runtime via apt install dotnet-runtime-6.0.

“404 errors or config missing”

Make sure appsettings.json and other required files are copied correctly.

Conclusion

Running a .NET app on Linux is very feasible with modern .NET. Whether you’re a startup building your first MVP or a developer moving to cloud-native infrastructure, this workflow allows for fast and efficient deployment across platforms.

Want help automating deployment? Integrate this with GitHub Actions or GitLab CI for full DevOps power.