[sandyarmstrong]

> However, presumably PowerShell requires at least the .NET Runtime if not the .NET SDK, doesn't it?

Nope, these days .NET programs (like PowerShell) bundle the runtime. But even if they did a lighter distribution that depended on the runtime already being installed, there would be no .NET telemetry sent.

> Does running the recommended "dotnet --list-runtimes" command send telemetry, like most of the commands?

This is still an SDK command. I don't personally know if this one sends any telemetry.

> Or are you saying that the Runtime, unlike the SDK, doesn't include telemetry at all?

The runtime does not send telemetry.

[ptx]

So the "dotnet" command is only in the SDK, not in the separately downloadable Runtime? Does the Runtime have some other command to launch an executable?

Edit: Actually, the ".NET Runtime 6.0.4" [1] (not the SDK) definitely has a "dotnet" command included. Presumably with the telemetry?

[1] https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0

[sandyarmstrong]

When I say "the runtime", I'm referring to everything that would be bundled into a published .NET program. The base class libraries, the bootstrapper, etc. There is no telemetry here.

Yes, if you download a .NET Runtime distribution, it will include the `dotnet` command from the SDK so that basic commands like `dotnet --list-runtimes` and `dotnet --list-sdks` are available. These commands may send telemetry. But as you probably saw on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/telemetry , using `dotnet path/to/program.dll` to run an unbundled .NET program will never send telemetry.