| title | SQL Server 2016 and 2017: Hardware and Software Requirements | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| description | A list of hardware, software, and operating system requirements for installing and running SQL Server 2016 and SQL Server 2017. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| author | MikeRayMSFT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.author | mikeray | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.reviewer | randolphwest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.date | 02/26/2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.service | sql | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.subservice | release-landing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ms.topic | checklist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| helpviewer_keywords |
|
[!INCLUDE SQL Server -Windows Only]
This article lists the minimum hardware and software requirements to install and run [!INCLUDE sssql16-md] and [!INCLUDE sssql17-md] on the Windows operating system.
For hardware and software requirements for other versions of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], see:
The following memory and processor requirements apply to all editions of [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md]:
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Storage | [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] requires a minimum of 6 GB of available hard drive space. Drive space requirements vary with the [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] components you install. For more information, see Drive space requirements later in this article. For information on supported storage types for data files, see Storage types for data files. Installing SQL Server on computers with the NTFS or ReFS file formats is recommended. While the FAT32 file system is supported, it's less secure than NTFS or ReFS. Read-only, mapped, or compressed drives are blocked during installation. |
| Drive | A DVD drive, as appropriate, is required for installation from disk. |
| Monitor | [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] requires Super-VGA (800x600) or higher resolution monitor. |
| Internet | Internet functionality requires Internet access (fees can apply). |
| Memory 1 | |
| Minimum memory | - Express editions: 512 MB - All other editions: 1 GB |
| Recommended memory | - Express editions: 1 GB - All other editions: At least 4 GB, and should be increased as database size increases to ensure optimal performance. |
| Processor | |
| Processor type | x64 processor. All Intel and AMD x86-64 CPUs with up to 64 cores per NUMA node. |
| Minimum speed | 1.4 GHz |
| Recommended speed | 2.0 GHz or faster |
1 The minimum memory required for installing the [!INCLUDE ssDQSServer] component in [!INCLUDE ssDQSnoversion] (DQS) is 2 GB of RAM, which is different from the [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] minimum memory requirement. For information about installing DQS, see Install Data Quality Services.
Note
Installation of [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] is supported on x64 processors only. Installation on x86 processors is no longer supported.
The table in this section lists the minimum software requirements for running SQL Server. There are also recommended configuration options for optimal performance.
The following requirements apply to all installations:
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | - Windows 8 or greater - Windows Server 2012 or greater |
| .NET Framework | [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] requires [!INCLUDE dnprdnshort] 4.6 for the Database Engine, Master Data Services, or Replication. SQL Server setup automatically installs [!INCLUDE dnprdnshort]. See .NET Framework installation. |
| Network software | Supported operating systems for [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] have built-in network software. Named and default instances of a stand-alone installation support the following network protocols: Shared memory, Named Pipes, TCP/IP, and VIA1. |
1 VIA protocol isn't supported on failover clusters. Clients or applications running on the same node of the failover cluster as the SQL Server instance, can use Shared Memory protocol to connect to SQL Server using its local pipe address. However this type of connection isn't cluster-aware and fails after an instance failover. It's therefore not recommended and should only be used in specific scenarios.
Important
The VIA protocol is deprecated. [!INCLUDE ssNoteDepFutureAvoid] For more information about network protocols and libraries, see Network protocols and network libraries.
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Setup installs the following software components required by the product:
- [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Native Client
- [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Setup support files
Important
The PolyBase feature has additional hardware and software requirements. For more information, see Data virtualization with PolyBase in SQL Server.
You can manually install [!INCLUDE dnprdnshort] from Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 (Web Installer) for Windows.
For more information, recommendations, and guidance about [!INCLUDE dnprdnshort] 4.6 see .NET Framework Deployment Guide for Developers.
[!INCLUDE win81] and [!INCLUDE winserver2012r2] require KB2919355 before installing [!INCLUDE dnprdnshort] 4.6.
Note
Support for .NET Framework 4.5.2, 4.6, and 4.6.1 ended on April 26, 2022.
[!INCLUDE sssql16-md] and [!INCLUDE sssql17-md] require .NET Framework 4.6 for Database Engine, Master Data Services, or Replication (SQL Server setup automatically installs .NET Framework).
You can upgrade to .NET 4.8 Framework or directly install .NET 4.8 Framework. All frameworks with major version 4.x do an in-place upgrade, and they are backward compatible.
For more information, check Download .NET Framework 4.8 | Free official downloads (microsoft.com).
The following table shows which editions of [!INCLUDE sssql17-md] are compatible with which versions of Windows. You can also use the support lifecycle information to see if your version of Windows is supported.
| [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] edition: | Enterprise | Developer | Standard | Web | Express |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2022 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2022 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2022 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2019 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2016 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2012 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Foundation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 11 IoT Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 11 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 11 Professional | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 11 Home | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 IoT Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Professional | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Home | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Pro | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8 Pro | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
The following editions of Windows Server Core support installing [!INCLUDE sssql17-md]:
- Windows Server 2022 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure edition
- Windows Server 2022 Standard
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2019 Standard
- Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2016 Standard
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
- Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 Standard
For more information about installing [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] on Server Core, see Install SQL Server on Server Core.
Note
You can't install SQL Server on a Windows OS when case sensitivity is enabled. For more information, see SQL Server isn't supported on a Windows operating system on which case sensitivity is enabled.
The following table shows which editions of [!INCLUDE sssql16-md] are compatible with which versions of Windows. You can also use the support lifecycle information to see if your version of Windows is supported.
| [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] edition: | Enterprise | Developer | Standard | Web | Express |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2019 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2019 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2016 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 (Support lifecycle) | |||||
| Windows Server 2012 Datacenter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Essentials | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 Foundation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows 11 IoT Enterprise | No | No | No | No | No |
| Windows 11 Enterprise | No | No | No | No | No |
| Windows 11 Professional | No | No | No | No | No |
| Windows 11 Home | No | No | No | No | No |
| Windows 10 IoT Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Professional | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 10 Home | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Pro | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8.1 Enterprise | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8 Pro | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Windows 8 | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
For minimum version requirements to install [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] on [!INCLUDE winserver2012] or [!INCLUDE win8], see Version requirements for SQL Server in Windows operating system.
The following editions of Windows Server Core support installing [!INCLUDE sssql16-md]:
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2019 Standard
- Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2016 Standard
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
- Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 Standard
For more information about installing [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] on Server Core, see Install SQL Server on Server Core.
Note
You can't install SQL Server on a Windows OS when case sensitivity is enabled. For more information, see SQL Server isn't supported on a Windows operating system on which case sensitivity is enabled.
WOW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) is a feature of 64-bit editions of Windows that enables 32-bit applications to run natively in 32-bit mode. Applications function in 32-bit mode, even though the underlying operating system is a 64-bit operating system. WOW64 isn't supported for [!INCLUDE ssCurrent] installations. However, Management Tools are supported in WOW64.
Windows client operating systems, for example Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 are available as 32-bit or 64-bit architectures. All SQL Server features are supported on 64-bit client operating systems. On supported 32-bit client operating systems Microsoft supports the following features:
- Data Quality Client
- Client Tools Connectivity
- Integration Services
- Client Tools Backward Compatibility
- Client Tools SDK
- Documentation Components
- Distributed Replay Components
- Distributed Replay Controller
- Distributed Replay Client
- SQL Client Connectivity SDK
[!INCLUDE winserver2008r2] and later server operating systems aren't available as 32-bit architectures. All supported server operating systems are only available as 64-bit. All features are supported on 64-bit server operating systems.
For more information about cross-language support and considerations for installing [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] in localized languages, see Local language versions in SQL Server.
During installation of [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md], Windows Installer creates temporary files on the system drive. Before you run Setup to install or upgrade [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], verify that you have at least 6 GB of available drive space on the system drive for these files. This requirement applies even if you install [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] components to a non-default drive.
Actual hard drive space requirements depend on your system configuration and the features that you decide to install. The following table provides drive space requirements for [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] components.
| Feature | Drive space requirement |
|---|---|
| [!INCLUDE ssDE] and data files, Replication, Full-Text Search, and Data Quality Services | 1,480 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssDE] (as preceding row) with R Services (In-Database) | 2,744 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssDE] (as preceding row) with PolyBase Query Service for External Data | 4,194 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssASnoversion] and data files | 698 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssRSnoversion] | 967 MB |
| [!INCLUDE rsql_platform] (Standalone) | 280 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssRSnoversion] - SharePoint | 1,203 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssRSnoversion] Add-in for SharePoint Products | 325 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssDQSClient] | 121 MB |
| Client Tools Connectivity | 328 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssISnoversion] | 306 MB |
| Client Components (other than [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Books Online components and Integration Services tools) | 445 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssMDSshort] | 280 MB |
| [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Books Online Components to view and manage help content 1 | 27 MB |
| All features | 8,030 MB |
1 The drive space requirement for downloaded Books Online content is 200 MB.
The supported storage types for data files are:
-
Local disk
-
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] currently supports disk drives that have standard native sector sizes of 512 bytes and 4 KB. For more information about support for larger sector sizes and manufacturer implementations, see the section "4-KB disk sector sizes" in the white paper SQLIOBasicsCh2.doc. You can download the whitepaper from the Download section of the SQL Server I/O Basics, Chapter 2 article.
If you use advanced format disks that are physically formatted with 4,096 bytes, but expose a logical sector size of 512 bytes, you can read more about the behavior and recommendations in the Tech Community article SQL Server - New drives use 4K sector size.
Hard drives with sector sizes larger than 4 KB might cause errors when you attempt to store [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] data files on them. For more information on hard drive sector-size support in [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], see Troubleshoot SQL Server errors related to system disk sector size greater than 4 KB. Currently, the
ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytesregistry key is required to successfully install SQL Server on some newer storage devices with system disk sector size greater than 4 KB. -
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] failover cluster installation supports Local Disk only for installing the
tempdbfiles. Ensure that the path specified for thetempdbdata and log files is valid on all the cluster nodes. During failover, if thetempdbdirectories aren't available on the failover target node, the [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] resource fails to come online.
-
-
Shared storage
-
SMB file share
-
SMB storage isn't supported for [!INCLUDE ssASnoversion] data files for either standalone or clustered installations. Use direct attached storage, a storage area network, or S2D instead.
-
SMB storage can be hosted by a Windows File Server or a third-party SMB storage device. If you use Windows File Server, the version should be 2008 or later. For more information about installing [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] using SMB file share as a storage option, see Install SQL Server with SMB fileshare storage.
-
For security reasons, don't install [!INCLUDE ssnoversion-md] on a domain controller. [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Setup doesn't block installation on a computer that is a domain controller, but the following limitations apply:
-
You can't run [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] services on a domain controller under a local service account.
-
After you install [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] on a computer, you can't change the computer from a domain member to a domain controller. You must uninstall [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] before you change the host computer to a domain controller.
-
After you install [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] on a computer, you can't change the computer from a domain controller to a domain member. You must uninstall [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] before you change the host computer to a domain member.
-
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] failover cluster instances aren't supported where cluster nodes are domain controllers.
-
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] isn't supported on a read-only domain controller. [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Setup can't create security groups or [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] service accounts on a read-only domain controller. In this scenario, Setup fails.
[!NOTE]
This restriction also applies to installations on domain member nodes. -
A [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] failover cluster instance isn't supported in an environment where only a read-only domain controller is accessible.
[!NOTE]
This restriction also applies to installations on domain member nodes.
Get relevant installation media from the following locations:
Alternatively, you can deploy SQL Server on an Azure virtual machine in the Azure portal. Because of the overhead of virtualization, virtual machines can be slower than running natively.