Article ID: 122352 - Last Review: April 7, 2004 - Revision: 4.4

Supported Windows versions for SQL Server

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This article was previously published under Q122352

SUMMARY

This article provides information on the different versions of SQL Server and the Windows operating system versions on which they run.

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MORE INFORMATION

You can determine the version of SQL Server by executing the following query:

select @@version

The version of SQL Server is also reported in the first line of the error log.

You can find the version of Windows NT you are running by going to the command prompt and typing winver.

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SQL Server 2000

For information on SQL Server 2000, see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/2852 (http://support.microsoft.com/ph/2852)

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SQL Server 7.0

For information on SQL Server 7.0, see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/2862 (http://support.microsoft.com/ph/2862)

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SQL Server 6.5 and Earlier

SQL SERVER VERSION     WINDOWS VERSION
------------------     ---------------------------------------------
6.5                    Windows NT Server 3.51
Standard Edition       Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3 or later.
                       Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition SP4 or later.
                       Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Server SP1
                       with SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a. (Microsoft does 
                       not recommend that you use SQL Server 6.5 Service 
                       Pack 5a on Microsoft Windows 2000 although it will 
                       work in some situations.)

6.5                    Windows NT Server 3.51
Workstation/Developer  Windows NT Server 4.0
System                 Windows NT Workstation 3.51
                       Windows NT Workstation 4.0
                       Windows 2000 Professional with 
                       SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a.

6.5                    Windows NT Enterprise Edition 4.0.
Enterprise Edition     Windows 2000 Advanced Server with  
                       no more than 2 nodes using
                       SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a.

6.0                    Windows NT Server 3.5/3.51

6.0                    Windows NT Server 3.5/3.51
Workstation            Windows NT Workstation 3.5/3.51
System

4.21                   Windows NT 3.1/Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
(includes
4.21 Desktop
System)

4.21a                  Windows NT 3.1/Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
                       Windows NT Server 3.5/3.51

4.21a                  Windows NT 3.1/Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
Workstation            Windows NT Workstation 3.5/3.51
System                 Windows NT Server 3.5/3.51

4.20                   Windows NT 3.1/Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1

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Version-Specific Notes

All versions prior to SQL Server 7.0 SP1 are not supported on the Microsoft Terminal Server.
SQL Server 6.5 is NOT supported on Windows NT version 3.5.
SQL Server 6.5 is supported on Windows NT 4.0.
The Enterprise Edition was released in December, 1997 to add support for increased memory sets, Windows NT clustering, Natural Language query processing (Microsoft English Query), and scalability for servers with more than four processors.

Because many of the extensions cooperate with comparable extensions in the operating system, SQL Server 6.5 Enterprise Edition must be installed on a Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition server. There are checks in the SQL Server 6.5 Enterprise Edition setup program to verify that Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition is the operating system.
When installing the SQL Server 6.5 server components or client tools on Windows 2000, you may receive the following error message:
This program does not run correctly on this version of Windows. To continue, click Run program. To exit, click Cancel. For more information, click Details.
This message can be safely ignored. Click Run to continue with the install.
Although version 6.0 is supported on Windows NT 3.5, the preferred platform is version 3.51. Version 6.0 is not supported on Windows NT 4.0.
SQL Server 6.0 with Service Pack 3 requires Windows NT 3.51.
SQL Server 4.21a with Service Pack 4 requires Windows NT 3.5 or 3.51.

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