SQL Server graphical tools require VGA or higher resolution: at least 1,024x768 pixel resolution.

A Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device is required.

A CD or DVD drive, as appropriate, is required for installation from CD or DVD media.

On 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, eight-node cluster installations (that is, the maximum number of nodes supported by Microsoft Windows Server 2003) are supported. For more information on high availability solutions, see Configuring High Availability and Before Installing Failover Clustering.

Network software requirements for the 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 are the same as the requirements for the 32-bit versions. Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 have built-in network software.

Note:
SQL Server 2005 does not support the Banyan VINES Sequenced Packet protocol (SPP), Multiprotocol, AppleTalk, or NWLink IPX/SPX network protocols. Clients previously connecting with these protocols must select a different protocol to connect to SQL Server 2005.

Stand-alone named and default instances support the following network protocols:

• Shared memory
  
• Named pipes
  
• TCP/IP
  
• VIA
  

Note   Shared memory is not supported on failover clusters.

Internet requirements for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 are the same. The following table lists the Internet requirements for SQL Server 2005.

1Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 or later is required for SQL Server Management Studio, Business Intelligence Development Studio, and the Report Designer component of Reporting Services.

2For Reporting Services (64-bit) installations on 64-bit servers, the 64-bit version of ASP.NET must be installed. For Reporting Services (32-bit) installations on the 32-bit subsystem (WOW64) of a 64-bit server, the 32-bit version of ASP.NET must be installed. Reporting Services is not supported in side-by-side configurations on the 64-bit platform and on the 32-bit subsystem (WOW64) of a 64-bit server at the same time. For more information, see How to: Install 32-bit Reporting Services on a 64-bit Computer.

SQL Server Setup requires Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 or later and Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8 SP1 or later. You can download MDAC 2.8 SP1 from this Microsoft Web site.

SQL Server Setup installs the following software components required by the product:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
  
• Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
  
• Microsoft SQL Server Setup support files
  

Note:
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not install the ..NET Framework 2.0. Before installing SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, you must download and install the .NET Framework 2.0 from this Microsoft Web site.

If not already installed, SQL Server Setup installs each of these components separately; only the Microsoft SQL Server Setup support files are automatically removed when you uninstall SQL Server 2005. For more information on uninstalling this release, see How to: Uninstall an Existing Instance of SQL Server 2005 (Setup).

Note:
The .NET Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) is not installed by SQL Server 2005. The SDK contains documentation, a C++ compiler, and other tools that are useful when using the .NET Framework for SQL Server development. You can download the .NET Framework SDK from this Microsoft Web site.

After installing required components, SQL Server Setup will verify that the computer where SQL Server will be installed also meets all of the other requirements for a successful installation. For more information, see Check Parameters for the System Configuration Checker.

SQL Server 2005 failover clusters require Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) on at least one node of your server cluster. MSCS is only supported if it is installed on a hardware configuration that has been tested for compatibility with the MSCS software. For more information, see Before Installing Failover Clustering.

For upgrades:

• English-language versions of SQL Server can be upgraded to any localized version of SQL Server 2005.
  
• Localized versions of SQL Server can be upgraded to localized versions of SQL Server 2005 of the same language.
  
• Localized version of SQL Server cannot be upgraded to the English-language version of SQL Server 2005.
  
• Localized versions of SQL Server cannot be upgraded to localized SQL Server 2005 versions of a different localized language.
  

All localized upgrades must follow supported upgrade paths. For specific information on supported upgrade paths, see Version and Edition Upgrades.

Additional cross-language support:

• The English-language version of SQL Server 2005 is supported on all localized versions of supported operating systems.
  
• Localized versions of SQL Server 2005 are supported on localized operating systems that are the same language as the localized SQL Server version.
  
• Localized versions of SQL Server 2005 are also supported on English-language versions of supported operating systems through the use of Windows Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) settings. However, you must verify certain operating system settings before installing a localized version of SQL Server 2005 on a server that is running an English-language operating system with a non-English MUI setting. You must verify that the following operating system settings match the language of the localized SQL Server to be installed:
  
  • The operating system user interface setting
    
  • The operating system user locale setting
    
  • The system locale setting
    
  If these operating system settings do not match the language of the localized SQL Server, then you must correctly set these operating system settings as described in How to: Change Operating System Settings to Support Localized Versions.
  

You can install SQL Server 2005 on Microsoft Virtual Server and on Microsoft Virtual PC on supported operating systems and hardware. For information about Virtual Server, see this Microsoft Web site. For information about Virtual PC, see this Microsoft Web site.

Caution:
Do not install SQL Server 2005 on Microsoft Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual PC on hardware that is not listed in the Hardware and Software requirements sections below.

This table shows hardware requirements for installing and running SQL Server 2005 on the 32-bit platform.

1System Configuration Checker (SCC) will block Setup if the requirement for processor type is not met.

2SCC will warn the user but will not block Setup if the minimum or recommended processor speed check is not met. No warning will appear on multiprocessor machines.

3SCC will warn the user but will not block Setup if the minimum or recommended RAM check is not met. Memory requirements are for this release only, and do not reflect additional memory requirements of the operating system. SCC verifies the memory available when Setup starts.

4 SQL Server Evaluation Edition supports the same feature set as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.

Note:
SQL Server 2005 software works on the hardware certified for use with the Microsoft Windows operating system. For more information about hardware certified for use with the Windows operating system, see this Microsoft Web site: Products Designed for Microsoft Windows - Windows Catalog and HCL.

During installation of SQL Server 2005, Windows Installer creates temporary files on the system drive. Before you run Setup to install or upgrade to SQL Server 2005, verify that you have 2.0 GB of available disk space on the system drive for these files. This requirement applies even if you install all SQL Server components to a non-default (system) drive. Many files will be installed to the system drive, usually drive C:. For example, Setup log files will be written to the system drive, and can require 80 MB for a stand-alone installation, and more for a failover cluster installation. For more information, see File Locations for Default and Named Instances of SQL Server 2005.

Actual hard disk space requirements depend on your system configuration and the applications and features you choose to install. The following table provides disk space requirements for SQL Server 2005 components.

This table shows the operating systems that run the server software for each 32-bit version of SQL Server 2005. For information about how to install SQL Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008, see the list of known issues .

1 SQL Server 2005 Evaluation Edition supports the same feature set as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, but SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition is not supported on all of the operating systems that support Evaluation Edition.

2You can download Windows 2000 SP4 from this Microsoft Web site. Service packs for Windows 2000 Datacenter Edition must be obtained through the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

3These editions of SQL Server 2005 can be installed to the Windows on Windows (WOW64) 32-bit subsystem of a 64-bit server.

4You can install Microsoft SQL Server Books Online, client tools and some legacy tools for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition on Windows 2000 Professional SP4, and SP2. Client tools include SQL Server Management Studio, and Business Intelligence Development Studio, SQL Server 2005 software development kit. Legacy tools include the Data Transformation Services Runtime and SQL-DMO.

5 Reporting Services, which is installed as part of SQL Server Express with Advanced Services, will not install on operating systems that do not include Internet Information Services (IIS). This includes Windows XP Home Edition, which does not include IIS.

6 SQL Server 2005 support on Windows Server 2003 R2 is the same as support on Windows Server 2003 SP1.

7Requires SQL Server 2005 SP2 on Windows Vista.

8 SQL Server 2005 Express Edition requires SP1 on Windows Vista. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services requires SP2 on Windows Vista.

9 SQL Server 2005 Express Edition requires SP2 on Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services is not supported on Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007. For more information, see the Windows XP Embedded Web site or the MSDN Library technical articles.

10 SQL Server 2005 Express Edition requires SP2 on Windows Embedded for Point of Service. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services is not supported on Windows Embedded for Point of Service. For more information, see the Windows Embedded Web site.

11 Requires SQL Server 2005 SP2 on

The following limitations or issues affect installations on supported operating systems:

• Native Web Service (SOAP/HTTP) support is only available for instances of SQL Server 2005 running on Windows 2003.
  
• Individual topics in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) programming, Analysis Management Objects (AMO), and ADOMD.NET documentation may indicate support for earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows NT 4.0. However, for this release, these three programming interfaces are only supported on Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003.
  
• SQL Server 2005 failover clusters require Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) on at least one node of your server cluster. MSCS is only supported if it is installed on a hardware configuration that has been tested for compatibility with the MSCS software. For more information, see Before Installing Failover Clustering.
  

SQL Server 2005 32-bit client components can be installed on Windows 2000 Professional SP4 or later.

Note:
This release supports Tabular Data Stream (TDS) 4.2 client connectivity through legacy MDAC/DB-Library, not by using new SQL Server 2005 features.

This table shows hardware requirements for installing and running SQL Server 2005 on the 64-bit platform.

1System Configuration Checker (SCC) will block Setup if the processor type requirement is not met.

2SCC will warn the user but will not block Setup if the minimum or recommended processor speed check is not met.

3SCC will warn the user but will not block Setup if the minimum or recommended RAM check is not met. Memory requirements are for this release only, and do not reflect additional memory requirements of the operating system. SCC verifies the memory available when Setup starts.

4 SQL Server 2005 Evaluation Edition supports the same feature set as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.

Note:
SQL Server 2005 software works on the hardware certified for use with the Microsoft Windows operating system. For more information about hardware certified for use with the Windows operating system, see this Microsoft Web site: Products Designed for Microsoft Windows - Windows Catalog and HCL. For information on installing a high availability solution, see Configuring High Availability.

This table shows the operating systems that run the server software from each 64-bit version of SQL Server 2005. For information about how to install SQL Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008, see the list of known issues .

1 SQL Server 2005 Evaluation Edition supports the same feature set as SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, but Enterprise Edition is not supported on all of the operating systems that support Evaluation Edition.

2IA64 = Intel Itanium architecture.

3X64 = AMD architecture / Intel Extended Systems architecture.

4Tools native/WOW64. For more information on WOW64, see Extended System Support.

5 SQL Server 2005 support on Windows Server 2003 R2 is the same as support on Windows Server 2003 SP1.

6Requires SQL Server 2005 SP2 on Windows Vista.

7 SQL Server 2005 Express Edition requires SQL Server 2005 SP1 on Windows Vista. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services requires SQL Server 2005 SP2 on Windows Vista.

8Requires SQL Server 2005 SP2 on

Extended System Support

SQL Server 2005 64-bit client components can be installed on Windows Server 2003 (64-bit).