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This topic lists the hardware and software requirements for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0.
System Requirements
The following table lists the hardware and software requirements for the SQL Server Compact development environment. For more information about the different environments, Installing SQL Server Compact.
Unless you are using the OLEDB data provider, the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 is required to install SQL Server Compact 4.0. You can download the .NET Framework 4 from the .NET Framework 4 Download Center.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 or later versions.
To develop applications for Windows desktop, use Visual Studio 2010. You can also use Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 to develop desktop applications for SQL Server Compact 4.0.
You do not need to install .NET Framework separately if you use Visual Studio as the development environment. Visual Studio installs .NET Framework. For information about system requirements, see Visual Studio Books Online.