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System Requirements for Dynamics 365 Business Central 2021 Release Wave 1

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Note

Azure Active Directory is now Microsoft Entra ID. Learn more

The following sections list the minimum hardware and software requirements to install and run Business Central on-premises (version 18). Minimum means that later versions (such as SP1, SP2, or R2 versions) of a required software product are also supported.

Note

Business Central Setup installs some software if it's not already present in the target computer. For more information, see the "Additional Information" section for each component.

CLIENT COMPONENTS

Web Client

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for the Business Central Web client on-premises.

Specification Requirement
Supported browsers
  • New Microsoft Edge, latest version
  • Google Chrome for Windows, latest version
  • Mozilla Firefox for Windows, latest version
  • Safari for macOS, latest version
Cookies and JavaScript must be enabled in the browser.

Business Central Mobile App

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for the Business Central Mobile App.

For the latest information, see the app in the Windows Store, App Store, or Google Play.
Windows Store. App Store. Google Play

Specification Requirement
Supported operating systems
  • Windows 10 S, Home, Pro, Enterprise, or Education (32-bit and 64-bit editions).
  • Android (tablet and phone): The latest three major versions and their updates.
  • iOS (iPad and iPhone): The latest three major versions and their updates.
Additional hardware
  • 1-GB RAM for Android and Windows.
Additional information
  • Device diagonal screen size 7" for tablets.
  • Screen resolution 960 × 510 for tablets.
  • Device diagonal screen size 4" for phones.
  • Screen resolution 854 x 480 for phones.

Microsoft Office Applications

Business Central on-premises offers various features that require Office apps to be available on client devices. The following table shows the minimum system requirements for the features.

Specification Requirement
Excel
  • Sending data to Excel requires Excel 2019, Excel on the web, or Excel mobile app for iOS or Android™.
  • Editing in Excel using the Excel Add-In requires Microsoft Office 2019 or Excel on the web.
IMPORTANT: Starting with Business Central 2021 release wave 2, the Edit Add-in will only support Excel version 2019 or later.
Word
  • Microsoft Office 2019, Word for the web, or Word mobile app for iOS or Android™.
Outlook Please see Business Inbox in Microsoft Outlook.
Additional software
  • A third-party telephony or VoIP app such as Microsoft Teams is required for placing calls from Business Central.

AL Development

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for customizing or extending Business Central using the AL language in Visual Studio Code.

Specification Requirement
Supported operating systems
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server, version 1809 or later
  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10
For information about the supported versions and their lifecycles, see Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
Required software
Hardware resources
  • Hard disk space: 500 MB.
  • CPU: four cores minimum
  • Memory:
    16 GB for development only.
    16 GB for developing and locally deploying small extensions (<1000 objects).
    32-64 GB for developing and locally deploying large extensions (>1000 objects).
Reports
  • For creating and editing RDL report layouts:
  • For creating and editing Word report layouts:
    • Word 2019 or later

For more information, see Get Started with AL.

SERVER COMPONENTS

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for Business Central Server.

Specification Requirement
Supported operating systems
  • Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (64-bit edition)
  • Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (64-bit edition)
  • Windows Server 2022 (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server 2019 (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server, version 1809 or later (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server 2016 (Datacenter, Standard)
For information about the supported versions and their lifecycles, see Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
Hardware resources
  • Hard disk space: 2 GB
  • Memory:
    8 GB for running application only
    16 GB for publishing small extensions (<1000 objects) to server
    32-64 GB for publishing large extensions (>1000 objects) to server
    • Note The memory for publishing extensions is recommended to ensure extensions publish in a reasonable amount of time. Publishing extensions with less memory is possible but it will take longer.
Dynamics 365 Sales integration
Additional software
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
  • Windows PowerShell 4.0.
Additional information
  • Business Central Setup installs the following software if it's not already present on the target computer:
    • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
    • Windows Identity Foundation*.
    • Report Builder for SQL Server 2016 (18.0). Report Builder 15.0 for SQL Server 2019 (update 18.1 and later)

      With an update 18.1 and later installation, if Report Builder for SQL Server 2016 is already installed, it will be updated to Report Builder 15.0.

* Starting with update 18.1, Windows Identity Foundation is added to the product by Nuget. It's not installed by Setup.

Business Central Web Server Components

Specification Requirement
Supported operating systems
  • Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (64-bit edition)
  • Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (64-bit edition)
  • Windows Server 2022 (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server 2019 (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server, version 1809 or later (Datacenter, Standard)
  • Windows Server 2016 (Datacenter, Standard)
For information about the supported versions and their lifecycles, see Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
Web server
  • Internet Information Services 10.
Additional software
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
  • Windows PowerShell 4.0.
Additional information
  • Business Central Setup installs the following software if it's not already present on the target computer.
    • Microsoft .NET Core 2.1.14 Windows Server Hosting. This software is installed by Business Central Setup if not already present.
    • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8
    • Internet Information Services 10 is installed with the required features enabled.
  • For more information about configuring IIS, see Configuring IIS

Business Central Database Components

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for Business Central database components.

Specification Requirement
Hardware resources For more information, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server. From this page, you can also access requirements for other versions of SQL Server.
Database Business Central supports database compatibility levels 150, 140, or 130. See ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL) Compatibility Level for details on SQL Server Database compatibility levels.
Service Packs and Cumulative Updates Unless explicitly stated, all released Service Packs and Cumulative Updates of the above Microsoft SQL Server versions are supported. it's recommended to always be on the latest released Service Pack and Cumulative Update.
Additional information Business Central Setup installs the following software if it's not already present on the target computer:
  • SQL Server 2016 Express (64-bit edition).
    If the operating system on the target computer doesn't support SQL Server 2016 Express, Setup displays a pre-requisite warning. In this case, you should exit Setup. Then, update the operating system on the computer to one that does support SQL Server 2016 Express and run Setup again.
  • Report Builder for SQL Server 2016 (18.0). Report Builder 15.0 for SQL Server 2019 (update 18.1 and later)

    With an update 18.1 and later installation, if Report Builder for SQL Server 2016 is already installed, it will be updated to Report Builder 15.0.

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS AND FEATURES

Automated Data Capture System

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for Automated Data Capture System (ADCS) for Business Central.

Specification Requirement
Additional software
  • MSXML version 6.0.
  • Telnet or Microsoft Windows HyperTerminal.
  • VT100 Plug-in for each computer on which you install ADCS.
  • Microsoft Loopback Adapter.
Additional information
  • VT100 Plug-in acts as a virtual Telnet server.
  • Starting with Business Central 2020 release wave 1, the VT100 Plug-in for ADCS is no longer included on installation media. You can use VT100 Plug-in from previous releases. However, remember to test that it works properly.
  • HyperTerminal is no longer included with Windows.

Business Inbox in Microsoft Outlook

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for using Business Central as your business inbox in Outlook.

Specification Requirement
Supported Outlook Applications
  • Outlook 2019
  • Outlook on the web
  • Outlook for iOS
  • Outlook for Android™.
Supported Exchange Servers
  • Exchange Online
  • Exchange Server 2019
    In deployments that use Exchange Server, the Exchange PowerShell endpoint must be accessible by Business Central Server.
Supported Authentication
  • The Business Central Server must be configured to run with NavUserPassword, ACS, or Microsoft Entra credentials type.
    Also, the Business Central Web client must be configured for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Supported Browsers
  • When using Outlook on the web, your computer must be running a supported browser listed in the Business Central Web client Requirements.
Supported Operating Systems
  • When using Outlook for iOS or Outlook for Android™, your mobile device must use a supported operating system that's listed in the Business Central Mobile App section.

Important

Starting with Business Central 2021 release wave 2, you will no longer be able to sign in to the Business Central add-in from Outlook versions earlier than 2012.

Microsoft Outlook Legacy Add-In

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for the Business Central legacy Add-In for Outlook for synchronization with Outlook.

Specification Requirement
Supported Outlook Applications
  • Outlook 2019.
Supported Exchange Servers
  • Exchange Server 2019
  • Exchange Online.

Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365 for Sales Integration

The following table shows the product version requirements for integrating Business Central online and on premise with Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365 Sales online and on premises.

Specification Requirement
Microsoft Dataverse and Dynamics 365 Sales online One the following authentication types:
  • Office365 (legacy)1
  • Office365 (modern, OAuth2 client secret based)2
  • OAuth3

    For better security, we recommend Office365 (modern, OAuth2 client secret based) instead of OAuth.
Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement on-premise

Note: Not supported with Business Central online
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement version 9.0.2
  • One of the following authentication types:
    • AD
    • IFD
    • OAuth3

1Effective April 2022, Office365 (legacy) authentication will no longer be supported for Dataverse/Dynamics 365 Sales environments on existing tenants. For more information, see Important changes (deprecations) coming in Power Apps, Power Automate and customer engagement apps.

2 Requires the registration of a third party application in Microsoft Entra ID. For more information, see To register an application in Microsoft Entra ID for connecting from Business Central to Dataverse.

3 AD, IFD, and OAuth types are supported with on-premises version of Dynamics 365 Sales. OAuth and Office 365 (legacy – basic) and Office 365 (modern – MFA) authentication are supported for online versions of Dynamics 365 Sales. For more information about authentication types, see Connection strings in XRM tooling to connect to Dynamics 365.

Business Central as an App for SharePoint

The following table shows the minimum system requirements for Business Central as an App for SharePoint.

Specification Requirement
Supported SharePoint servers
  • SharePoint Server 2019
  • SharePoint Online.

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