SAP GUI for Windows

Release / Platform Windows Vista (only

Availability & support "Business",
- July 15, 2010 - "Ultimate" and Windows 2008 R2 SAP GUI Version
See also: SAP notes 147519 & 66971 Windows XP Windows 2003 Server "Enterprise" edtions) Windows 2008 Server Windows 7 Server support timeline
SAP GUI for Windows 6.20 support ends on 31st of December
2010.
X X O O O O Limited support applies for SAP GUI for Windows 6.20
since 30th of September 2005 (see remarks below and SAP
SAP GUI for Windows 6.20 note 929300).
X
X X X (as of patchlevel 7 / X O
SAP GUI for Windows 7.10 Compilation 2) SAP GUI for Windows 7.10 support ends on April 12, 2011.

X X X X X X
SAP GUI for Windows 7.20 SAP GUI for Windows 7.20 support ends on April 9, 2013.

Limited support after Limited support after Limited support after Limited support after Limited support after Limited support after
April 14, 2009 June 30, 2010 March 31, 2012 June 30, 2013 January 12, 2015 June 30, 2013
Platform support restriction => operating system => operating system => operating system => operating system => operating system => operating system
Limited support from Operating System vendor upgrade recommended upgrade recommended upgrade recommended upgrade recommended upgrade recommended upgrade recommended
Platform support deadline Support ends Support ends
No support from Operating System vendor March 31, 2014 July 14, 2015 Support ends April 11, 2017 Support ends July 10, 2018 Support ends January 14, 2020 Support ends July 10, 2018
Additional "post mortem" QA procedures for platform Until December 31, 2014 Until June 30, 2016 Until March 31, 2018 Until June 30, 2019 Until December 31, 2020 Until June 30, 2019

Legend
X: GUI / Platform combination is preferred
X: GUI / Platform combination is available
o: GUI / Platform combination is NOT available

A given combination of Windows operating system and SAP GUI release is supported as long as both the operating system AND the SAP GUI release is supported.
Clients can also be used to access SAP via Terminalserver or Citrix Presentation Server.

Support for older Operating Systems

Support for SAP GUI on Microsoft Windows 2000 was dropped in July 2010 since Microsoft terminated support for this operating system on 13th of July 2010. Customers still using Windows 2000 are
strongly advised to migrate to a newer operating system.
Client platform can still be used to access SAP via Terminalserver or Citrix Presentation Server after end of support.
Windows 2000 Post mortem QA procedures: Until end of support for SAP GUI for Windows 7.10 (April 2011).

Compatibility and Upgrade

SAP GUI for Windows is "downward compatible". You can use, for example, SAP GUI for Windows 7.20 with SAP R/3 3.1, 4.0, 4.5, 4.6 or other pre-existing SAP products starting with SAP R/3. However please be aware that while connectivity to older SAP
releases is possible, official support is limited to those SAP releases which are still within their respective maintenance period (including extended maintenance and for products newer than or equal to SAP R/3 3.1i customer-specific maintenance).
SAP GUI for Windows 6.20 is not only "downward compatible" in regards to SAP System, but also partly "upwards compatible". This means that you can use SAP GUI for Windows 6.20 with SAP Systems based on SAP Netweaver 2004 and even SAP
Netweaver 7.0 including the respective Enhancement Packages (for NetWeaver 7.0 based systems the following restrictions apply: BI 7.0 and SCM 5.0 require SAP GUI for Windows 7.10 or higher due to new frontend components only available as of this
release).
For SAP Systems based on SAP Web Application Server releases newer than or equal to 7.10 you need an installation of SAP GUI for Windows 7.10 (SAP GUI for Windows 6.20 is not upwards compatible to these systems).
You do not neccessarily have to upgrade your frontend software (mind the restrictions mentioned above) when upgrading to a new SAP release (as long as you are using at least SAP GUI for Windows 6.20) though you will not benefit from new features
newer SAP GUI releases may offer.
You can upgrade SAP GUI prior to upgrading your SAP system.
When upgrading SAP GUI, you should use the latest version available (please check for Hardware requirements in note 26417).

What does it mean ...

... Limited support SAP may not be able to solve problems that occur exclusively on such a platform. In these cases an operating system upgrade may be the solution SAP can offer.
... Support ends SAP does not solve / handle problems that occur exclusively on these platforms.
... Post mortem QA procedures For an additional transition phase of up to 12 month, SAP applies QA procedures to patches on these platforms.
Appendix: Operating System Lifetime (defined by OS vendor)
Windows 98 End of Life: 30/2006 (on
Entering “Non-Supported” phase: 1/2004 (*) "paid incident" support
basis)
Windows NT 4.0 End of Life: 6/2004
Entering “Non-Supported” phase: 6/2003 (*)
Windows 2000 End of Life: 6/2010
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 6/2005 (*)
Windows XP Professional End of Life: 4/2014
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 4/2009 (*)
Windows 2003 Server End of Life: 7/2015
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 7/2010 (*)
Windows Vista End of Life: 4/2017
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 6/2012 (*)
Windows 2008 Server End of Life: 7/2018
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 7/2013 (*)
Windows 7 End of Life: 1/2020
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 1/2015 (*)
Windows 2008 R2 Server End of Life: 7/2018
Entering “Extended Support” phase: 7/2013 (*)
(*) see also: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect