Support for SAS on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

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Microsoft Windows 8 has been with us for a year, and its first major update -- Windows 8.1 -- has just arrived. So how does SAS support these Windows 8 platforms?

The answer can be found on support.sas.com in SAS Note 46876. I'll summarize it here: SAS 9.3 and SAS 9.4 are supported on Windows 8 and 8.1, as well as on Windows Server 2012. SAS 9.4 has been supported since its initial release in July 2013. SAS 9.3 requires a baseline version of 9.3 Maint 2, revision 13w18 (April 2013) or later. (That's primarily due to the additional support for Java 7, which is required for SAS use on Windows 8.)

SAS Enterprise Guide 5.1 and 6.1 are also supported on Windows 8/8.1. The same holds true for the SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office 5.1 and 6.1. Windows 8.1 adds Internet Explorer 11 to the mix, which should perform fine for your web-based SAS applications. The browser support matrix is tricky to keep up with since browsers rev often, and it usually happens "out-of-band" with operating system updates. If your browser flavor/version isn't listed as supported that doesn't mean it won't work, but it does mean that SAS R&D hasn't "certified" it as compatible with SAS web applications. It's best to check third-party product details on support.sas.com for updates and limitations.

Initially, SAS 9.4 and SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1 were available only in 64-bit versions. That's a limitation for some customers who aren't yet ready for "64-bit Everything", so SAS will release 32-bit versions of these products near the end of this year. Here's SAS Note 51786 with the details.

To explore further combinations of operating systems and SAS products, visit the interactive Supported Operating Systems page.

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About Author

Chris Hemedinger

Director, SAS User Engagement

+Chris Hemedinger is the Director of SAS User Engagement, which includes our SAS Communities and SAS User Groups. Since 1993, Chris has worked for SAS as an author, a software developer, an R&D manager and a consultant. Inexplicably, Chris is still coasting on the limited fame he earned as an author of SAS For Dummies

19 Comments

  1. Thanks Chris,
    For those of us stragglers still living in 32-bit land, good to know that a 32 bit version of 9.4 is on the way.
    --Q.

  2. Thanks Chris, but can't see anything in note 46876 about Windows 8.1 -- or elsewhere on the SAS site?

    • Chris Hemedinger
      Chris Hemedinger on

      Tom, perhaps the notes have not been updated yet, but Tech Support treats Windows 8.1 similar to Windows 8. The software should install and function in the same way; if you have a problem while using SAS on Windows 8.1, SAS Tech Support will help you.

  3. Federico Kreusch on

    Hi, Chris, I have EG 4.1 installed in a machine with Windows 8.1, but some menus are disable, like new server and others. I can´t upgrade to a newer version of EG. Does exist a patch or somethin to do for EG 4.1 works in to a windows 8.1 enviroment?

    Thanks a lot.

    • Hi Frederico,
      Did you manage to get any further with EG 4.1 on Windows 8.1 ?
      We have the same requirement (for a very short term) and exploring options.

      • Chris Hemedinger
        Chris Hemedinger on

        While not officially supported, you should be able to make it work by installing ALL of the system requirements first. That includes Microsoft .NET 1.1.

  4. Abhishek Jain on

    Hi

    Can you please me form where i can download SAS for learn this environment.

  5. Rikard Björkås on

    I just updated my OS from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. SAS 9.3 is still running fine, but I cannot not launch SAS Deployment Manager 9.3. This means that I can not uninstall SAS 9.3. Any suggestions from anyone?

  6. I use windows 8.1 on a 64 bit machine.
    I downloaded the SAS software and the VMware. But my system is not capable of Virtualisation.
    Is there a way out for me to use SAS software as I want to learn.

  7. hi guys now iam using windows 8.1 version can u plz tell me how to download sas software i was searched lots of sites for downloading but stil i dint get proper site for downloading plz if u guys know any site for free downloading sas software plz send the site or URL ...tnq

  8. An old thread, but maybe someone can advise. We have a mixture of Windows 7 desktops and laptops and 8.1 tablets, and EG 5.1. Recently one or two people have requested EG on their tablets but the installation has failed. I advised that it wasn't supported on Windows 8, which I drew from the system requirements document http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/en/ikeguidesr/65195/PDF/default/sreq.pdf. But then, just to confound me, it turns out that a few people have been using EG 5.1 on Windows 8 tablets for a couple of years.

    • Chris Hemedinger
      Chris Hemedinger on

      I suspect it's the installation process that's presenting the trouble. If SAS Enterprise Guide was already on the machine when the OS was upgraded to Windows 8, it would probably continue to work. There are no specific known runtime problems with Windows 8 and EG 5.1 -- it's just that when EG 5.1 was released, Windows 8 wasn't available for testing and therefore "certification" from SAS.

      You might be able to workaround by installing all of the SAS Enterprise Guide prerequisites first -- the items in the System Requirements Wizard -- before installing EG. That includes the proper version of Microsoft .NET, MSVC runtimes, etc.

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