Crystal Reports XI Release 2 support of Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7

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Support of Windows Server 2008

Crystal Reports XI Release 2 (11.5) is not supported with any Service Pack for Crystal Reports on Windows Server 2008. See the "Crystal Reports XI Release 2 - Service Pack 6 Supported Platforms" article for details of supported Operating Systems (p.4).

Often I hear that the article does not specifically say that Windows Server 2008 is not supported. However note that that Mac, or Linux, etc., are also not mentioned... E.g.; only supported Operating Systems are noted. Since Crystal Reports XI R2 is not supported on Windows Server 2008, neither is any of the Solution Developer Kits (SDKs). This includes the Report Designer Component (RDC) - Windows or web applications, the VCL for Delphi and Crystal Reports SDK for VS .NET.

Support of Windows 7

Crystal Reports XI Release 2 (11.5) with Service Pack 6 (v. 11.5.12.1838) is supported on Windows 7. 
The Report Designer Component (RDC) is supported as Windows application only. In the case of a Web applications, Windows 7 is only supported as a client system and IE 8 must be run in IE 7 compatibility mode. Regarding compatibility modes for IE, see Microsoft kbase 956197 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956197). For details of supported browsers and Crystal Reports and IE compatibility mode, see the Crystal Reports XI Release 2 - Service Pack 6 Supported Platforms article (p.8).

The Crystal reports SDK for Visual Studio .NET is supported as Windows application. In the case of a Web application, Windows 7 is only supported as a client system and IE 8 must be run in IE 7 compatibility mode.

Your options - Web applications on Windows 2008 Server using the RDC in Classic ASP

The RDC is not tested on Windows Server 2008 and thus is not supported. Your options are:

1) Do not install these applications to Windows 2008 Server

2) Port the application to Visual Studio .NET, using the Crystal Reports Assemblies version 12.x for .NET (not the RDC) or Crystal Reports Basic for Visual Studio 2008 (10.5) as these are the only two versions of Crystal Reports tested and thus officially supported on Windows Server 2008

3) Port the application to Java

4) Troubleshoot the issue.
a) Use the article “How to Troubleshoot the Server- and Client-Side Installation of    The ActiveX Viewer”. This is an older article but the troubleshooting ideas may help.
 b) Use utilities such as Process Monitor, Modules, Depends, Charles and / or Fiddler to help you gather as much information as possible about what your application is doing and use that information to adjust your approach. E.g.; if Process Monitor reports “Access Denied” on a particular registry entry, modify the registry so that your application has the necessary rights.

5) Search the forum SAP Crystal Reports - Legacy SDKs and SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio for recent posts by the community regarding any successes.

6) Share your successes with the community at the above forums.

May 12, 2010 update

A new blog documenting reported solutions has been published:

Report Designer Component (RDC) in classic ASP applications on Win 2008 Server and Win 7 - Possible ...

More info

Crystal Reports v. 9.1 to 12.x  VS .NET Runtime Distribution  & Supported Operating Systems

Which Crystal Reports assembly versions are supported in which versions of Visual Studio .NET