SAP GUI for Windows

Release / Platform
Availability & Support
- November 2, 2015 See also: SAP notes 147519 & 66971

Windows Vista
(only
"Business",
Windows 2008
"Ultimate" and
Server /
"Enterprise" Windows 2008
edtions)
R2 Server
X

Windows 7

Windows 8 (only
"Pro" and
"Enterprise"
editions)

Windows 8.1 (only

"Pro" and
"Enterprise"
editions)

Windows 2012
Server

Windows 2012 R2
Server

Windows 10 (only
"Pro" and
"Enterprise"
editions)

X (as of patchlevel 4)

SAP GUI for Windows 7.40

Platform support restriction

Limited support from Operating System vendor

Limited support after

March 31, 2012
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Limited support after

January 13, 2015
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Platform support deadline

No support from Operating System vendor

Support ends April

11, 2017

Support ends January

Support ends January 10, Support ends January 10, Support ends January 10,
14, 2020
Support ends January 14, 2020 2023
2023
2023

Support ends January 10, Support ends October 14,

2023
2025

Until March 31, 2018

Until December 31,

2020

Until December 31, 2023

Additional "post mortem" QA procedures for platform

Limited support after

January 13, 2015
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Until December 31, 2020

Limited support after

January 09, 2018
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Until December 31, 2023

Limited support after

January 09, 2018
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Until December 31, 2023

Limited support after

January 09, 2018
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Until December 31, 2023

Limited support after

January 09, 2018
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

SAP GUI Version

support timeline
SAP GUI for Windows 7.40 is available since 8th of
October 2014 and will be supported until 9th of January
2018.

Limited support after

January 09, 2018
=> operating system
upgrade recommended

Until October 31, 2026

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.
SAP GUI for Windows 7.30: End of support reached
On 31st of October 2015 support for SAP GUI for Windows 7.30 ended. Please upgrade to SAP GUI for Windows 7.40.

Blue Crystal Theme in SAP GUI for Windows 7.40

SAP GUI for Windows 7.40 introduces the new "Blue Crystal Theme". Due to the technical implementation this new theme is only supported as of Windows 7 (excluding Windows Vista and Windows 2008 Server). On the unsupported platforms you can run any of the
alternative SAP GUI themes (like for example SAP Signature).

Compatibility and Upgrade

SAP GUI for Windows is "downward compatible". You can use SAP GUI for Windows 7.30 or 7.40 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 in customer-specific maintenance).
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. However keep in mind the SAP GUI release and support cycle.
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 SAP note 26417).

What does it mean ...

... Limited support
... Support ends
... Post mortem QA procedures
... Restricted 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 only solution SAP can offer.
SAP does not solve / handle problems that occur exclusively on these platforms.
For an additional transition phase of up to 12 month, SAP applies QA procedures to patches on these platforms.
Due to limitations (for example support restrictions by other vendors) no full support can be provided anymore. A SAP GUI upgrade may be required.

Appendix: Operating System Lifetime (defined by OS vendor)

End of Life:
Windows 98
30/2006 (on
Entering Non-Supported phase: 1/2004 (*)
"paid incident"
support basis)
End of Life:
Windows NT 4.0
6/2004
Entering Non-Supported phase: 6/2003 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 2000
6/2010
Entering Extended Support phase: 6/2005 (*)
End of Life:
Windows XP Professional
4/2014
Entering Extended Support phase: 4/2009 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 2003 Server
7/2015
Entering Extended Support phase: 7/2010 (*)
End of Life:
Windows Vista
4/2017
Entering Extended Support phase: 6/2012 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 2008 Server
1/2020
Entering Extended Support phase: 1/2015 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 7
1/2020
Entering Extended Support phase: 1/2015 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 2008 R2 Server
1/2020
Entering Extended Support phase: 1/2015 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 8 / 8.1
1/2023
Entering Extended Support phase: 1/2018 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 2012 (R2) Server
1/2023
Entering Extended Support phase: 1/2018 (*)
End of Life:
Windows 10
10/2025
Entering Extended Support phase: 10/2020 (*)
(*) see also: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect