Windows Server Essentials 2012 / 2016 / 2019 and Small Business Server 2008 / 2011

Due to a small number of customers seeing performance issues we don't recommend the use of the following operating systems with Sage 50 Accounts and Instant Accounts products:

• Microsoft Server Essentials 2019
• Microsoft Server Essentials 2016
• Microsoft Server Essentials 2012
• Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2011
• Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2008

NOTE: The performance issues stem from way these operating systems handles the distribution of resource on the server. If you run any other resource intensive software, for example, SQL or Microsoft exchange, these may use a significant amount of the available resource. Sage Accounts has no way of reserving any allocation of resource for its own exclusive use and this can result in minor or significant performance issues.

We've taken the decision to remove these as one of the recommended operating systems for Sage 50 Accounts 2014 (v20) and above and Instant Accounts 2014 (v20) and above.

If you're using these operating system and are experiencing performance issues we still offer guidance and advice*, however due to their complexity, some solutions may need to be implemented by your IT or business partner support.

Any other queries relating to your Accounts software are supported as normal.

*This may not resolve performance issues in all instances.

Common questions

I already use an earlier version of Sage 50 Accounts with one of these operating systems. Does this mean I can’t upgrade to a later version of Sage Accounts?

There've been no changes to Sage 50 Accounts in this area. If you're already using Sage 50 Accounts there's no reason you can’t upgrade to a later version.

I’m using one of these operating systems and suffering from performance issues. What can I do to resolve these?

For advice resolving performance issues, please refer to this guide >