Compatibility of Crystal report 8.5 to Windows 2008/2012 server

[jyotijain]

Hi All,

We are planning to upgrade our OS to (Win 2008/2012 ). We have Crystal report 8.5 in our environment.

Since we didnt find any information in PAM., so can anyone help with the relevant information ?

1) Would there be any issue in existing Crystal reports 8.5 ?

2) Is it compatible to OS (Win 2008 / 2012 ) ?

3) If not, do I have to upgrade Crystal reports application, If yes, then which version of Crystal report would be compatible ?

[abhilash_kumar · Accepted solution]

Hi Jyoti,

I'm pretty sure CR 8.5 doesn't support Windows Server 2008/2012.

The support for these OSs started from some of the higher patches for CR 2008.

-Abhilash

[jyotijain · Accepted solution]

Thanks.

Since CR 8.5 will not be supported in Win 2008/2012.

1) So can we migrate reports from CR 8.5 to CR 2013 version, since (CR 2013 is compatible with Win 2008 & 2012)

2) How and what is the process of migrating ? Do we need to have an intermediary version for migration ? Any documentation related to this will be useful

[former_member477249]

Hi,

1. Can't tell, something which is not supported is no officially tested to work by SAP. However, the reports can still work fine

2.No

3.Crystal Reports 2008 and above. To upgrade/migrate the CR 8.5 reports, they need to be opened once in the new version and saved.

-Prathamesh

[jyotijain]

Thanks.

Since CR 8.5 will not be supported in Win 2008/2012.

1) So can we migrate reports from CR 8.5 to CR 2013 version, since (CR 2013 is compatible with Win 2008 & 2012)

2) How and what is the process of migrating ? Do we need to have an intermediary version for migration ? Any documentation related to this will be useful

[abhilash_kumar]

Hi Jyoti,

More info here:

and one of your older threads here:

-Abhilash

[DellSC]

Sometimes it can be a bit more complicated than just opening the report in the new version and saving it.

The internal structure of the .rpt file changed dramatically with Crystal 9, which also no longer allowed users to manually edit queries - instead you have to create a "command" in the report to run a special query instead of just linking tables together.  So, if you have manually edited the SQL in the 8.5 report, the tables will appear in the Database Expert and the links will appear on the Linking tab of the Database Expert.  However, the generated SQL will not actually contain any links and will do a Cartesian join.  In this case, you will have to re-write the report from scratch in order to get it to work.

-Dell

[DellSC]

I believe CE 10 used Crystal 10, not 8.5.  So, while these links have valuable information, it may not all apply.  Crystal 8.5 was used with Seagate Info 8.5

Also, how are your users accessing reports?  If it's through an application you've written, then you'll also have to do some MAJOR upgrades to your code and the SDK.

-Dell

[jyotijain]

Thanks Abhilash

Scenario : Currently Crystal Reports 8.5 is stand alone applications, and reports are generated using C++ code and are viewed on Jave front end .

1) Pls correct me with this scenario can I go ahead with migrating CR 8.5 to CR 2013 on Windows 2012 ?

2) If its possible, what should be ideal approach, do i need to have an intermediary version .?

3) Do we have any risk factors/ considerations that we need to take care ?

[jyotijain]

Thanks

Scenario : Currently Crystal Reports 8.5 is stand alone applications, and reports are generated using C++ code and are viewed on Jave front end .

1) Pls correct me with this scenario can I go ahead with migrating CR 8.5 to CR 2013 on Windows 2012 ?

2) If its possible, what should be ideal approach, do i need to have an intermediary version .?

3) Do we have any risk factors/ considerations that we need to take care ?

[DellSC]

1.  The SDK for CR2013 does not come installed with the software. Instead, you will have to download it.  Also, it does not work with C++ - since you have a Java front end, you would probably convert it to Java (instead of .NET).  You can find out how to get the Java SDK here:  .  If you want the .NET SDK, you can get it here: 

2.  As I said above, you'll have to rewrite the report code in either Java or .NET.

3.  There are a LOT of changes to the SDK from what your existing code is doing, but the basic flow of what needs to happen to view/run a report is the same.  You can find code samples by going to either or , depending on which version of the SDK you plan to use.

Also, you will want to open each of your reports in Crystal 2013 and save it to upgrade it to the new version.  In 8.5 users had the ability to manually edit the SQL in the report.  That capability went away with the new internal structure of the .rpt file that was implemented in Crystal 9.  If any of your reports had its SQL edited, it will have to be re-created from scratch in order to get it to work correctly - in order to modify the SQL, you'll create a Command (SQL Select statement) that pulls ALL of the data for the report instead of linking tables together.

-Dell