Back to System Requirements Table of Contents

Need info for 9.2, 9.1 or earlier versions of ArcGIS Desktop? Follow these links:
ArcInfo
ArcEditor
ArcView

View ArcInfo Workstation System Requirements

ArcGIS Desktop (ArcInfo, ArcEditor, ArcView) 9.3 System Requirements

Table of Contents
Supported Operating Systems
Hardware Requirements
Software Requirements
Developer Solutions (SDK) Requirements
Related ESRI Materials

Supported Operating Systems

Supported Operating System	Minimum Version	Maximum Version	Limitations
Windows 2000 Professional	SP3	SP4
Windows 2003 (32-bit) Server Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter	SP1	SP2
Windows 2003 (64-bit (EM64T)) Server Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter	SP1	SP2	64-bit processors support
Windows 2003 Server Terminal Services	SP1	SP2	Support for Windows Terminal Server (WTS) and Citrix MetaFrame
Windows 2008 (32-bit) Server Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter
Windows 2008 (64-bit (EM64T)) Server Standard, Enterprise & Datacenter			64-bit processors support
Windows Vista (32-bit) Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, Home Premium	SP1	SP1
Windows Vista (64-bit (EM64T)) Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, Home Premium	SP1	SP1	64-bit processors support
Windows XP (32-bit) Professional Edition, Home Edition	SP1	SP3	Windows XP SP2 & SP3 Limitations
Windows XP (64-bit (EM64T)) Professional Edition, Home Edition	SP1	SP3	Windows XP SP2 & SP3 Limitations 64-bit processors support

Hardware Requirements

	ArcInfo, ArcView, ArcEditor
CPU Speed	1.6 GHz recommended or higher
Processor	Intel Core Duo, Pentium 4 or Xeon Processors See Dual or dual-core support policy
Memory/RAM	1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended or higher If using the ArcSDE Personal Edition for Microsoft SQL Server Express software, 2 GB of RAM is required.
Display Properties	Greater than 256 color depth
Screen Resolution	1024 x 768 recommended or higher at Normal size (96dpi)
Swap Space	Determined by the operating system, 500 MB minimum.
Disk Space	2.4 GB In addition, up to 50 MB of disk space maybe needed in the Windows System directory (typically C:\Windows\System32). You can view the disk space requirement for each of the 9.3 components in the Setup program. If using ArcGlobe (as part of 3D Analyst), additional disk space may be required. ArcGlobe will create cache files when used.
Video/Graphics Adapter	24-bit capable graphics accelerator An OpenGL 1.3 or higher compliant video card is required, with at least 32 MB of video memory, however 64 MB of video memory or higher is recommended.
Networking Hardware	Simple TCP/IP, Network Card or Microsoft Loopback Adapter is required for the License Manager.
Media Player	DVD-ROM drive is required to install the application.

Software Requirements

• .NET Framework 2.0 Requirement
• Internet Explorer Requirement:
  • Some features of ArcGIS Desktop require a minimum installation of Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or 7.0. If you do not have an installation of Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0/7.0, you must obtain and install it prior to installing ArcGIS Desktop.
  • IE 7 Limitations: You cannot see inset maps in the directions window until you right-click on the box with the red X to bring up the context menu and then click on "Show Picture."
• Python Requirement for Geoprocessing:
  Several ArcGIS geoprocessing tools, such as Multiple Ring Buffer, use the Python scripting language and require that Python is installed. If the ArcGIS Desktop, Engine or Server setups do not find Python 2.5.1 on the target computer, it will install Python 2.5.1 plus Numerical Python 1.0.3 during a typical or complete installation. You may choose a Custom installation to unselect the Python feature to avoid installing this feature. See the install guide for additional information concerning Python.

Printer Support

ArcGIS supports printing to any Microsoft certified Windows printer using the native driver in ArcGIS. Please note that some printer drivers do not support complex maps and the ArcPress printer driver or additional hardware may be needed for these complex maps.

• ESRI recommends the following configuration when printing large maps with the ArcPress printer drivers:
  
  • Pagefile system size of 4096 MB is recommended. ArcPress depends on being able to acquire potentially large contiguous blocks of memory to process a map. The windows limit is 2048 MB and by having a pagefile.sys file of at least twice that size helps ensure that other applications running and using the pagefile system will not introduce an unexpected limit for the ArcPress printer driver.
  • Pagefile system should be stored on a dedicated partition or, if possible, a dedicated drive. This will prevent the file from becoming fragmented and diminishing ArcPress's ability to acquire contiguous blocks of memory.
  • If large complex maps do not print, then reboot the computer to ensure the pagefile system is cleared. If the pagefile system is not a dedicated drive or partition, make sure that drive does not need to be defragmented.
  • Disk Space: at least 10 GB of free space is required on the drive where %TEMP% is located, as potentially large temporary files will be written there while ArcPress is processing a map for printing.

Developer Solutions (SDK) Requirements

Related ESRI Materials

• ESRI Supported Environment Policy
• System Design Strategies: Recommended platform sizing and system configuration strategies are provided in the System Design Strategies technical reference document available at: System Design Strategies

Back to System Requirements Table of Contents