Microsoft Windows Operating System

Carnegie Mellon participates in the Microsoft Campus Agreement, an annual license agreement that provides specific Microsoft software to university-owned computers and, with restrictions, to personally-owned computers. For more information, see the Microsoft Campus Agreement page.

If you purchase a copy of Windows through the university, you must activate it before you can use it. For more information, see the Activation page.

Supported Operating Systems

Version/Edition	Level of Support
Windows 8 (see Compatibilty Exceptions)
Windows 8 & Enterprise	Supported
Pro & RT	Limited and conditional support*
Windows 7
Enterprise & Ultimate (32/64 bit)	Supported
Home Premium & Professional	Limited and conditional support*
Windows Vista
Enterprise	Supported through 12/31/13
Home Basic, Home Premium, Business & Ultimate	Limited and conditional support*
Windows XP
Professional	Supported through 12/31/13
Windows XP Home, Media Center & Tablet PC	Limited and conditional support*
64-bit	Not supported

*Limited and conditional support: Computing Services will assist users with issues when they are clearly unrelated to the differences in the operating system versions.

Level of Support

Computing Services supports the usage of the Microsoft Windows operating system and the configuration necessary for the systems to function on the campus network. The Computing Services Help Center does not perform operating system installations, repairs or restores and does not install drivers.

• Students should contact their academic department to determine their recommended operating system(s).

• Operating system upgrade decision/recommendations for faculty and staff members should be referred to the departmental computing administrator or functional business group lead.

Hardware & Peripherals:

Computing Services does not support specific hardware, peripherals, installation or the configuration of such devices. In most cases, hardware devices should be "plug & play," and/or should have appropriate drivers and support provided by the vendor.

Printing:

Due to the variety of printers available, Computing Services limits support for printing from Microsoft Windows to Computing Services public printers only; see Andrew Printing.

Network Connections:

Network services for Microsoft Windows should be configured using the instructions provided at the FirstConnect website.

Windows 8 Application Compatibility Exceptions

Computing Services does not recommend an upgrade to the Windows 8 operating system if your work processes are dependent on any of the applications listed below. We make this recommendation to prevent potential loss in productivity pending resolution of noted compatibility issues.

Application	Notes
ADP Payroll 6.5	While version 6.5 is compatible with Windows 8, it is not officially supported by ADP at this time. Continue using Windows 7 with this application.
Andrew (Oracle) Calendar desktop client	Not supported; use the Andrew Calendar Web client.
Identity Finder 5.1	Will be supported with release of version 6.1.
Outlook 2007	Not supported; upgrade to Outlook 2010.
Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.05	Will be supported with release of version 12.1.2.

Last Updated: 3/7/13