Minimum system requirements

Your computer must meet these minimum system requirements to install ArcGIS Desktop.

.NET Support

ArcGIS Desktop requires Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1. If .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is not detected on your machine, the ArcGIS Desktop setup will not proceed.

The .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 setup is provided in the DotNet35 folder on the media for your convenience.

Additional requirements

Note:

Some features of ArcGIS Desktop, such as ArcCatalog metadata, thumbnail views, the ArcMap Visual Basic Editor, and Internet Map Services features (see the "Using ArcCatalog" book for more information about these features), require Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or higher.

If your computer does not include Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, the ArcGIS Desktop setup will notify you of the missing requirement and exit. You must obtain and install Internet Explorer, then run the ArcGIS Desktop setup again.

For additional and recommended requirements, see the ArcGIS 10 system requirements.

ArcGIS Desktop geoprocessing requirements

ArcGIS Desktop geoprocessing tools require that Python 2.6.x and Numerical Python 1.3.0 are installed. If the ArcGIS Desktop setup does not find either Python 2.6.x or Numerical Python 1.3.0 (NumPy) installed on the target computer, Python 2.6.5 and Numerical Python 1.3.0 will be installed during a complete installation. You can choose a Custom installation to unselect the Python feature and avoid installing it. Additionally, if the Python setup is executed during the ArcGIS Desktop installation, you will be provided with the opportunity to choose its installation location. The Python installation location should not include spaces.

See Python requirement for more information

For more information about Python, visit the Python Web page

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Setup.exe will automatically install the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client. If you run setup.msi, you will need to install the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client separately from \support\SQlNative.

The Microsoft SQL Server Native Client is a single library containing the SQL OLE DB Provider and SQL ODBC driver. It is required to access new SQL Server 2005 and 2008 data types and features used by ArcGIS 10. Any ArcGIS client application making a Direct Connect connection to an ArcSDE geodatabase on SQL Server must have the SQL Server Native Client installed.

The new data types that are used by ArcGIS 10 are XML, Geometry, Geography, datetime2, and varbinary(max). Query layer connections made to SQL Server must use the SQL Server Native Client library, and the new ST_Raster type (this is an optional installation) is a User Defined Type (UDT) that also requires the SQL Server Native Client.

At ArcGIS 10, clients making Direct Connect connections to ArcSDE geodatabases are required to have client drivers at, or higher than, the release of the SQL Server database. Clients connecting to SQL Server 2005 must have the 2005 or 2008 Native Client. Clients connecting to SQL Server 2008 must have the 2008 Native Client. An error message is returned and connections are prevented if the clients are using connectivity providers from an earlier release. The SQL Server Native Client is backward compatible—the 2008 Native Client can be used to connect to earlier releases of SQL Server.

Microsoft WinHlp patch for Windows 7 and Windows Vista

The following Microsoft patch is recommended, but not required, when using ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, or ArcReader on Microsoft Vista or Windows 7. ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, and ArcReader provide pop-up, context-sensitive help topics for tools, commands, and dialog boxes delivered using WinHlp32. WinHlp32 won't function on Windows 7 and Windows Vista without this patch. See the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 917607 for information regarding this patch (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607), which also contains links so you can download the patch. If you access pop-up, context-sensitive help without this patch being installed, you will get a message from Windows prompting you to download the patch. For best usability. ESRI recommends that you install the patch at the time you install ArcGIS.