Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 Installation Guide: Requirements, Prerequisites, and Setup Walkthrough

Key points

BC28 runs on Windows Server 2022/2025 or Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education. Windows Server is preferred for production, and older operating systems are discouraged for new deployments.
Plan for at least 16 GB RAM. Extension projects with more than 1,000 objects benefit from 32 to 64 GB.
Server and web components need .NET 8 and .NET Framework 4.8, plus IIS 10 for the web client. The database must be at SQL compatibility level 160 or 170, or Azure SQL.
Typical failures come from missing prerequisites, such as SQL Full-Text Search, the wrong .NET version, too little memory or no administrator rights.
A nine-step walkthrough runs from checking the OS and hardware to a test login in the web client.

“Many installation issues occur before Setup even begins because the operating system, SQL Server, or .NET components don’t meet Microsoft’s requirements.” (Identifies the root cause of deployment failures and emphasizes pre-installation validation is critical)
“For larger projects exceeding 1,000 objects: 32 - 64 GB RAM recommended. This additional memory significantly improves extension publishing performance.” (Guides resource planning for extension developers and differentiates requirements based on project scope)
“Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 modernizes the on-premises platform with .NET 8 support, updated Windows requirements, and SQL compatibility enhancements.” (Summarizes the key platform modernization efforts in BC28 that drive the updated prerequisites)

Features: Windows Server 2025/2022 support, .NET 8 platform requirement, SQL Server compatibility level 160/170, IIS 10 Web components, Full-Text Search support, Azure SQL Database compatibility, Local on-premises installations, SQL Server Express support
Versions: 2026 Release Wave 1, BC28

Source: Saurav Dhyani, community blog. Summary, key points and quotes are derived (CONTENT-NOTICE.md); read the original for the full text.