Find out what your computer needs to run the best QuickBooks Desktop experience.
Get the best experience in QuickBooks. Here’s helpful info about the operating system, hardware, software, and other requirements to run QuickBooks Desktop.
Note: Need to check your computer's specs? Here's how to get your system info for Windows.
QuickBooks Pro or Premier 2019 and Enterprise 19.0
Operating Systems
| Are you using Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008? Microsoft no longer provides security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. For your data’s security, we recommend upgrading your operating system to a supported version before installing QuickBooks. To know more about how it affects QuickBooks, check out related help articles for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. |
- Windows 10, all editions including 64-bit, natively installed
- Windows 8.1 (Update 1), all editions including 64-bit, natively installed
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2011, Standard and Essentials
Note: QuickBooks requires you to use Windows natively and not through an emulator or virtual environment.
Database Servers
| Windows (natively installed) | |
| Linux (when using QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Database Server-only installation) | - OpenSuse 42.3
- Fedora 27
- Red Hat Enterprise 7 (RHEL 7.4)
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Hardware and Operating system requirements (client and server)
| Processor | 2.4 GHz minimum |
| RAM | 4GB minimum, 8GB Recommended
Server RAM Requirements
- 1-5 Users: 8GB RAM
- 10 Users: 12GB RAM
- 15 Users: 16GB RAM
- 20 Users: 20+GB RAM
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| Disk space |
- 2.5GB of disk space (additional required for data files)
- Additional software: 60MB for Microsoft .NET 4.6 Runtime, provided on the QuickBooks CD.
- Additional requirements for Intuit Data Protect in QuickBooks Connected Services offerings
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| Windows |
- Canadian version of Windows
- Regional settings are supported when set to English.
- Administrator rights required for the server computer when hosting multi-user access.
- Natively installed - means it was installed on a particular system or environment that it was designed for. This also means it doesn't need to run in a virtual environment or emulation software.
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| Optical Drive | 4X DVD-ROM drive required for CD installations (unless QuickBooks is downloaded from Intuit server). |
| Screen Resolution |
- Display optimized for 1280 x 1024 screen resolution or higher with up to 2 extended monitors.
- Best optimized for Default DPI setting for a given computer.
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Note: Internet access is required.
Software compatibility
You can integrate QuickBooks with hundreds of other apps. Here’s a list of the most common apps you can use. To find more, go to the Intuit App Store.
Note: Additional RAM can enhance the use of these features.
- Microsoft Office:
- Office 2016 (including Outlook 2016) both on 32 and 64-bit.
- Office 2010 and Office 2013 and 365 (including Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013) both on 32 and 64-bit.
Note: Office 365 is only supported when it is locally installed, not the web version.
- Email estimates, invoices, and other forms with Microsoft Outlook 2010-2016, Microsoft Outlook with Office 365, Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Outlook.com, other SMTP-supporting email clients.
- Preparing letters requires Microsoft Word 2016, 2013, or 2010 or Office 365 (includes 64-bit).
- Exporting reports requires Microsoft Excel 2016, 2013, or 2010 or Office 365 (includes 64-bit).
- Contact Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook requires Outlook 2010 (32-bit).
- Synchronization with Outlook requires QuickBooks Contact Sync for Outlook (the download is available at no charge).
Note: Contact Sync does not work with the Microsoft Business Contact Manager Outlook plug-in. Syncing could cause duplicate records.
- QuickBooks Point of Sale V18.0
- TurboTax 2018 (Personal and Business)
- Lacerte 2018 and 2017
- Pro-Series tax years 2017 and 2016
- Quicken 2018, 2017, 2016
- Adobe Acrobat Reader: Business Planner, Payroll, and viewing forms require Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 or later.
- Payroll and other online features and services require Internet access with at least a 56 Kbps connection speed (1 Mbps recommended). DSL or cable modem is recommended.
- Gmail, Yahoo Email, Windows Mail, Hotmail and AOL (i.e Mozilla Thunderbird Email Client which supports plain text version)
- Internet Explorer 11
Firewall and antivirus software compatibility
We tested QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2019, and Enterprise 19.0 with the following firewall and antivirus programs.
In some cases, you may need to adjust some settings in these programs to get the best possible QuickBooks performance.
- Windows Server Firewall (all editions)
- Windows 8.1 Firewall (all editions)
- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Avast
- AVG
- NortonLifeLock (formerly Symantec)
- ESET
- Avira
- Kaspersky
- McAfee
- Bitdefender
- Malwarebytes
Note: QuickBooks will work with systems running RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) but this is not recommended because it may cause QuickBooks to operate slowly.
QuickBooks Desktop 2019 requires internet security protocol TLS 1.2 for the connected services to work smoothly.
| Important:- If the product requirements above don’t specifically state an operating system, hardware, software, firewall or antivirus is supported, it hasn’t been tested. Intuit can’t promise your experience will be trouble-free.
- If you experience problems outside of the supported environment, technical support will be limited to standard troubleshooting. If unresolved, the program should be returned to a supported environment for additional support.
- If Microsoft no longer supports the aforementioned products, then neither shall Intuit.
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