To bypass the message about compatibility and get Sage Accounts 50 working on Microsoft Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials you need to extract the files manually:
- Log out of Sage from all computers.
- Download the sage install file (eg: SageAccounts_26.2.139.0.exe)
- Download and Install 7-Zip
- Use 7-Zip, right click on the Sage file and select “extract here”
- You must now run the following msi installer files in this order 1) Sage50Accounts_DataAccess.msi 2) Sage50Accounts_Client.msi 3) Sage50Accounts_ODBC_x64.msi 4) Sage50Accounts_ReportPack.msi
- If you get an error complaining about the need for C++ runtimes when you try and install the Sage50Accounts_DataAccess.msi – simply install the runtime library from this link onto the server.
- Reboot the Microsoft Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials server and run the Sage Accounts icon on the desktop. Select the company you want to login as and allow Sage Software to do the data conversion from the old version to new. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on the size of your company data.
- Once the data conversion is done, that should be it, simply install the regular sage installation file you downloaded from Sage on all the other PCs on the network that need access to Sage and you should now be able to login and use Sage on the latest version from PCs and Server.
This has been tested on Windows Server 2012/2016/2019 Essentials edition. The process may work on other Windows Server 2012 Essentials or previous Windows SBS 2011 or 2008 verisons.