Windows 2000 and CMS
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Overview
In our version 7.0 release we announced that we can no longer support Windows 2000, either as a server or a workstation operating system. Windows 2000 operating systems will continue to work with CMS version 6.x and earlier but, because Microsoft is suspending support for Windows 2000 on July 13th, 2010, we must also discontinue our support for Win 2000.
An additional consideration regarding Windows 2000 is that PCI compliance (requirement 6.1) states that you must keep your systems updated. When Windows 2000 stops receiving support and security patches from Microsoft, our understanding is you will then not be able to keep those system(s) PCI compliant either.
CMS 7.0 and Win2000
Upgrading your operating systems from Windows 2000 to a supported operating system is not just a good idea - for CMS version 7.x, it has become a requirement. There are technical issues which make Windows 2000 no longer viable for running CMS.
CMS relies on the Windows CryptoAPI (referenced in the CMS PA-DSS Implementation Guide) as part of our improved AES encryption used for credit card and SHA for password encryption which address PCI compliance requirements. Earlier versions of CMS did not use AES encryption or the Windows CryptoAPI so this was not an issue.
The first edition of Windows to include the CrypoAPI component that CMS 7.0 needs is XP Pro SP3 (service pack 3). You must be running Windows XP Pro SP3 or one of our other supported operating systems to use CMS 7.0.
If you have machines running on XP Pro, please verify they have been updated to service pack 3. If you're unsure which service pack you are running, you can check by going to Control Panel>System>General.
Servers and Workstations
- Encryption takes place on the workstation (before it crosses the network and is written to the database) so it critical to upgrade your workstation operating systems.
- Server updates, particularly the upgrade from version 6.x to 7.x, must also access the Windows CryptoAPI - so here again, the operating system update is crucial.
If you attempted to launch CMS 7.x on a Windows 2000 machine (or XP SP1 or 2), you should expect to get errors in CMS right from the login screen due to our need to decrypt the password stored in the database.
We have also recently added an automatic operating system check to our installer which will warn you if you are attempting to install CMS on a machine running an incompatible operating system. This cannot detect if you have incompatible workstations on your network, however. You must still perform those checks on your own (or let the installer do it for you by performing a CMS 7.0 workstation update on your machine.)
Upgrading
Please consult this Microsoft link which contains migration information for upgrading your workstations or servers from Windows 2000 to a supported operating system. Another useful link is a blog post from one of Microsoft's Product Managers which contains some good information and links regarding upgrade paths.
If upgrading your server means moving to a new machine, this Wiki article should also be referenced for instructions on how to move CMS from one server to another.
