1.1. System Prerequisites

Ansys 2026 R1 is supported on the following Windows platforms and operating system levels. For up-to-date information on hardware platforms or operating systems that have been certified, see the Platform Support section of the Ansys Website.

Table 1.1: Supported Windows Platforms

ProcessorOperating SystemPlatform architecture (directory name)Availability
x64 (64-bit)Windows 11 (Professional, Enterprise & Education), Windows Server 2022 Standard, Windows Server 2025 Standard winx64Download, USB

Note:  Home editions of Windows operating systems are not supported.

For detailed and current support information, see the Platform Support section of the Ansys Website.


Supported Products By Platform  —  For a complete list of products supported by each platform, see the Platform Support by Application PDF on the Platform Support section of the Ansys Website.

Supported Platforms for High Performance Computing  —  See the discussions on Configuring Distributed Ansys and Configuring Ansys CFX Parallel for detailed information on supported platforms for distributed computing.

1.1.1. CAD Support

The following CAD and auxiliary programs are supported on the indicated products and platforms (where the CAD product is supported on the noted platforms). Products are:

A = Mechanical APDL
W = Ansys Workbench
I = Ansys ICEM CFD (standalone and Ansys Workbench Readers)
S = Ansys Speos

Table 1.2: CAD Plugin Support by Platform

ProductWindows 11
ACIS 2023A, W
Autodesk AutoCAD 2026W, I
Autodesk AutoCAD 2025W, I
Autodesk Inventor 2026 
Autodesk Inventor 2025 
CATIA 4.2.4A, W
CATIA V5–6R2025A, W
CATIA V5 (CADNexus CAPRI CAE Gateway V4.20.0) V5–6R2023, V5-6R2024, V5–6R2025  
CATIA V6 3D XML 4.3W, I
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.8 
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 20.7 
Creo Parametric 12.4.0.0A, W, I, S
Creo Parametric 11.0 A, W, I, S
Creo Parametric 10.0 A, W, I, S
Creo Parametric 9.0 A, W, I, S
Fusion 2.0.15995 onwardW
GEMS 
IDI MS8/9  
IGES 3W
JT 10.9W
Parasolid 36.1W
NX 2406 6, 2412 6, 2506 6W, S
Rhinoceros 8.0W
Solid Edge 2026W, I
Solid Edge 2025W, I
SOLIDWORKS 2025W
SOLIDWORKS 2024W
SOLIDWORKS 2023W
SpaceClaim 2020 
STEP AP203, AP214, AP242 

  1. For ICEM CFD standalone, ACIS 18.0.1 is the supported version for all platforms.

  2. Requires V5-6R2016 or later.

  3. IGES Versions 4.0, 5.2, and 5.3 are supported.

  4. Professional, Education and Enterprise

  5. Requires operating system's Anniversary Update version 1607 or higher

  6. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2019 x64 required.

  7. Table 1.3: CAD Reader Support by Platform

    ProductWindows 11
    AutoCAD Reader A, W
    CATIA Reader 4A, W
    CATIA Reader 5A, W
    CATIA Reader 6W, I
    Creo Parametric Reader A, W, I
    NX ReaderW, S
    SOLIDWORKS ReaderW
    Solid Edge ReaderW, I
    Autodesk Inventor Reader 
    Autodesk AutoCAD ReaderW, I



Note:  View the latest supported CAD packages at ansys.com> Solutions> Solutions by Role> IT Professionals> Platform Support> CAD Support.