Software Requirements

The setup file will check your machine for whether the prerequisite software is installed and will install any missing prerequisites and the product components. A supported version of Microsoft's Visual Studio 2015 must, however, be installed in advance.

Note:

Besides the software listed below, the setup file also installs the 64-bit Java 8 Update 102.
This product includes OpenSSL version 1.0.2j.

Visual Studio IDE

You must have Microsoft's Visual Studio installed in advance.

You need one of the advanced versions of Visual Studio listed below:

Professional, Enterprise or Community Edition

Microsoft's Visual Studio Express Edition is not supported.

Important:

Visual COBOL for Visual Studio 2015 does not support Visual Studio 2015 Shell as the Shell has a number of restrictions to COBOL development. The Visual Studio 2015 Shell is not included in the setup for Visual COBOL for Visual Studio 2015 and before you start the installation, ensure that there is an advanced edition of Visual Studio 2015 installed on your machine.
On Windows 8.1 RT, Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2, you must have the Windows update KB 2919355 before you install Visual Studio 2015. Download KB 2919355 from the Microsoft Download Center.

Code generation issues in Microsoft's 64-bit JIT (just-in-time) compiler delivered as part of .NET Framework version 4.6 can result in incorrect execution of some COBOL code compiled to .NET. Version 4.6 of the .NET Framework is currently shipped as default with Visual Studio 2015 and Microsoft's Windows 10. The problems include incorrect execution of MOVE and STRING statements applied to alphanumeric operands, and incorrect execution of the ROUNDED phrase for arithmetic statements.
Some of these issues only seem to be reproducible in COBOL language applications compiled to .NET and some can be reproduced in other languages (C# or Visual Basic).

These problems have been reported and acknowledged by Microsoft and it is our belief that they either have resolutions or are working on fixes for all of them. For further information about these issues and guidelines on how to disable the latest version of the 64-bit JIT compiler, see RyuJIT Bug Advisory and Troubleshooting RyuJIT.

As of October 2015, Microsoft have released the following updates that address these issues with the .NET Framework 4.6:
- Hotfix rollup 3088955 for the .NET Framework 4.6 on Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 - see: http://www.microfocus.com/docs/links.asp?vc=mskb3088955.
- Hotfix rollup 3088956 for the .NET Framework 4.6 on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 - see: http://www.microfocus.com/docs/links.asp?vc=mskb3088956
- Hotfix rollup 3088957 for the .NET Framework 4.6 on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Windows Vista SP2 - see: http://www.microfocus.com/docs/links.asp?vc=mskb3088957.
- Cumulative update 3093266 for Windows 10: September 30, 2015 (available through Windows Update) - see: http://www.microfocus.com/docs/links.asp?vc=mskb3093266.

The following software is also required:

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6. This is included with Visual Studio 2015.

Other Requirements

Important: This release requires version 10000.2.990 or later of the Micro Focus License Administration tool. For local servers, you do not need to install it separately, as the setup file installs a new Visual COBOL client and a new licensing server on the same machine.

If you have a network server, you must update the license server before installing the product as the client is not able to communicate with license servers of versions older than 10000.2.660. On Windows, you can check the version of your license server by clicking Help > About in the Micro Focus License Administration tool.

You can download the new version of the license server software from the Micro Focus SupportLine Web site: http://supportline.microfocus.com.