Share via

Act! V22: Windows 11 preventing installation of ACT! V22because of SQL and Shell issues. Help?

David Shear 0 Reputation points
2026-03-20T22:32:03.4466667+00:00

I have ACT! v22 which is on a Desktop and a Laptop. Both have Windows 11 and work fine. I just purchased a new laptop and I cannot get ACT! V22 to install. The error message is related to Windows 11 not allowing SQL 2014 and Shell 2 (I believe) to install properly halting the installation of ACT! I'm told that the Windows 11 August 2025 update is now preventing ACT! from installing properly. I have spoke with both ACT! and ACT! Consultants who have not found a work around. Unfortunately, ACT! is no longer supporting V22 which was the last version you could buy flat out (no monthly fees) as a desktop version.

Does anyone have a work around?

Thank you for your help!

SQL Server | Other
SQL Server | Other

Additional SQL Server features and topics not covered by specific categories

0 comments

Answer recommended by moderator

  1. Q&A Assist
    2026-03-20T22:32:22.8133333+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    The context only provides closely related SQL Server installation cases and general Windows 11/upgrade troubleshooting, but no supported workaround for forcing SQL Server 2014 (and the ACT! v22 prerequisites) to install on a fully updated Windows 11 system after the August 2025 update.

    The only directly relevant guidance in the context for similar “SQL cannot be installed/started” scenarios is:

    • When SQL Server setup fails, use the full setup logs under the Setup Bootstrap\Log folder to understand the exact failure and version requirements. For SQL Server 2025 the logs are under:
      • C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\170\Setup Bootstrap\Log – each install attempt has its own subfolder; detail.txt, summary.txt, and any file starting with ERRORLOG are the key files to review.
    • For older SQL Server versions failing to start on newer Windows builds, the resolution in one case was that the installer was too old and did not include the required service pack (for example, needing an installer that already includes Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2014).

    Based on that, the only concrete, supported steps from the context that can be applied are:

    1. Run the ACT! v22 installer again and let it fail.
    2. Locate the SQL Server setup logs that ACT! is invoking (for SQL 2014 they will be under the corresponding Setup Bootstrap\Log path for that version) and inspect summary.txt and detail.txt to see the exact Windows 11 compatibility or component failure being reported.
    3. If the logs show that the bundled SQL 2014 build is too old or missing required components, obtain an updated SQL Server 2014 installer that includes the latest service pack (similar to the case where “the installer I had was very old and I needed one with service pack 3”) and test installing that SQL instance separately before running ACT! setup again.
    4. If the failure is in a vendor-specific “Setup Assistant” or shell component (as in the ODBC/Setup Assistant example in the context), the only supported path is to work with the vendor responsible for that assistant, because only that vendor can change how their package reacts to newer Windows 11 builds.

    The context does not provide any Microsoft-documented method to bypass Windows 11’s newer constraints on SQL Server 2014 or to re-enable deprecated components that ACT! v22 depends on. Any further workaround would require unsupported changes or vendor-specific fixes that are not covered in the provided material.

    References:

    Was this answer helpful?

1 additional answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Erland Sommarskog 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-03-20T22:42:49.8433333+00:00

    First of all, I have no knowledge about ACT!. But this can be said, that overall, sticking with software that is out of support is never a good idea, and the idea just gets worse, the more time goes. And at some point as you move to more modern hardware and operating system, it will stop working at all.

    SQL 2014 is out of mainstream and extended support, and has never been supported on Windows 11. However, it can certainly run on Windows 11 - I have it running on my computer.

    There is a known issue that affects some computers running Windows 11. Windows 11 reports the actual sector size on the disk, but this is a sector size that SQL Server does not support. (This applies to the most recent versions of SQL Server as well.) This is the most likely issue why installation fails. Microsoft has published an article about the problem, how you can diagnose if you are affected by it, and how you can address it. I suggest that we start there before we go into deeper troubleshooting.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.