Supported Upgrade Paths to Dynamics 365 Business Central Releases

Business Central on-premises is available in several release versions. You can upgrade an existing Dynamics NAV or Business Central solution to any of these releases. Depending on your solution's current version, it might not be possible to upgrade directly to a particular release. You might have to upgrade indirectly through an intermediate release, before upgrading to the target release.

The following sections provide the supported upgrade paths to the different Business Central releases.

Note

  • Minor updates are regularly made available for each release wave. Not all minor updates between two releases are compatible. Make sure you upgrade to a release update that's compatible with your current version. Otherwise, you might encounter problems upgrading the application. For more information, see Dynamics 365 Business Central Upgrade Compatibility Matrix.
  • Starting in 2025 release wave 1 (v26), the direct upgrade from Business Central 2019 (v14) to the latest release will no longer be supported. The supported upgrade path will be through 2024 release wave 2 (v25).

Upgrade to Business Central 2023 Release Wave 1 (v22)

Source version Path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
  • Business Central v17
  • Business Central v18
  • Business Central v19
  • Business Central v20
  • Business Central v21
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2022 Release Wave 2 (v21)

Source version Path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
  • Business Central v17
  • Business Central v18
  • Business Central v19
  • Business Central v20
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1 (v20)

Source version Path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
  • Business Central v17
  • Business Central v18
  • Business Central v19
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2021 Release Wave 2 (v19)

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
  • Business Central v17
  • Business Central v18
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2021 Release Wave 1 (v18)

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
  • Business Central v17
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2020 Release Wave 2 (v17)

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
  • Business Central v16
Direct

Upgrade to Business Central 2020 Release Wave 1 (v16)

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
  • Business Central v15
Direct

Note

As of October 2021, Business Central 2020 Release Wave 1 no longer gets updates.

Upgrade to Business Central 2019 Release Wave 2 (v15)

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Indirect. Upgrade to Business Central v14 first.
  • Business Central v14
Direct

Note

As of April 2021, Business Central 2019 Release Wave 2 no longer gets updates.

Upgrade to Business Central Spring 2019 (v14)

Note

If you're coming from version 13 or earlier, Business Central Spring 2019 (v14) is a required step to upgrade to the latest version of Business Central. However, mainstream support for version 14 ends in October 2023, and minor updates to the version are no longer available. New customers can't use version 14 in production, but only as a path for upgrading to latest version. Existing customers on version 14 remain supported by Microsoft as defined in the Fixed Lifecycle Policy.

Source version Upgrade path
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017
  • Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018
  • Business Central v13
Direct

See Also

Upgrading to Business Central 2022 Release Wave 2
Upgrading to Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1
Upgrading to Business Central 2021 Release Wave 2
Upgrading to Business Central 2021 Release Wave 1
Upgrading to Business Central Spring 2019
Migrate to Business Central Online from Business Central On-premises
Migrating On-Premises Data to Business Central Online