System Requirements

Operating system requirements

M-Files Desktop:

Microsoft Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 8.1
Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Microsoft Windows Server 2016
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

Note: In environments where the servers have been set to only accept TLS 1.2 connections, connecting computers with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 must be set to use TLS 1.2 connections with the instructions in Enabling TLS 1.2 on Windows Server 2012 Computers.

M-Files Server:

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (recommended)
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (recommended)
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 8.1

Note: This M-Files version does not support Microsoft Windows 8.

The operating system version can be either Workstation or Server. M-Files Server can be installed either on a physical or a virtualized server, for instance with Hyper-V or VMWare ESXi.

To run M-Files in a Windows Container or Nano Server environment is currently not supported.

For data security reasons, do not install M-Files Server on a computer that is also used as a Microsoft domain controller. However, M-Files Server can technically run on a Microsoft domain controller server.

Linux and macOS

Linux and macOS users can access M-Files with M-Files Web. macOS users can use M-Files Web with Google Chrome and the M-Files for Chrome extension. For instructions on how to install and enable the extension, refer to Installing and Enabling the M-Files for Chrome Extension in M-Files knowledge base.

64-bit support

M-Files is compatible with 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems.

.NET Framework requirements

Both the server computer and client workstations must have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later installed for all M-Files functions to work properly. M-Files Compliance Kit installations require Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later to be installed on both the server and client computers. Intelligent Metadata Layer features require Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later to be installed on the server computer.

Server requirements

The M-Files system can be set up to run on a single server machine or on dedicated database, application, and search servers. If you use M-Files Ground Link, see the recommended hardware setup for the Ground Link proxy server.

Single-server environments

The minimum requirements and recommended hardware setups are listed here for environments where the M-Files server machine runs both the M-Files Server application and the database server (Firebird or Microsoft SQL Server).

Minimum requirements:


CPU	2 cores
Memory	1 GB
Storage	300 MB disk space for M-Files Server

Recommendation for up to 50,000 objects:


CPU	4 cores
Memory	4 GB
Storage	RAID 1 or RAID 5 disks and enough disk space for files, database, and backups

Recommendation for up to 1 million objects:


CPU	8 cores
Memory	16 GB
Storage	RAID 1 or RAID 5 disks and enough disk space for files, database files, and backups. Database files, Microsoft SQL Server transaction logs, and search index files must be stored on solid state drives (SSD) for optimal performance.
Operating system	64-bit operating system
Database management system	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Standard or Enterprise Edition

Environments with multiple servers

For environments with a large number of objects and users, it is recommended to have separate dedicated server machines for the M-Files Server application, the vault database, and the full-text search indexing. For better scalability and availability, it is also possible to have multiple application, vault database, and full-text search indexing servers.

On the tables, there are recommended example configurations for three different environments. Note that the performance of the system also depends on the degree of concurrent activity (concurrent user sessions) as well as on the type of operations done in the vault. For instance, records management and archiving typically require less hardware resources than managing active content with workflows.

Recommendation for up to one million objects when the Microsoft SQL Server is on a separate server:


System component	Database server	Application server
CPU	8 cores	8 cores
Memory	32 GB	16 GB
Storage	2 TB SSD drive	10 TB in total (4 TB for files + 4 TB for indexing + 20% as a buffer)
Database management system	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Standard or Enterprise Edition

It is also recommended to have a separate SSD drive for indexing on the M-Files Server. The requirements on the table assume that the file data is stored on the M-Files Server.

The structure of the vault influences the requirements. You can follow these recommendations for simple vaults without complex access definitions.

Recommendation for up to 5 million objects and 5 terabytes of files:


System component	Database server	Application server	Full-text search indexing (distributed IDOL installation on 1 server)
CPU	16 cores	8 cores	8 cores
Memory	32 GB	16 to 32 GB	16 to 32 GB
Storage	256 GB SSD drive for operating system SSD disks for database data and database transaction log Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD drive for operating system 15 TB HDD for file data and backups. The file storage can be attached to the application server or the application server can connect to a separate file server. Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 256 GB HDD/SSD disks for IDOL installations: 1 disk for DIH/DAH engine 1 disk for daily index content engine 5 disks for main index content engines Use RAID 1 or similar
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Database management system	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Standard or Enterprise Edition

Note: In these type of environments, configurations without a separate full-text search indexing server may be sufficient as well. The hardware recommendations are highly dependent on the performance expectations of each organization.

Recommendation for up to 15 million objects and 8 terabytes of files:


System component	Database server	Application server	The full-text search indexing (distributed IDOL installation on 3 servers)
System component	Database server	Application server	Frontend server	2 backend servers
CPU	32 cores	16 cores	8 cores	16 cores per server
Memory	128 GB	32 GB	128 GB	128 GB per server
Storage	256 GB SSD disk for operating system Two 512 GB SSD disks for database data Two 128 GB SSD disks for database transaction log Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 25 TB HDD for file data and backups. The file storage can be attached to the application server or the application server can connect to a separate file server. Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 256 GB HDD/SSD disks for IDOL installations: 1 disk for DIH/DAH engine 1 disk for daily index content engine Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 256 GB HDD/SSD disks for IDOL installations: 10 disks for main index content engines Use RAID 1 or similar
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Database management system	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Standard or Enterprise Edition

Recommendation for up to 50 million objects and 10 terabytes of files:


System component	Database server	Application server	The full-text search indexing (distributed IDOL installation on 6 servers)
System component	Database server	Application server	Frontend server	5 backend servers
CPU	32 cores	16 cores	8 cores	16 cores per server
Memory	512 GB	64 GB	128 GB	128 GB per server
Storage	256 GB SSD disk for operating system Two 1 TB SSD disks for database data Two 256 GB SSD disks for database transaction logs Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 30 TB HDD for file data and backups. The file storage can be attached to the application server or the application server can connect to a separate file server. Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 256 GB HDD/SSD disks for IDOL installations: 1 disk for DIH/DAH engine 1 disk for daily index content engine Use RAID 1 or similar	256 GB SSD disk for operating system 256 GB HDD/SSD disks for IDOL installations: 10 disks for main index content engines Use RAID 1 or similar
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019	Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Database management system	Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or later, Standard or Enterprise Edition

Ground Link proxy server

For environments that are dedicated for Ground Link proxy services, we recommend this setup.

Recommendation for one Ground Link proxy:


CPU	4 cores
Memory	8 GB
Storage	10 GB disk space for M-Files Server and temporary files

If the same server machine runs multiple Ground Link proxies, double the hardware resources.

Supported operating systems for the M-Files Mobile apps


App name	Required OS version
M-Files Mobile for iOS	iOS 9 or later
M-Files Mobile for Android	Android 5.0 or later

Supported browsers for M-Files Web


Web browser	Recommended version	Operating system
Google Chrome	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows, macOS
Mozilla Firefox	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows
Safari	Latest available version	macOS
Microsoft Edge	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows

Recommended browsers for the classic M-Files Web

For optimal user experience, use the classic M-Files Web with the M-Files for Chrome extension. The extension is available in the Chrome Web Store for Chromium-based browsers, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.


Web browser	Recommended version	Operating system
Google Chrome (recommended)	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows, macOS
Microsoft Edge (recommended)	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows
Internet Explorer	IE11	Microsoft Windows
Mozilla Firefox	Latest available version	Microsoft Windows
Safari	Latest available version	macOS

Tip: You can alternatively take Microsoft Office for the web into use in your environment.

Note: The classic M-Files Web does not support Internet Explorer versions older than IE11. If you use Internet Explorer 11, enable the M-Files Web Java applet. See Enabling the Java Applet for Classic M-Files Web. The other listed browsers do not support Java applets.

M-Files Server disk space requirements

Metadata database

Local hard disk drive
2–5 GB of disk space for 100,000 objects
20–50 GB of disk space for 1,000,000 objects

Note that the hard disk space requirements for the metadata database highly depend on the complexity of the metadata structure as well as on the number of object versions in the database. The estimates here apply to typical document management use cases.

File data

Local hard disk drive OR a network file server
Sufficient disk space for storing the document files, thumbnails, viewer files, and full-text search index files

M-Files uses a binary delta algorithm to process old versions of document files. This reduces the disk space consumption of old file versions considerably.

Administrators can release disk space when they archive or destroy old versions.

Microsoft SQL Server requirements

You can use Microsoft SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, or later with its latest service pack as the vault database engine. This covers all the Microsoft SQL Server editions, such as Express Edition, Standard Edition, and Enterprise Edition. M-Files supports the use of Microsoft SQL Server on Microsoft Windows. With your self-hosted cloud-based SQL database, you can also use Microsoft Azure SQL Database managed instance as the database engine.

Note: M-Files uses an SQL server assembly that must run in the SQL server instance for M-Files to operate. Normally, M-Files loads this assembly to the SQL server instance automatically, but can sometimes fail to do so. This can happen for example due to not sufficient rights to the SQL server instance. In this case, you must manually allow the use of the assembly (refer to the support article M-Files and SQL Server 2017 compatibility).

Additionally, note that the SQL server assembly can be updated from time to time, so it is possible that you must repeat the whitelisting process after an upgrade.

Enable these features to use Microsoft SQL Server as the M-Files database engine:

Instance features:

Database Engine Services
Reporting Services, Native Mode (if reporting is used)

Shared features:

Management Tools, Basic
Management Tools, Complete (if reporting is used)