Sibelius products on Windows 7
Sibelius 7 on Windows 7
Sibelius 7 is fully supported on Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit. Service Pack 1 is recommended.
Sibelius 6 on Windows 7
The latest versions of Sibelius 6, version 6.2, Sibelius 6 Student and Sibelius 6 First are fully supported on Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit. To check that you are running the most up-to-date version of Sibelius, choose Help > Check For Updates from within Sibelius, or alternatively click here to download the Sibelius 6.2 update »
Sibelius 6.2, Sibelius 6 Student and Sibelius 6 First are supported on Windows 7 64-bit as a 32-bit application: for more information about Sibelius and 64-bit, see our notes on 64-bit compatibility.
Important notice about hardware compatibility
Sibelius relies on third party device drivers for many aspects of operation, including screen display, MIDI and audio playback, printing, scanning, and so on. If you intend to upgrade to Windows 7, please be sure that your existing hardware is fully supported on Windows 7 before you install the upgrade. Microsoft provide a tool to check your computer's readiness for Windows 7, available here.
If you currently use Avid (formerly Digidesign) audio interface (e.g. Mbox 2 series, Digi 002/003 series) or M-Audio audio interface (e.g. ProFire 610, Audiophile Solo/Firewire, etc.), PCI sound card (e.g. Audiophile series), or MIDI controller keyboard (e.g. Axiom or Axiom Pro series, Oxygen series, KeyRig series etc.), please check compatibility information on the M-Audio and Avid sites before you install Windows 7.
M-Audio compatibility information:
http://forums.m-audio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105
Avid compatibility information:
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=352437
Sibelius technical support staff cannot offer any assistance with third party device drivers. For support for M-Audio and Avid devices, please contact the appropriate support team, as specified in your product's documentation.
Previous versions of Sibelius on Windows 7
Versions of Sibelius prior to Sibelius 6 will not be supported on either the 32-bit or 64-bit editions of Windows 7.
Sibelius 5
In our limited testing, we have found that Sibelius 5 and earlier can be installed and run on Windows 7 without any major problems. The most commonly-reported problem is that Sibelius 5 will hang on start-up with the words Initializing playback system showing on the splash screen, in which case please consult the information here.
If Sibelius 5 is crashing on start-up, or you are encountering error messages, please instead see here.
Sibelius 4 and earlier
These older versions of Sibelius are not supported on Windows 7 so you are advised to upgrade to Sibelius 7. If you do try and run Sibelius 4 or earlier, you are advised to run Sibelius as administrator. For help doing this, see here.
Please note, however, that Sibelius technical support staff cannot offer any assistance with issues relating to compatibility of Sibelius 5 or earlier with Windows 7.
