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Compatibility and Migration

Maintenance Releases and Product Upgrades

Updating or Upgrading an Existing SAS 9.4 Deployment

After your initial installation of SAS 9.4, you have several opportunities to update your SAS software. These updates could include applying a maintenance release to SAS, applying a product-specific maintenance release, or upgrading to a new product release. Regardless, the process for applying the updates is largely automated by SAS Deployment Wizard.

The information that you need to update or upgrade SAS is provided in the SAS 9.4 Guide to Software Updates.

Here are the types of updates that you can apply to an existing SAS 9.4 deployment:

A SAS 9.4 platform maintenance release

A maintenance release is a collection of updates to SAS products or components. It can include fixes and new functionality. Currently, SAS 9.4M9 is available. For more information about this maintenance release, see Maintenance Release Announcement for SAS 9.4, below.
A product-specific maintenance release
SAS products and solutions might ship their own maintenance release.

When you apply a SAS maintenance release or upgrade to a new product release, SAS Deployment Wizard detects SAS software that requires an update.

Adding Software to a SAS 9.4 Deployment

Your software order might include software that you previously have not licensed at your site.

Before adding any new software to an existing SAS 9.4 deployment, you must use SAS Deployment Wizard to update the current software at your site. After these software updates are complete, you can add the new software. For more information, see "Adding SAS Products" and "Configuring SAS Products" in the SAS Intelligence Platform: Installation and Configuration Guide.

Migrating to SAS 9.4

Migration is a process in which your SAS content and configuration from an earlier SAS release, such as SAS 9.3, is upgraded to run in a later SAS release.

For a high-level overview of the migration path to SAS 9.4, see Moving to SAS 9.4 in the SAS® 9.4 Intelligence Platform: Migration Guide. When performed successfully, migration preserves as much of your current content and configuration as possible and minimizes system downtime.

Maintenance Release Announcement for SAS 9.4

SAS 9.4M9 (TS1M9) shipped in June 2025. This maintenance release addresses reported issues in the software.
SAS strongly recommends that you verify the latest SAS/ACCESS data source requirements and the list of operating systems that are compatible with this matinenance release. In addition, you should check the relevant Configuration Guides for changes that were introduced with your maintenance release. These documents are available here: SAS 9.4 Foundation System Requirements and Configuration Guides.

Assess Your Current SAS Deployment

Before you apply any maintenance release, complete these steps:

  1. Determine what product releases are currently installed at your site. You can obtain this information by running the ViewRegistry tool. For more information, see KB0036131: Using the ViewRegistry Report and other methods to determine the software releases and hot fixes that are installed.
  2. Review the changes that were made in the maintenance release. What's New in SAS 9.4 and SAS Viya provides a high-level overview of changes and new features for products and solutions that run on SAS 9.4. What's New in SAS 9.4 Guide to Software Updates summarizes changes for each maintenance release of SAS 9.4.
  3. Review the SAS 9.4 Guide to Software Updates to determine what preparation, installation, and configuration steps need to be completed to apply the maintenance release at your site.

Request a Maintenance Release

Maintenance releases are available via electronic media. You can add maintenance updates to an existing SAS Software Depot, or you can create a new depot with a full software release. Your designated on-site SAS support personnel can request the maintenance release by contacting Licensing Operations.

If you need help identifying your designated on-site SAS support personnel, log in to your SAS account at https://my.sas.com and click Support Personnel.