FAQ: Getting started and setup

Every group of questions: IDE FAQ

The computer and its software
Signing in to Microsoft 365
Antivirus and a sandbox
Downloads

The computer and its software

What computer does SMART Migration need?

A 64-bit Windows 11 or Windows Server 2022 and newer; there is no macOS support. For testing only: a dual core processor, 16 GB RAM, a 1920×1080 display, 30 GB free in the Windows Public folder and 50 GB in the Windows Temp folder. For real work: 8–56 cores, 64–512 GB RAM (32 GB for low-volume scans and file migration) and an SSD with 150 GB free in the Public folder. The performance index on the Account tab measures the machine as it really runs, virtual or physical: 1.0 is the absolute minimum, 2.5 the recommendation.

Read more: Hardware/VM requirements

Which components does SMART Migration install?

The Visual C++ runtimes, the Microsoft WebView2 Runtime, the Access Database Engine 2016, the .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 (the release candidate also 10.0), SQL Server 2025 Express and the ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server, PostgreSQL with its ODBC driver, and Power BI Desktop. They are installed automatically when the machine has internet access; SQL Server Express, PostgreSQL and Power BI Desktop can each be left out.

When do I need a licensed SQL Server for the repository?

The repository is always a SQL Server database: the installer sets up SQL Server 2025 Express, which holds 50 GB — about 1 million files to migrate, when the BI data is kept in PostgreSQL and job logs that are no longer needed are deleted on the Dashboard. Above that, or when the history must be kept for a long time, use a licensed SQL Server 2022 or 2025, which has no limit; under heavy workloads, such as large scans, put it on a separate machine. All database templates use the codepage Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_SC_UTF8.

Can the job server run as a Windows Service?

Yes, natively, on a service account. The account needs access to the local resources the jobs use — local drives, network drives, the network connection to SharePoint and, with SQL Server, its databases — and the right to log on as a service; it does not need admin permissions. Logging in to SharePoint is not tied to the service account.

Signing in to Microsoft 365

How does SMART Migration sign in to Microsoft 365?

As an app registration in Microsoft Entra ID, with a certificate instead of a password. You create a self-signed certificate — the .pfx file with the private key stays with SMART Migration, the .cer file is uploaded to Azure — then the app registration and its permissions. Last, you enter the Application (client) ID, the Tenant ID, the .pfx file and its password in the M365 connection.

Which permissions does the app registration need?

SharePoint: Sites.FullControl.All, TermStore.Read.All and TermStore.ReadWrite.All. Microsoft Graph: Files.ReadWrite.All, Group.ReadWrite.All, Sites.ReadWrite.All and User.Read.All — or only Files.Read.All when you do not use Content Governance. All are application permissions, and they take effect only after Grant admin consent. To limit the app to the sites you assign it, use Sites.Selected instead of Sites.FullControl.All and Sites.ReadWrite.All.

Can we install SMART Migration on our own servers and connect to a customer's SharePoint from there — within one SharePoint Online tenant and between tenants?

Yes, with a commercial licence. It is installed on one server — yours is fine — and is not tied to a tenant or a customer: from that server, SMART Migration connects to as many tenants as the work needs, for one customer or several. Many migration tools are licensed per tenant, per user or per gigabyte; this one per server. Each tenant gets an app registration of its own, and each app registration its own M365 connection. Within one tenant, a job reads and writes through the same connection; between tenants, it reads through the source tenant's connection and writes through the target tenant's. The files travel through your server, so it needs internet access to both tenants — and tell the customer's IT that their content passes through a server outside their own network. A partner licence cannot do this: it works only with the partner's own domains.

What does the error AADSTS65001 mean?

That no user or administrator has consented to the PnP Management Shell application. PnPCore needs that consent; the requirements topic links to how to give it.

Antivirus and a sandbox

Which programs should antivirus software skip?

The SMART Migration executables, starting with FlowUI.exe (the IDE) and FlowJob.exe (jobs). Real-time scanning of their many parallel file and network operations can slow a migration a lot, and can cause timeouts or interrupted transfers. Every executable is signed with a DigiCert code-signing certificate, so you can verify it before you add the exclusion.

Downloads

Where do I download SMART Migration, and what is a release candidate?

Each GA (General Availability) version is listed with its download link and changes in the change log. A release candidate (RC) is the next version made available before it becomes GA; the latest one is on its own download page with what it changes. The SHA256 hash of an installation program can be requested from MigrateDMS.