Crystal Reports 2008 (and 9.1, XI R1, XI R2) - Version and Download information for Service Packs

Talking with customers and monitoring the .NET Development - BOE and Crystal Reports Forums , it is obvious that there is a lot of confusion regarding Service Packs for all the supported versions of Crystal Reports;

Where to download the Service Packs?
What do the version numbers mean?
Where do Fix Packs come into this picture?
Where are the runtimes for the various Fix packs and Service Packs?
Where is the documentation for the Fix Packs and Service Packs?

 And more. In this Wiki, I will try to distill all of the above and more.

What do the version numbers mean?

Up to Crystal Reports 2008, not much. Other than the higher the number, the more recent the product. With CR 2008, we have a pretty good logic to the numbering system. Lets' take version 12.1.2.957.12 is version of CR 2008. .1 tells us this is Service Pack 1, .2 tells us this is Fix Pack 1.2 applied on top of Service Pack 1. The last three of four digits - what ever - not important. So as another example, if I have version 12.3.1.684, I know I am using CR 2008, Service Pack 3, Fix Pack 3.1.

Where do Fix Packs come into this picture? 

Fix Packs are released after a Service Pack. Fix Packs are not as thoroughly tested as Service Packs. Fix Packs are rolled into subsequent Service Packs, but not all Fix Packs will be in a particular Service Pack. See my blog [Crystal Reports 2008 - Version and Download information for SPs and FPs|https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Crystal+Reports+2008+-+Version+and+Download+information+for+SPs+and+FPs] for more information.

 Where are the runtimes for the various Fix packs and Service Packs?

All runtimes can be found on the [Business Objects Support Software Downloads|https://websmp230.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/bobj_download/main.htm] web page. My wiki, [Crystal Reports v. 9.1 to 12.x VS .NET Runtime Distribution & Supported Operating Systems|https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=56787567] summarizes all the runtimes and provides a link to each one. For latest update re. CR XI R1 and CR XI R2, see "IMPORTANT UPDATE - June 3, 2011" bellow.

Where is the documentation for the Fix Packs and Service Packs?

For CR 2008, visit the [Crystal Reports 2008 Reference Service Packs, Fix Packs, Release Notes, Fixed Issues|http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/10e38d93-7f07-2d10-beae-e739182f8ada] web page. Also, see the blog [Resolved issues for Crystal Reports & InProc RAS SDK for VS .NET|https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=163843498].
Earlier versions of CR are a bit trickier. E.g.; to my knowledge, there is not one page where you could go and find all info on a per SP or FP bases. In some cases the documentation is actually available from the [Business Objects Support Software Downloads|https://websmp230.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/bobj_download/main.htm] () web page, so check there. And don't forget to use the search box at the top right of the SDN web pages.

IMPORTANT UPDATE - June 3, 2011

All Service Packs and Fix Packs for Crystal Reports XI R1 and XI R2 have been replaced with Crystal Reports XI R2A. Download links for CR XI R2A are specified below.

Crystal Reports XI R2A SP4 Full Build - For users who need to upgrade from CR XI R1 to CR XI R2A
Crystal Reports XI R2A SP4 Incremental Build - For users with existing CR XI R2 installation - with Serice Pack 3 or lower
Crystal Reports XI R2A SP6 Incremental Build - For all users wishing to update their CR XI R2 or CR XI R2A install to Service Pack 6 (Recommended)

For more information on updating to Crystal reports XI R2A see the blog Where did all the Crystal Reports XI R1 and R2 fixes go?.

Crystal Reports versions, Service Pack and Fix Pack download locations table

^Refers to DLL file versions in bin directories. E.g.; Crystal Reports 2008 - c:\progran files\business objects\businessobjects 12.0\win32_x86

*Also known as Crystal Reports Basic for Visual Studio 2008

 Other condensed information regarding Crystal Reports (supported OS per version, etc., is available in the following sources:

Crystal Reports v. 9.1 to 12.x VS .NET Runtime Distribution & Supported Operating Systems
What versions of Crystal Reports are supported on Windows Vista in VS .NET?
Which Crystal Reports assembly versions are supported in which versions of Visual Studio .NET
Crystal Reports 2008 - Version and Download information for SPs and FPs
1215826 - How to deploy an application that uses Crystal Reports and Visual Studio .NET?