We have setup a test case showcasing the problem here: https://github.com/ElderByte-/hibernate-setFirstResult-mssql

Short version:

The following code works with Hibernate 4, SQLServerDialect, connected to a MSSQL 2000 Server.
The exact same code fails however, if Hibernate 5 is in use.

    public List<FooBar> getAllByName(Session session){
        Query query = session.createQuery("from FooBar");
        query.setFirstResult(1);
        query.setMaxResults(5);
        return (List<FooBar>)query.list();
    }

The code in the repository is as simple as possible to reproduce the issue.

I hope this helps in tracking the issue down.