Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Sergii Kram — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:09:06 GMT

No "...in the next blog entry, I will talk about the staging mechanism"...

[You're right, that next article never did appear. The author has since moved on to a new role, so he won't be writing a follow-up.]

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Cengiz Kuskaya — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:52:25 GMT

Thanks for the detailled information !

Cengiz Kuskaya

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Alexander Sklar - MSFT — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:59:52 GMT

Hi Omer,

Great article! I'm a WinSE developer for the Windows Client Platform and many people outside of msft don't know a lot about what we do :-)

Thanks for taking the time to write it !

Alexander Sklar - Software Development Engineer

Windows Serviceability - Client Team

Microsoft Corp.

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Daniel — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:09:09 GMT

First off, thanks for this great article.

So I have a machine that has a problem that we cannot reproduce anywhere else. In looking into it deeper it looks like all of their IE7 dll's are from the LDR branch (as well as several others). The LDR branch all seem to have slightly higher version numbers than the GDR. Since the LDR branch has code that does not exist, it is possible that the LDR branch contains a bug that is causing the problem we are seeing. Also how would they have gotten onto the LDR branch of IE7? Would the manual download an installation of the IE& (instead of using windows update) put them on that branch?

We are also seeing file difference where one says (longhorn(wmbla)) and the other says (winmain(wmbla)). How do these differ? Also we see Winfxred vs SP as well as REDBITS vs netfxsp.

[Hi,

Thanks for your question.

It is possible that the Internet Explorer LDR branch has some change that is causing you to see different behavior than IE7 running with GDR files. There are three ways that you could have gotten the LDR files installed on the machine:

1. A registry entry that tells the cumulative update package setup to install the LDR branch
2. Executing the package installer with a switch to force install of the LDR branch
3. Applying an IE hotfix to the machine. When a hotfix has been applied, the setup program for the IE cumulative updates will always install the LDR branch.

This Internet Explorer KB article describes 1 and 2 above http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897225.

REDBITS are .NET 2.0 and some other assemblies included with Vista. REDBITS are intended to have SP level testing and compatibility.
Winfxred is used by the Visual Studio group; I was unable to determine the difference between the Winfxred and SP designators.

Longhorn and winmain could be referring to different build labs. You should just look at build numbers in that case.

Regards,

Jim Truchon]

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

schoedl — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:42:15 GMT

Are Office patches organized the same way?

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

schoedl — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:37:47 GMT

Is there a way to determine from the 64-bit version number of a file whether it is an LDR or GDR file? If not, are these version numbers at least unique, so no LDR file has the same version number as an GDR file? How are the version numbers generated/interleaved between the two branches?

[Version numbers are not the preferred way to determine the branch. The branch information is part of the File Version of the binary just not the number part.

In XP & Server 2003 you can bring up Explorer properties of the binary and go to the Details tab. Notice the GDR in the (srv03_sp2_gdr.080813-1204) output below.

I haven't been able to find this version information in the Vista/2008 UI. So I always use the the resource kit tool FileVer.exe

filever /v \windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
--a-- W32x64 APP ENU 5.2.3790.4354 shp 4,587,520 08/14/2008 ntoskrnl.exe
    Language 0x0409 (English (United States))
    CharSet 0x04b0 Unicode
    OleSelfRegister Disabled
    CompanyName Microsoft Corporation
    FileDescription NT Kernel & System
    InternalName ntkrnlmp.exe
    OriginalFilename ntkrnlmp.exe
    ProductName Microsoft« Windows« Operating System
    ProductVersion 5.2.3790.4354
    FileVersion 5.2.3790.4354 (srv03_sp2_gdr.080813-1204) <<<--- Note the GDR in the fileversion field.
    LegalCopyright ⌐ Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

- Tony]

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Mankow — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:21:48 GMT

I was once offered a "Buddy" fix for an Exchange issue in 2003. Does the Exchange product group have different terminology, or do you know how that relates to windows development?

[The Exchange SE team has a slightly different terminology than the platforms group. In Exchange 2003 and prior, Buddy fixes referred to private fixes given to customers. These buddy fixes contained the fix for the current issue, as well as all prior fixes since the last rollup.

In Exchange 2007, the SE team now gives out "Interim" fixes, which contains only the fix for the current issue. These too are private, and the final fix is then shipped in the next rollup.]

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Anonymuos — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:06:30 GMT

Thanks. Also, where have all the switches gone in Vista and why have they been taken away? Especially "/nobackup"?

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

George Luiz Bittencourt — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:48:33 GMT

Hi,

I have a question. Imagine the following situation:

If an article says that a hotfix contains the file Ntkrnlmp.exe with the version 5.2.3790.4173 and the version that I have installed is 5.2.3790.5000. Can I assume that I already have this fix?

Thanks,

-George

[All fixes are cumulative per branch. A new build will always contain all the previous Updates that were made in that branch. Therefore, to answer your question, the version number is not enough to make that determination. You need to find out what branch of the component you are on, as well as the branch the fix was made on. Take a look at the diagram in the post, and you will see what I mean. Also, note that all fixes made in the GDR branch are in the LDR branch, but not the other way around.

To find out the branch of a installed component, in XP/2003, you could get the branch information by right-clicking a file -> Properties -> Version tab ->File version. If you are installing an Update or Hotfix, you can get the branch information from the corresponding KB. You can also use filever.exe /v to get this information.]

re: Windows Hotfixes and Updates - How do they work?

Michael Dragone — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:58:31 GMT

Wow, great post!

I'd be interested in knowing how the coding and testing of fixes for multiple branches is handled. Is code written for each branch (LDR, GDR, LDR for SP, GDR for SP) or written for the most recent and backported? If that is the case, how are dependencies handled?

Also, is the eventual goal of Windows Servicing to follow the model that Exchange and SQL Server has adopted (SPs with Update Rollups/Cumulative Updates and only interim fixes when needed)?

[ Testing is usually based on the nature of the component, the risk of the fix, complexity, etc. Based on this information, a group of PMs, developers and test engineers all get together to discuss the appropriate level of testing needed before release.

There isn't a hard and fast rule as to which branch the fix is always made in. Usually the test engineer and developer get together to decide where it should go initially. Depending on the fix that needs to be made, code is written for a particular branch, and then moved around. If there are dependencies, then they are addressed on a per branch basis.

There is work being done to move to a more predictable model of shipping Update Rollups like the other Serviceability teams. However, we are being careful because sometimes customers cannot wait for Updates to be shipped in a cyclic model. Once we have the right process in place, it will definitely help the Serviceability team to be more predictable, increase test coverage and reduce regressions.

Hope that answers your query!]