Geoff Chappell - Software Analyst
The Windows Explorer program (EXPLORER.EXE) has so far existed in seven variations considered by Microsoft to have sufficient external impact to deserve at least a difference in the minor version number.
| EXPLORER Version | Distribution | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | NT | Internet Explorer | |
| 4.0 | Windows 95 | Windows NT 4.0 | |
| 4.71 | 4.0 | ||
| 4.72 | Windows 98 | 4.01 | |
| 5.0 | Windows 2000 | ||
| 5.50 | Windows Me | ||
| 6.0 | Windows XP Windows Server 2003 Windows Vista Windows Server 2008 |
||
| 6.1 | Windows 7 | ||
Though the next table fusses over such details as build numbers and dates, it is certainly not meant as a comprehensive list even of builds that had formal, public releases. For that, consult Microsoft, who manufacture the software and are surely best able of anyone to present a definitive record. Bear in mind, however, that if Microsoft’s published documentation could sensibly be relied on as either comprehensive or accurate, then you could not now be reading these notes.
Builds are arranged in increasing order of the file version as recorded in the executable’s resources. This version number is readily visible using Windows Explorer either in a so-called infotip for the file or by accessing the Version tab in the Properties dialog for the file. Programmers know this version number as coming from the so-called root block of the version-information resource, specifically from the dwFileVersionMS and dwFileVersionLS members of a VS_FIXEDFILEINFO structure.
The date stamp shown for each version is more obscure. File dates are easily modified after the executable is built and are anyway liable to be shown differently when read from different time zones. However, there is in each executable’s header a date stamp which is set when the executable is built and which is not commonly changed afterwards. It is readily accessible to anyone with programming knowledge and appropriate tools, e.g., Microsoft’s own DUMPBIN utility.
| File Version | File Header Date Stamp | Size | Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0.0.950 | 2FF35DC9 (30th June 1995) | 204,288 | Windows 95 Windows 95 OSR2 |
| 4.0.1377.1 | 31F95754 (27th July 1996) | 234,256 | Windows NT 4.0 |
| 4.0.1381.4 | 3361073E (26th April 1997) | 234,256 | Windows NT 4.0 SP3 |
| 4.0.1381.133 | 3623364C (13th October 1998) | 237,328 | Windows NT 4.0 SP4 |
| 4.0.1381.168 | 37016F4D (31st March 1999) | 237,328 | Windows NT 4.0 SP5 |
| 4.0.1381.282 | 37E7F174 (22nd September 1999) | 237,328 | Windows NT 4.0 SP6 |
| 4.71.1712.6 | 34216FBC (19th September 1997) | 185,104 | Internet Explorer 4.0 (Windows) |
| 34217D1D (19th September 1997) | 191,248 | Internet Explorer 4.0 (NT) | |
| 4.72.2106.4 | 3470E10A (18th November 1997) | 176,400 | Internet Explorer 4.01 (NT) |
| 3470E447 (18th November 1997) | 169,232 | Internet Explorer 4.01 (Windows) | |
| 4.72.3110.1 | 351044D2 (19th March 1998) | 180,224 | Windows 98 Windows 98 SE |
| 352C4169 (9th April 1998) | 171,280 | Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1 (Windows) | |
| 352C4A75 (9th April 1998) | 177,424 | Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1 (NT) | |
| 4.72.3612.1700 | 36BF67E7 (9th February 1999) | 177,424 | Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2 (NT) |
| 36BF6D79 (9th February 1999) | 171,280 | Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2 (Windows) | |
| 5.0.2920.0 | 3814A75E (26th October 1999) | 238,352 | Windows 2000 |
| 5.0.3103.1000 | 3947DD13 (15th June 2000) | 242,960 | Windows 2000 SP1 |
| 5.0.3502.5321 | 3CDB3D58 (10th May 2002) | 242,960 | Windows 2000 SP3 |
| 5.0.3700.6690 | 3E9CD567 (16th April 2003) | 243,472 | Windows 2000 SP4 |
| 5.50.4134.100 | 39370287 (2nd June 2000) | 225,280 | Windows Me |
| 6.0.2600.0 | 3B7DE06E (18th August 2001) | 1,000,960 | Windows XP |
| 6.0.2800.1106 | 3D6DE1E2 (29th August 2002) | 1,004,032 | Windows XP SP1a |
| 6.0.2900.2180 | 41107ECE (4th August 2004) | 1,032,192 | Windows XP SP2 |
| 6.0.2900.5512 | 48025C30 (14th April 2008) | 1,033,728 | Windows XP SP3 |
| 6.0.3790.0 | 3E801AD4 (25th March 2003) | 1,032,704 | Windows Server 2003 |
| 6.0.3790.1830 | 42435E26 (25th March 2005) | 1,050,624 | Windows Server 2003 SP1 |
| 6.0.3790.3959 | 45D6A1B7 (17th February 2007) | 1,053,184 | Windows Server 2003 SP2 |
| 6.0.6000.16386 | 4549B091 (2nd November 2006) | 2,923,520 | Windows Vista |
| 6.0.6001.18000 | 47918E5D (19th January 2008) | 2,927,104 | Windows Vista SP1 Windows Server 2008 |
| 6.0.6002.18005 | 49E01DA5 (11th April 2009) | 2,926,592 | Windows Vista SP2 |
| 6.1.7600.16385 | 4A5BC60D (14th July 2009) | 2,613,248 | Windows 7 |
For the two Windows 95 versions (original and OSR2) and the two Windows 98 versions (original and SE), the only difference between the binaries in each pair is that the later is built with newer import libraries for some DLLs, so that the two have slightly different Import Address Tables and a different checksum in the executable’s header.
For Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, the binaries are identical, byte for byte.