Update.exe from Service Pack May Overwrite Newer OEM Files

ID: Q181385

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

You have updated one or more files that ship with Windows NT with an OEM-supplied version. After you apply a service pack for Windows NT, one or more of these OEM files are updated with older files that are included with the service pack.

CAUSE

The install program, Update.exe from the service pack, compares the version information contained in the binaries. This version information is not the version you can view with Windows NT Explorer. Windows NT service packs usually have an updated version.

With Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 1, 2, and 3

If the OEM-supplied file has a lower version, it is updated automatically. If the version is higher, it will prompt you during installation and ask if you want to retain the existing file or overwrite with the service pack file. When Service Pack 3 shipped, there was not a way to suppress this dialog so an updated Update.exe was made available that automatically retained the existing file and did not prompt the user.

With Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4

If the OEM-supplied file has a higher version, it automatically retains the existing file without user intervention. If the OEM-supplied file has a lower version, it prompts to either retain the existing file or overwrite with the service pack file. There is a new parameter, -o, to Update.exe in Service Pack 4 that will overwrite the file without prompting the user. If for some reason the older file needs to be retained but the prompt for a decision is not desirable, the third party who wrote the driver needs to update the file version or the OEM driver needs to be reinstalled after Service Pack 4 installation has completed.

A more detailed view of a file version can be obtained with two utilities. One of these is Filewise.exe, which is available in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 and in the Windows NT Resource Kit Update 2 or later. The other utility is Filever.exe, which is available on the Windows NT Resource Kit Update 1 or later. The value used to determine the file version is displayed with Filewise as File Version.

The value used to determine the file version is VS_FIXEDFILEINFO:FileVer and not VS_FIXEDFILEINFO:FileVersion, which is a string and, therefore, more subject to formatting difference.

Sample output from Filewise.exe:

File NameExtSizeDateTimeFile Version shell32dll12782246/10/984:55 PM4.0.1381.27

Example output using filever /v notepad.exe:

Language	0x0409 (English (United States))
CharSet	0x04b0 Unicode
OleSelfRegister	Disabled
CompanyName	Microsoft Corporation
FileDescription	Windows Notepad application file
InternalName	Notepad
OriginalFilenam	NOTEPAD.EXE
ProductName	Microsoft(R) Windows NT(TM) Operating System
ProductVersion	4.00
FileVersion	4.00 << used for display
LegalCopyright	Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1981-1996

VS_FIXEDFILEINFO:

Signature:	feef04bd
Struc Ver:	00010000
FileVer:	00040000:055b0001 (4.0:1371.1) << used for comparison
ProdVer:	00040000:055b0001 (4.0:1371.1)
FlagMask:	0000003f
Flags:	00000000
OS:	00040004 NT Win32
FileType:	00000001 App
SubType:	00000000
FileDate:	00000000:00000000

Additional query words: sp1 sp2 sp3 sp4 hotfix

Keywords : kbsetup NT4SP4Fea
Version : WinNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb