Please note that copying entire pages (or parts of pages) that you find on the web and putting them
on your own site without permission of the author is a form of plagiarism. Taking somebody else's page and making some
modifications to it, does not make it your own page! Doing this is not allowed unless you have the
original author's (or whoever holds the copyright) explicit permission. This page is my intellectual property
and it is protected by United States copyright law and international treaty provisions, as well as other intellectual
property laws and treaties. Please also note the copyright notice at the bottom of this page.
Feel free to link to this page as much as you want!
This page focuses on Windows 95 system updates, or, more precisely, updates that get listed by QFEcheck (Update Information Tool) and ListQFE. Please note that on 24-Feb-1999, I released a new version of ListQFE!.
Several of the updates mentioned on this page apply only to certain versions of Windows 95. If you want to find out which version of Windows 95 you are running, then take a look at a program I wrote called Win9xNTVer. Win9xNTVer distinguishes between 7 different versions of Windows 95.
I highly recommend viewing this page in 1024 x 768 or higher resolution. |
Please note that this page is not an invitation for people to e-mail me for free support, so I may ignore those kinds of
e-mails. Every day I receive lots and lots of e-mails of people who have problems, a considerable amount of which is not
even remotely related to this page. And way too many times I receive e-mails with questions that are answered in one of the
notes on this page. So please read this page in its entirety first. And please realise that just because I created this page,
this does NOT mean I know the answers to all problems. You are more likely to find the answers in one or more of the
following places:
Recent changes to the Windows 95 System Updates pages | |
07-Aug-1999 |
Updated several links. Modified notes 3, 17, 18, 23, 36, 43, 46, and 51. Added information about pccardupd.exe (UPD980225N1) to the System Updates table. Added a content listing of pccardupd.exe (UPD980225N1) to the Contents page. Added a link to a site with a Windows 95 Update Script which automates installing updates. |
Lots of people keep e-mailing me to tell me I am missing some updates. Most of the time though, the updates they list are not system updates (as defined above). I know that there are a lot of "other" updates available (such as com32upd.exe, dcom95.exe, paint95.exe, ttfext.exe, unimodv.exe, and w95gray.exe, to name but a few), and lots of those are very useful. In fact, I have a lot of those installed myself. I should like to include a list of those (complete with links and caveats) as well, but the simple fact is that I just do not have enough time. Right now, even though I have written several programs to make updating these pages easier, dealing with just the system updates already takes up quite a bit of my time. So if somebody volunteers for the job of creating a page for those other (non-system) updates, I'd be more than happy to put a link to that page up here.
For those who want to quickly update their system with all the available system updates, I have made convenient lists that do not contain redundancies. Lists are available for Windows 95 -- original version and for Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2). |
Further down on this page, there are links to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that explain exactly which problems are fixed by each of these updates. |
From Microsoft's Knowledge Base: Implementing Windows 95 Updates. This article gives additional information on Windows 95 versions and updates in general. |
For those interested in the exact contents of all the updates, please visit my Contents of Windows 95 Updates page. |
Here is a page that automates installing Windows 95 updates: Win95 Update Installation Script. In addition, there are some links to non-system updates on this page. |
Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
UPDATE NAME INFO FROM THE Update Information Tool | |
Download here | setup.exe UPD001 OLE 32 update |
Download here | setup.exe UPD002 Shell update |
Download here | setup.exe UPD003 Common dialog update for Windows 3.1 print drivers |
Download here | setup.exe UPD004 File and printer sharing update for Microsoft Networks |
Download here | setup.exe UPD005 File and printer sharing update for Netware Networks |
Download here | setup.exe UPD006 Vredir update for Samba UNIX servers |
Download here | setup.exe UPD007 Enhanced password cache security update |
Download here | setup.exe UPD008 System Agent update |
Download here | exchupd.exe UPD009 Exchange update |
Download here | setup.exe UPD010 Printer Port update |
Download here | plusupd1.exe UPD960103a System Agent 1.1 Update |
Download here | oleupd.exe UPD960125a OLE 32 update |
Download here | krnlupd.exe UPD960202a Win32 Kernel core component update |
Download here | coverpg.exe UPD960202a MS Fax Cover Page |
remideup.exe UPD960226a Removable media support for IDE | |
Download here | iosupd.exe UPD960319a Windows IOS Virtual Device Update |
vsrvupd2.exe UPD960320a Windows Virtual Network File Server Update | |
Download here | dsktsupd.exe UPD960327a Windows DiskTSD Virtual Device Update |
Download here | backupd2.exe UPD960328a Microsoft Backup Application Update |
dlc32upd.exe UPD960402a Windows DLC Protocol Driver Update | |
smartupd.exe UPD960423a Windows 95 SMART Drivers Update | |
Download here | mspwlupd.exe UPD960426b Windows 95 Password Caching Update |
ideupd.exe UPD960514a Windows 95 IDE driver Update | |
Download here | rasupd.exe UPD960708a Dial-Up Networking Update |
Download here | rpcrtupd.exe UPD960723a Windows 95 RPC Client Update |
Download here | wsipxupd.exe UPD960725a Windows Sockets IPX/SPX Protocol Driver Update |
remideup.exe UPD960912b Removable media support for IDE Update | |
remideu2.exe UPD960912b Removable media support for IDE Update | |
prntupd4.exe UPD960920a Windows LPT Virtual Device Update | |
cdvsdupd.exe UPD961017a Windows CDVSD Virtual Device Update | |
flopupd2.exe UPD961018a Windows PnP support for Floppy Drives Update | |
spoolupd.exe UPD961023a Spooler Sub System DLL Update | |
msnetupd.exe UPD961025a Windows 32-bit Network API Library Update | |
Download here | prnt5upd.exe UPD961118a Windows LPT Virtual Device Update |
usbupd.exe UPD961211a Windows USB and WDM Update | |
cbssupd.exe UPD961211b Windows CBSS Virtual Device Update | |
Download here | pingupd.exe UPD961214a Windows TCP/IP Ping Command Update |
socksvup.exe UPD970102a Windows SOCKETSV Virtual Device Update | |
pccardup.exe UPD970128a Windows PCCARD Virtual Device Update | |
cardbupd.exe UPD970205a Windows CardBus Support Update | |
vdhcpupd.exe UPD970218a Windows DHCP VxD Driver update | |
Download here | ras2upd.exe UPD970303a Dial-Up Networking Update |
rmm2upd.exe UPD970310a Windows RMM Virtual Device Update | |
w95filup.exe UPD970313b1 Windows 95 File Manager Update | |
spoolupd.exe UPD970417R1 Windows Spooler Sub System DLL Update | |
Download here | wsockupd.exe UPD970418R1 Windows Socket API Update |
pccardup.exe UPD970424R1 Windows PCCARD Virtual Device Update | |
vservup2.exe UPD970424R3 Windows Virtual Network File Server Update | |
Download here | vtcpupd.exe UPD970515R1 Windows TCP Driver Update |
vmcpdupd.exe UPD970520R1 VMCPD Virtual Device Update | |
Download here | remideup.exe UPD970521R1 Removable media support for IDE Update |
Download here | secupd.exe UPD970527R1 Windows PW Security Update |
Download here | secupd2.exe UPD970527R1 Windows PW Security Update |
Download here | nwredup4.exe UPD970527R2 Windows NDS PW Security Update |
vrdrupd.exe UPD970602R1 Windows Virtual Network Redirector Update | |
nwlnkupd.exe UPD970606R1 IPX/SPX-Compatible Protocol Driver update | |
Download here | dlc32upd.exe UPD970618R1 Windows DLC Protocol Driver Update |
Download here | wsockupd.exe UPD970624R1 Windows Socket API Update |
vipup11.exe UPD970630R1 Windows IP Driver Update | |
usbupd1.exe UPD970717R1 Windows USB Update | |
usbupd2.exe UPD970717R2 Windows USB Update | |
vservupd.exe UPD970724R1 Windows Virtual Network File Server Update | |
Download here | vipup20.exe UPD970729R1 WS2 IP Driver Update |
vmmusbup.exe UPD970804B1 Windows VMM Kernel Update | |
cardbupd.exe UPD970811R1 Windows CardBus Support Update | |
Download here | vrdrupd.exe UPD970911R1 Windows Virtual Network Redirector Update |
usbupd2.exe [no update code] DOES NOT APPEAR IN LISTS GENERATED BY ListQFE AND QFEcheck | |
Download here | vtcpup11.exe UPD971126B1 Windows TCP Driver Update |
Download here | vtcpup20.exe UPD971126b2 Windows TCP Driver Update for Winsock2 |
Download here | vipup11.exe UPD980114b1 Windows IP Driver Update |
Download here | pccardupd.exe UPD980225N1 PCCARD Update |
win95y2k.exe UPD980323B1 Windows 95 Year 2000 Update | |
Download here | w95euro.exe UPD980821B1 Windows 95 Euro Update |
pciupd.exe UPD980826B1 PCI Virtual Device Update | |
Download here | amdk6upd.exe UPD980911N1 AMD K6 Update |
Note 1 -- Last modified on 11-Jul-1998
The filesizes listed are those of the most recent releases of the updates. Microsoft repackaged most of them some time ago,
but the updates themselves have not changed. Rather, Microsoft has added 3 things to the packages:
Most probably to distinguish the Windows 95 updates from Windows 98 updates, several updates now also are available with a new name that is created by putting "W95" in front of the old name. So, for instance, ws2setup.exe now also is available as W95ws2setup.exe.
Note 2 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
The preferred order in which to install these updates is in the order listed above, which is chronological order,
oldest update first. The release dates for the updates can be gotten from the codenames (e.g. UPD961214a) related to the
updates. All codenames start with "UPD" and are followed by a date in yymmdd-format (2 characters for the year, 2 for
the month, and 2 for the day), so UPD961214a was released on 14-Dec-1996. This information can also be used to determine
which updates are required if you are running OSR2 (Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2); simply take only the updates released
after 24-Aug-1996 (which is when OSR2 was released).
There are two exceptions though: UPD960125a (oleupd.exe, for more information, see note 22, on oleupd.exe below), and UPD960725a (wsipxupd.exe, for more information, see note 7, on wsipxupd.exe below). Actually, there was a third exception, UPD960402a (dlc32upd.exe), but this update has been made redundant by UPD970618R1 (dlc32upd.exe), so UPD960402a can still be skipped. So to update OSR2, install UPD960125a, then UPD960725a, and then all updates starting with UPD961118a. Some of the updates were released in two versions: One for OSR2, and one for earlier versions of Windows 95; read the other notes below for more information. As far as I can tell (I have tried it with several updates, but do not hold me responsible if something goes wrong), the updaters will not install any files of which newer versions already exist on your system, so it does not seem harmful to try to install older updates.
Convenient update download lists for both the original and OSR2 versions of Windows 95 can be found further down on this page. All the updates that have been made redundant by later updates have been left out of these lists.
Note 3 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
w95filup.exe (UPD970313b1) was released on 03-Dec-1997, quite a while after the date implied by the update code:
13-Mar-1997. It has been made redundant by the more recent update win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) since the two updates
contain binarily identical versions of WINFILE.EXE. w95filup.exe is no longer available from Microsoft.
WINFILE.EXE of course is the "good old" File Manager, well-known from versions of Windows before Windows 95. Even though the version of File Manager (4.0.0.950) that comes with Windows 95 had been updated especially for Windows 95 and has been updated again (to version 4.0.0.951) with the updates mentioned in this note, its usefulness on Windows 95 is limited because it does not support long filenames. So when copying or moving files with long filenames using File Manager, the resulting file will not have a long filename (anymore)!!!
Unlike w95filup.exe, win95y2k.exe updates a second file: COMMAND.COM. The update even comes with two different versions of COMMAND.COM: One for OSR2 and higher, and one for the earlier versions of Windows 95. The reason that COMMAND.COM appears three times in the entry for win95y2k.exe in the All system updates table above, is that it is installed in three different directories: C:\, C:\WINDOWS, and C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND (those directories will be different of course if Windows 95 was installed on a different drive and/or in a different directory), or at least this is the case on my system. The actual number of directories and the names of the directories in which COMMAND.COM is installed depends on the system on which it is installed. On systems using DoubleSpace, it may even be installed in four different directories (the fourth being the host drive).
Since COMMAND.COM contains a lot of US-English texts, it is probably not a good idea to install win95y2k.exe on localised versions of Windows 95. For more information on non-US-English versions of Windows 95, see note 28, on localised versions of updates.
Only a few days after Microsoft had released win95y2k.exe, they released a newer version, and on 23-Apr-1998, yet another version was released. The first release has a size of 258696 bytes, the second has a size of 259208 bytes, and the third has a size of 256136 bytes. The files contained in those versions are identical, and the only difference is that:
As mentioned before, the second release misidentifies some Windows 95 systems as being Windows 98 and then refuses to install. To be more precise: The second win95y2k.exe refuses to install on any system running OSR2 or higher on which the USB supplement (usbsupp.exe) has been installed. Versions of Windows 95 (including OSR2.5!) that do not have the USB supplement installed, do not have the problem. Since Microsoft has released a newer version (i.e. the third release) in which this bug is fixed, the easiest thing is to download this latest version using one of the various links provided on this page. Alternatively, you can use a workaround I found before the fixed version was released to install the second release of win95y2k.exe anyway on systems on which it refuses to install. Do not do this on Windows 98 though, so only do it if you are really running Windows 95. Here is how to accomplish it:
Run win95y2k.exe with the /c switch. So either from the "Run..." command from the Start menu (browse to the directory that holds win95y2k.exe first), or from a DOS prompt within Windows, type "win95y2k.exe /c". This will extract the files to a directory of your choice and it will not (try to) install anything. Choose the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory to extract the files to (assuming of course that Windows 95 was installed on C:\WINDOWS; adjust the location of the TEMP directory if needed). This is important since otherwise Windows will need some help in locating the extracted files when installing them. Then go to the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory, right-click on the file w95upd.inf and choose "Install". After that, those who are running OSR2 or higher (and only those!) should right-click on the file osr2upd.inf and choose "Install". Do not install osr2upd.inf unless you are running OSR2 or higher and do not install any of the other .inf files! Once the installation is done, you can safely delete the files from the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory.
IMPORTANT: If you are not sure which version of Windows 95 you are running, then do not use this workaround yet, because installing only w95upd.inf on an OSR2 system will cause problems the next time the computer is rebooted. So find out first which version of Windows 95 you have. I have actually written a little program called Win9xNTVer that distinguishes between 7 different versions of Windows 95. Alternatively, you can of course download the latest win95y2k.exe (the one that has a size of 256136 bytes), and simply install it without having to worry about which version of Windows 95 you are running.
A much newer and much bigger version (called w95y2k.exe) of the Windows 95 Y2K update has been released and the older version (win95y2k.exe) no longer seems to be available from Microsoft. For more information on the newer version, see note 51.
Note 4 -- Last modified on 30-Nov-1997
rpcrtupd.exe (UPD960723a) may cause Java-related problems in Netscape Navigator 2.x and 3.x. Not all 3.x versions may
have this problem, but at least versions 3.00 and 3.01 have it. In version 3.01, for instance, this problem surfaces in an
error message regarding java_301 not being in the CLASSPATH. For more information, follow these links:
Note 5 -- Last modified on 22-Dec-1998
Even though remideup.exe has update code UPD970521R1 (thus implying a date of 21-May-1997), it contains files that
are a lot newer than that. I guess that when this update was created around that date, it had not been fully regression
tested yet. The only way to obtain this update then was by calling Microsoft's Tech Support, so some people have had this
update (or an earlier version of it) for some time already. I can only assume that during regression testing, Microsoft
found and fixed more problems, which would then explain the more recent dates of some of the files within remideup.exe.
Also note that although this update applies to both the original version of Windows 95 and to Windows 95 OSR2, one of the updated files it contains, VOLTRACK.VXD, is older (version number 4.0.0.954) than the one (version number 4.0.0.1111) contained in OSR2. The update is smart enough to not install VOLTRACK.VXD in this case. So for those running the original version of Windows 95, remideup.exe will update ESDI_506.PDR and VOLTRACK.VXD, and for those running Windows 95 OSR2, remideup.exe will only update ESDI_506.PDR.
An older (now redundant) version of this update, UPD960912b, was not that smart and therefore came in two different flavours: One for the original version of Windows 95 (remideup.exe) and one for Windows 95 OSR2 (remideu2.exe). An even older (and now also redundant) version of this update, UPD960226a, was released well before OSR2 and thus only came in one flavour. Except for the current version of this update, none of these has ever been publicly available from Microsoft. Some of the newer versions of this update actually contained older updated files than some of the older versions if this update, but all that has been straightened out with the latest remideup.exe (UPD970521R1).
Before the release of OSR2, there was yet another version of this update: ideupd.exe (UPD960514a). Even though this update has been made redundant by the latest remideup.exe, for some reason Microsoft has decided to include it on the OSR2.5 CD. This is even stranger considering the fact that the latest remideup.exe (UPD970521R1) is also included on the OSR2.5 CD.
For those running OSR2 or higher, remideup.exe has been made redundant by amdk6upd.exe. For more information on amdk6upd.exe, see note 49. Note that since amdk6upd.exe is meant for OSR2 and higher only, remideup.exe is still required for those who are running earlier versions of Windows 95.
Note 6 -- Last modified on 21-Mar-1998
prnt5upd.exe is contained in a self-extracting .ZIP file called A5318.exe, so running A5318.exe yields
prnt5upd.exe. In addition, a file called readme.txt is created. This text file explains which problems are
fixed by this update. Note that the version of LPT.VXD contained in prnt5upd.exe (viz. file version 4.0.0.955) is
newer than the one (file version: 4.0.0.953) that comes with OSR2, so this update applies to all versions of Windows
95. prnt5upd.exe has rendered an earlier update (prntupd4.exe) redundant. prntupd4.exe has never been
publicly available from Microsoft.
Note 7 -- Last modified on 07-Mar-1998
wsipxupd.exe was released on 25-Jul-1996, and updates WSIPX.VXD. The new file version is 4.0.0.951. OSR2 was released
one month later, but has an older version of WSIPX.VXD (file version 4.0.0.950)!!! So it looks like a full
update for OSR2 should also include wsipxupd.exe. However... a newer version of WSIPX.VXD (file version 4.10.0.1656)
is installed by the latest Winsock 2 update, so wsipxupd.exe is redundant when installing Winsock 2. For more
information on Winsock 2, see note 23, on Winsock 2.
Note 8 -- Last modified on 14-Mar-1998
setup.exe is Service Pack 1. For some reason, Microsoft decided not to include UPD009 ("Exchange update")
in the regular version of Service Pack 1. It is, however, available in the complete Service Pack 1 version for System
Administrators. This complete version is 16.6 MB in size, and is cut up into 14 parts in such a way that each part will fit
on a 1.44 MB floppy disk. UPD009 is contained on part 8 of that set, and it is called exchupd.exe. Part 8 is called
disk8.exe and it is a self-extracting archive, so simply
running it will yield exchupd.exe (and a few more files). exchupd.exe has been made redundant by
exupdusa.exe, which is of use only to those people who
use Exchange as their e-mail client.
Apparently, there is (or was) a different version of UPD009 before the current regular version of Service Pack 1, because the file SP1.INF, which is the installation information file for Service Pack 1, will delete an incorrect entry for UPD009, if present, from the registry. SP1.INF actually has a remark in it that justifies removing this as follows: Fix for incorrect registry entry OPK update version. From the looks of it, this different version of UPD009 put an incorrect directory path for the file EXCHNG32.EXE in the registry.
Note 9 -- Last modified on or before 22-Oct-1997
mspwlupd.exe was originally called mspwlupd2.exe.
Note 10 -- Last modified on or before 22-Oct-1997
There also is an update file called vredrupd.exe, but this was released
before Service Pack 1. This update is contained in Service Pack 1 (UPD006).
Note 11 -- Last modified on 06-May-1998
Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding about krnlupd.exe:
Note 12 -- Last modified on 06-May-1998
rasupd.exe and secupd.exe are for Windows 95 versions 4.00.950 and 4.00.950a (OSR1; the original Windows 95
plus Service Pack 1) only; secupd.exe has made rasupd.exe redundant.
ras2upd.exe and secupd2.exe are for Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B (OSR2; Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2) and higher only; secupd2.exe has made ras2upd.exe redundant.
Note 13 -- Last modified on or before 22-Oct-1997
The first vrdrupd.exe (UPD970602R1) is redundant. It has been superseded by the second vrdrupd.exe
(UPD970911R1). It had already been made redundant by the earlier update pair secupd.exe and secupd2.exe.
The reason is that the secupd.exe and secupd2.exe that were released originally had older versions of
VREDIR.VXD (4.0.0.1113) and MPRSERV.DLL (4.0.0.952), and did not contain VNETSUP.VXD. Those older files were slightly smaller
than the ones listed here. A few weeks later, versions of secupd.exe and secupd2.exe (slightly larger than the
previous ones, but still slightly smaller than the ones listed here) were released that contained version 4.0.0.954 of
MPRSERV.DLL, only to be replaced a few weeks later by the current versions. Check the filesizes to make sure you have the
latest ones.
Note 14 -- Last modified on or before 22-Oct-1997
As noted earlier, dlc32upd.exe appears twice: In UPD960402a and in UPD970618R1.
The latter has made the former redundant.
Note 15 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
Version 4.0.0.1150 of both PPPMAC.VXD and RASAPI32.DLL was introduced
by msisdn11.exe, but strangely enough, those files
are much older than the ones with lower version numbers introduced by UPD970527R1. msisdn11.exe
is ISDN Accelerator Pack 1.1, which is very useful regardless
of whether you have an ISDN modem!!! Microsoft should have just called it "Dial-Up Networking 1.1"... .
The release date for msisdn.exe is 08-Aug-1996, which places it between the updates wsipxupd.exe
(UPD960725a) and pingupd.exe (UPD961214a), so if you choose to install ISDN Accelerator Pack 1.1 instead of
Dial-Up Networking 1.2 or higher, then do so after wsipxupd.exe and before pingupd.exe.
This goes for both the original version of Windows 95 and OSR2.
Note 16 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
Version 4.10.0.1537 of PPPMAC.VXD and RASAPI32.DLL, version 4.10.0.1423 of VDHCP.386, VIP.386, and VTCP.386, and version
4.10.0.1512 of VNBT.386 were introduced by msdun12.exe (Dial-Up Networking 1.2 -- the successor to the
aforementioned ISDN Accelerator Pack 1.1). Version 1.2b of Dial-Up Networking (which, confusingly, is also called
msdun12.exe) has the same version numbers for these files, except that is has a newer VIP.386: version
4.10.0.1511. The result is that regardless of whether installing version 1.2 or version 1.2b, it should be installed
before vipup20.exe (UPD970729R1) is installed. Note that this issue has been resolved with Dial-Up Networking
1.3. For more information on DUN 1.3, see note 46. See the following two notes for more details on
installation order when installing DUN 1.2b.
Note 17 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
Everything regarding Dial-Up Networking 1.2 in this note also applies to Dial-Up Networking 1.2b.
Note that wsockupd.exe appears twice: In UPD970418R1 and in UPD970624R1. The latter has made the former redundant.
Also, the latter (UPD970624R1) is required for msdun12.exe (Dial-Up Networking 1.2).
It does not need to be installed first, as long as it is installed before actually using Dial-Up Networking 1.2.
Here's a nice "Oops!": msdun12.exe actually contains a copy of wsockupd.exe (UPD970624R1), but the
setup program simply "forgets" to install it!!! (For more details on exactly which files are contained in all the
updates, please visit my Contents of Windows 95 Updates page.) However... once Dial-Up
Networking 1.2 is installed, the directory \WINDOWS\MSDUN will contain the files msdun.cab and
wsockupd.exe. This wsockupd.exe is slightly smaller in size than UPD970624R1 (because it does not contain
a VeriSign stamp), but the actual contents of the files are identical, so after Dial-Up Networking 1.2 is installed,
UPD970624R1 can be installed by running the wsockupd.exe in the \WINDOWS\MSDUN directory. So wsockupd.exe
(UPD970624R1) does not have to be downloaded! To put it more clearly:
Microsoft has renamed the latest wsockupd.exe (UPD970624R1) to W95wsockupd.exe.
Note 18 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
Everything regarding Dial-Up Networking 1.2 in this note also applies to Dial-Up Networking 1.2b, except where noted.
There have been several IP driver updates and all of them had one of the following three names: vipupd.exe,
vipup11.exe, and vipup20.exe. All but the latest versions of vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1) and
vipup20.exe (UPD970729R1) are no longer available from Microsoft. And all but vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1) are
now redundant, since the latest vipup20.exe (UPD970729R1) has been made redundant by the latest ws2setup.exe
(Winsock 2). For more information on Winsock 2, see note 23, on Winsock 2.
The Knowledge Base article (Q154174) listed at the bottom of this page for vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1, containing
VIP.386 version 4.0.0.958) is the same as the one for the previous vipup11.exe (UPD970630R1, containing VIP.386
version 4.0.0.956), so my guess is that Microsoft will release a new KB article soon that explains what this latest
vipup11.exe fixes in addition to what this old KB article says. Meanwhile, however, there is another
source of information on Microsoft's site that explains that this new VIP.386 protects against a new version (called
bonk) of the so-called teardrop attack:
Also realise that since the VIP.386 that comes with this new vipup11.exe has version number 4.0.0.958, and since DUN 1.2b comes with version 4.10.0.1511 of VIP.386, this means that installing the new vipup11.exe will not install a new VIP.386 when this new vipup11.exe is installed on systems that have DUN 1.2b installed. And I know for a fact that the VIP.386 version 4.10.0.1511 that comes with DUN 1.2b does not protect against this new attack. As the above article about the new teardrop attack explains, the new ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2) does offer protection against this attack, people with DUN 1.2b, but without Winsock 2 are still not protected against this attack. All other people are safe, since people who do not have Winsock 2 and who also do not have DUN 1.2b, can protect themselves using the latest vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1), while people who do have Winsock 2 are protected regardless of whether they use DUN 1.2b or not.
The latest version of Dial-Up Networking, version 1.3, includes a fix for the above-mentioned security hole, so for those still vulnerable to this attack: Install Winsock 2 (see note 23 for more information), or install DUN 1.3 (see note 46 for more information), or install both.
Note 19 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
Confusingly, the filename of the previous version of Dial-Up Networking, version 1.2b,
(msdun12.exe),
is the same as that of its predecessor (version 1.2): msdun12.exe. Check the filesizes if you are not sure: Version
1.2's msdun12.exe is 1456824 bytes in size, whereas the new (1.2b) version's msdun12.exe is 1457824 bytes in
size. So what's even more confusing is that the filesizes are almost identical as well. To relieve the confusion slightly:
Version 1.2 no longer seems to be available from Microsoft's site, so if you have just downloaded msdun12.exe from
Microsoft's site, then you most probably have the latest version (which is version 1.2b). More information on the successor
to DUN 1.2b, DUN 1.3, can be found in note note 46.
Note 20 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
More confusion!!! On 03-Dec-1997, Microsoft released vtcpup11.exe (UPD971126B1) that updates the Windows TCP/IP
driver (VTCP.386). There is an older Windows TCP/IP driver update with update code UPD970515R1 (called vtcpupd.exe)
that contains not only an updated VTCP.386, but also an updated VNBT.386. Since the new update (UPD971126B1)
does not contain an updated VNBT.386, this means that UPD970515R1 has not been rendered redundant by
UPD971126B1. However, not everybody needs to install this old vtcpupd.exe, because there are some other updates that
contain even newer versions of VNBT.386. Please read on to see if you need the old vtcpupd.exe.
The VTCP.386 that is contained in vtcpup11.exe (UPD971126B1) has version number 4.0.0.956 and filedate 26-Nov-1997. The VTCP.386 that comes with Dial-Up Networking versions 1.2 and 1.2b has version number 4.10.0.1423 and filedates 11-Jul-1997 and 16-Sep-1997 respectively. Ignore the difference in dates for version 4.10.0.1423; the one that comes with DUN 1.2 is identical to the one that comes with DUN 1.2b. But note that the one that comes with DUN 1.2(b), although older, has a higher version number than the VTCP.386 that comes with vtcpup11.exe!!! This means that if you already have DUN 1.2(b) installed, and then try to install this vtcpup11.exe, it will not replace the VTCP.386 file. The good news is that DUN 1.2(b) also contains a newer version (4.10.0.1512) of that "other" file: VNBT.386. The latest ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2) comes with a newer version (4.10.0.1656) of VNBT.386 as well. So in a nutshell: If you have DUN 1.2 (or higher) and/or the latest Winsock 2 installed, you do not need any of the two TCP/IP updates (vtcpupd.exe and vtcpup11.exe). However, if you do not have DUN 1.2 (or higher) installed and at the same time also do not have the latest Winsock 2 installed, then you need both the old vtcpupd.exe (UPD970515R1; for the updated VNBT.386) and the new vtcpup11.exe (UPD971126B1; for the updated VTCP.386).
On 11-Dec-1997, Microsoft released vtcpup20.exe (UPD971126b2) ("Windows TCP Driver Update for Winsock2"). This update has been made redundant by the latest ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2). It installed version 4.10.0.1424 of VTCP.386, but erroneously entered it into the registry as 4.1.0.1424. This did not have any implications for system integrity. The only thing that would happen is that if you had replaced VTCP.386 with a version older than 4.10.0.1424, but at least 4.1.0.1424, then the Update Information Tool would not have displayed a red exclamation mark to indicate that the installed version had been replaced by an older one.
Note 21 -- Last modified on 08-Sep-1998
Some of these updates are incompatible with Microsoft Proxy Server V1.0! Do not install any of the updates
that contain the file WSOCK32.DLL when using Proxy Server V1.0, or, if you must, make a backup of the WSOCK32.DLL (version
1.0.194.2) that comes with Proxy Server V1.0, then do the updates, and finally restore the backed up version of WSOCK32.DLL.
All versions of WSOCK32.DLL newer than 1.0.194.2 seem to be incompatible with Proxy Server V1.0. Note that this does
not apply to the file WINSOCK.DLL found in these updates; all versions of WINSOCK.DLL I have seen so far (up to version
4.0.0.1114 and 4.10.0.1656) work just fine with Proxy Server V1.0.
Also, the highest version number of VIP.386 that works fine with version 1.0 of the Proxy Server is version 4.0.0.958. This version is contained in update UPD980114b1 (vipup11.exe). Please note that Dial-Up Networking 1.2 and 1.2b include newer, incompatible, versions of VIP.386 (4.10.0.1423 and 4.10.0.1511 respectively). The only exception is VIP.386 version 4.10.0.1657 that comes with the latest ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2). I do not have any information regarding compatibility issues with Dial-Up Networking 1.3.
Finally, the Winsock 2 update seems to be aware of Proxy Server V1.0, and it will only install those files that are compatible with Proxy Server V1.0 (i.e. it will not install a new version of WSOCK32.DLL). So you can still install the Winsock 2 update when Proxy Server V1.0 is installed. For more information on Winsock 2, see note 23, on Winsock 2.
Note 22 -- Last modified on 04-Dec-1997
Version 2.30.100.0 of COMPOBJ.DLL, and version 4.71.1120.0 of RPCRT4.DLL, OLE32.DLL, and OLETHK32.DLL were introduced by
Internet Explorer 4.0, so those most probably are the version numbers shown for these files if you have installed Internet
Explorer 4.0. An even newer version (4.71.1718.0) of RPCRT4.DLL, OLE32.DLL, and OLETHK32.DLL was introduced by Internet
Explorer 4.01. If you do not have Internet Explorer 4.x installed, and at the
same time are running OSR2, then here is something interesting for you: The files OLE32.DLL and OLETHK32.DLL that come with
OSR2 have file/product versions 2.10.35.36/2.10.35.35 and 2.10.35.35/2.10.35.35 respectively; for the ones that come with
UPD960125a (oleupd.exe) those numbers are 2.10.35.38/2.10.35.38 and 2.10.35.38/2.10.35.38... . In other words:
Even though OSR2 was released 7 months after oleupd.exe, it has older versions of OLE32.DLL and
OLETHK32.DLL than that earlier update!!! So it looks like a full update for OSR2 should also include oleupd.exe.
Note 23 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
Some of the updates on this page are exclusively for Winsock 2, but they have all been made redundant when Microsoft
released a new (second) version of Winsock 2 (dated 06-Feb-1998). The first release of Winsock 2 (ws2setup.exe) was
(and still is) only available in an SDK (Software Development Kit) package called ws295sdk.exe. A lot of conflicting
version numbers, rules, exceptions, and general confusion were connected to this old version, but most of this seems to have
been cleared up with the second release of Winsock 2. In addition, this second release seems to be more compatible with
other applications and more stable than the first release. The old ws2setup.exe has a size of 901472 bytes, whereas
the second release has a size of 986400 bytes. For more information about the first two releases of Winsock 2, see
Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q182108.
On 13-Apr-1998, another (third) version of Winsock 2 was released. This third release can be installed without having to uninstall the second release first. It will correctly detect if the previous version is installed, and in that case, it will not backup the previous version. This feature makes it possible to still easily uninstall Winsock 2 altogether (using the WS2BAKUP.BAT file; see below for more information), because otherwise, uninstalling the third release would restore the second one, which is usually not desired when uninstalling Winsock 2. Since this third release of ws2setup.exe has the same size as the second release (986400 bytes), it is not that easy to tell the two apart. For more information about this third release of Winsock 2 (including how to tell it apart from the second release), see Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q184242.
During its installation, Winsock 2 creates a directory called WS2BAKUP in the \WINDOWS directory, in which it copies all the files it is about to replace. In addition, it creates a file called WS2BAKUP.BAT in the \WINDOWS directory that can be executed from a DOS prompt within Windows to uninstall Winsock 2 completely using the files that were backed up to the \WINDOWS\WS2BAKUP directory.
When installing both Winsock 2 and Dial-Up Networking 1.2(b), make sure you install Dial-Up Networking 1.2(b)
first, and then Winsock 2, because otherwise, Dial-Up Networking 1.2(b) will replace some newer versions of
files by older ones. For more information, see:
Note that the issue of Winsock 2 files being overwritten has been resolved with Dial-Up Networking 1.3. For more information on Dial-Up Networking 1.3, see note 46.
Please note that Winsock 2 requires DCOM version 812 or higher. If a lower version of DCOM is installed, then trying to
install Winsock 2 will result in a compatibility error message that refers to the \WINDOWS\WS2SETUP.LOG file. This log file
will then contain the following line: ERROR: Incompatible version of DCOM detected (426). Winsock2 setup requires DCOM
version 812 or newer. Note that the first number (426) may be different depending on your system. For more information
on DCOM (including a download link), see:
Note that, as indicated in note 1, there also is a version of Winsock 2 that is distributed in a file called W95ws2setup.exe. Although this file has a size (970752 bytes) that is different from the third release of ws2setup.exe, the files it contains are binarily identical to the ones contained in the third release of ws2setup.exe.
Note 24 -- Last modified on 19-Jun-1998
plusupd1.exe was repackaged and re-released on 27-Aug-1997. Before this date, it did not register itself into the
registry as an update. This file is only of use for those who are running the original version of Windows 95 and do not
wish to install Service Pack 1. plusupd1.exe contains an update to SAGE.DLL that is binarily identical to the one
contained in Service Pack 1 (setup.exe). SAGE.DLL is part of Microsoft's System Agent, a program that comes with the
Microsoft Plus! product. And although plusupd1.exe will show an "Update complete" message, it will
not install SAGE.DLL if System Agent is not installed. Or, more accurately, SAGE.DLL will be installed if
the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppPaths\SYSAGENT.EXE exists. The entry
merely has to exist; its value is irrelevant for the installation of SAGE.DLL.
OSR2 comes with its own SAGE.DLL, and although it has the same version number and size as the one that comes with plusupd1.exe (and setup.exe), they are not binarily identical. It looks like Microsoft actually recompiled SAGE.DLL for OSR2, because the internal date and time (which is put there by the linker after compiling a file) of the SAGE.DLL that comes with plusupd1.exe and setup.exe is 13-Sep-1995, 21:32:56 (GMT), whereas the one that comes with OSR2 has internal date and time 10-Aug-1996, 21:49:58 (GMT). Unfortunately, that is all I know about the differences between these two files. It may be that the two files are functionally identical though, and that the binary differences are merely a result of the fact that they were compiled with different versions of the compiler. I know from personal experience that compiled files can be the same size, but binarily different across versions of the same compiler.
The latest version of SAGE.DLL is version 4.71.1645.1, and it is installed when installing the Task Scheduler component of Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 1. The Microsoft Plus! pack is not required for installing the Task Scheduler component, so System Agent now can be obtained from Microsoft without having to get the Plus! pack.
Note 25 -- Last modified on 07-Sep-1997
vsrvupd2.exe (UPD960320a) has been made redundant by vservup2.exe (UPD970424R3) and vservupd.exe
(UPD970724R1). It already was redundant for those running Windows 95 OSR2 or higher. vservup2.exe (UPD970424R3) is
meant for versions of Windows 95 before OSR2, and vservupd.exe (UPD970724R1) is meant for OSR2 and higher
versions of Windows 95. None of these updates are publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that they have not been
fully regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a
copy of any of these updates, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 26 -- Last modified on 21-Dec-1997
msnetupd.exe (UPD961025a) is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully
regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a
copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 27 -- Last modified on 21-Dec-1997
vdhcpupd.exe (UPD970218a) is redundant if you have Dial-Up Networking 1.2 or higher installed. vdhcpupd.exe
is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully regression tested yet and
will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest
contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 28 -- Last modified on 06-Jan-1999
Those who are running non-US-English versions of Windows 95 should be a little more careful when installing updates.
Several updated files have US-English texts in them, so your Windows 95 may suddenly start showing some things in
US-English instead of in the "correct" language, or even worse things may happen. For example: One of the most
important updates that come in localised versions is krnlupd.exe. Do not install the US-English version of
krnlupd.exe on localised versions of Windows 95!!!
I suggest you do the following when you are running a non-US-English version of Windows 95: For every update that you
wish to install, check first if there is a localised version of it. If so, then install the localised version instead. For
those updates for which no localised versions are listed, take the regular one. For a list of localised versions of updates,
please visit:
For localised versions of usbsupp.exe, see note 31, on usbsupp.exe. For localised versions of w95euro.exe, see note 50, on w95euro.exe. In addition, here are some more localised updates (note that the file WINBOOT.SYS is renamed to IO.SYS when it is installed):
Note 29 -- Last modified on 20-Mar-1998
coverpg.exe was repackaged and re-released on 27-Aug-1997. Before this date, it was called cover_pg.exe, and
did not register itself into the registry as an update. This file is only of use for those who are not running
Windows 95 OSR2 or higher. It installs version 4.0.0.962 of AWFXCG32.DLL. OSR2 comes with its own AWFXCG32.DLL, and
although it has the same version number and size as the one that comes with coverpg.exe, they are not binarily
identical. It looks like Microsoft actually recompiled AWFXCG32.DLL for OSR2, because the internal date and time (which is
put there by the linker after compiling a file) of the AWFXCG32.DLL that comes with coverpg.exe is 01-Dec-1995,
14:04:52 (GMT), whereas the one that comes with OSR2 has internal date and time 10-Aug-1996, 21:47:45 (GMT). Unfortunately,
that is all I know about the differences between these two files. It may be that the two files are functionally identical
though, and that the binary differences are merely a result of the fact that they were compiled with different versions of
the compiler. I know from personal experience that compiled files can be the same size, but binarily different across
versions of the same compiler.
coverpg.exe was given update code UPD960202a, which is identical to the update code for krnlupd.exe! This does not affect system performance in any way, since the update code is only used to group updates in the registry, and the registry entries for updates are only used by programs like the Update Information Tool (QFEcheck) and ListQFE. It does, however, mean that both coverpg.exe and krnlupd.exe will be grouped under the same key (UPD960202a) in the registry, but since the key can have only one update name, the update name shown by the Update Information Tool (QFEcheck) or ListQFE will be either "MS Fax Cover Page" or "Win32 Kernel core component update". Both updated files (AWFXCG32.DLL and KERNEL32.DLL) will be listed under the update name "Win32 Kernel core component update" if coverpg.exe was installed before krnlupd.exe, and they will be listed under the update name "MS Fax Cover Page" if coverpg.exe was installed after krnlupd.exe.
A newer version (4.0.0.963) of AWFXCG32.DLL is available from Microsoft as well. The update is called awfxcg32.exe, and it merely contains an updated AWFXCG32.DLL that has to be installed manually. A text file explaining how to do this is included. So this update does not register itself as such and does not have an update code. More information on exactly which problems are fixed by version 4.0.0.963 of AWFXCG32.DLL can be found in Microsoft Knowledge Base articles Q174926 and Q175314.
Note 30 -- Last modified on 14-Jan-1998
rmm2upd.exe (UPD970310a) is not publicly available from Microsoft. However, an identical copy of the only file
updated by this update, RMM.PDR, is contained in ie4_2.cab, which is contained in ie4_2s.cab, which is part of
Internet Explorer 4.01. So an identical RMM.PDR is installed during the installation of Internet Explorer 4.01. RMM.PDR is
not included in Internet Explorer 4.0. This makes me think that Microsoft's statement in Knowledge Base article
Q157924 (The problem occurs only on certain system configurations, and does not occur if Internet Explorer 4.0 is
installed on your computer.) is wrong, since Internet Explorer 4.0 does not contain an updated RMM.PDR. So in
my opinion, it should read: The problem occurs only on certain system configurations, and does not occur if Internet
Explorer 4.01 is installed on your computer.
Note 31 -- Last modified on 12-Mar-1999
There is a file called usbsupp.exe that will upgrade OSR2 to OSR2.1; however it may cause more problems than it
solves. Lots of people have reported problems after upgrading to OSR2.1. I myself tried it on 3 different machines, and on
all 3 it caused two problems:
A fix for the two problems described above exists. According to Microsoft's Knowledge Base article Q179130, there is an updated USBHUB.SYS file (version 4.03.1215) that fixes the second problem. It has been my experience that this updated USBHUB.SYS fixes both problems. The update is not publicly available yet though. I do not know if Microsoft is referring to the second usbupd2.exe (see note 43, on usbupd1.exe and usbupd2.exe) or if there is a separate update containing just this new version of USBHUB.SYS. If anybody has any more information about this update, please contact me. Thank you very much!
There are at least two versions of usbsupp.exe. When looking at the file's version number (from its properties), you can tell the difference: One version has version number 4.03.1212, while the other has version number 4.03.1214. The problems I described above occurred with both versions. The following is a list of all the files contained within usbsupp.exe that differ between these two versions:
In addition, IBM's site not only has the regular US-English version of this update available (usbupdus.exe), but also several localised versions:
This is all I know regarding localised versions of usbsupp.exe, so please do not e-mail me to ask questions not answered here.
Note 32 -- Last modified on 18-Jan-1998
The "Windows 95 SMART Drivers Update" (UPD960423a) is not publicly available from Microsoft. It is redundant if
you are running Windows 95 OSR2 or higher. For those running earlier versions of Windows 95: Newer versions of two of the
three files updated by this update (viz. ESDI_506.PDR and VOLTRACK.VXD) can be found in the latest remideup.exe
(UPD970521R1), so the only updated file that is not redundant for those running versions of Windows 95 before OSR2
is SMARTVSD.VXD. If you think you still need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 33 -- Last modified on 18-Jan-1998
vmcpdupd.exe (UPD970520R1) is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully
regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a
copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 34 -- Last modified on 23-Apr-1998
Note that spoolupd.exe appears twice: In UPD961023a and in UPD970417R1. The latter has made the former redundant.
Neither of the versions of spoolupd.exe is publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that will be made publicly
available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical
Support.
Note 35 -- Last modified on 22-Dec-1998
cbssupd.exe (UPD961211b) is solely meant for computers with PCMCIA slots (typically laptops). It has been made
redundant by cardbupd.exe (UPD970205a). cbssupd.exe is not publicly available from Microsoft. Just like
cbssupd.exe, cardbupd.exe is solely meant for computers with PCMCIA slots (typically laptops). And it
also is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it will be made publicly available at some point in
the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
cardbupd.exe can also be found on the OSR2.5 CD.
Note that the OSR2.5 CD contains another, newer, cardbupd.exe: UPD970811R1. This one also is not publicly available from Microsoft. There was no real need for this update, though, since its updated files were already available in earlier updates: CBSS.VXD version 4.0.0.1116 was already available in cardbupd.exe (UPD970205a), and PCCARD.VXD version 4.0.0.1118 was already available in pccardup.exe (UPD970424R1). In addition, this newer cardbupd.exe (UPD970811R1) has not made the older cardbupd.exe (UPD970205a) redundant, because the older one contains another updated file (viz. CONFIGMG.VXD) that the newer one does not.
On the OSR2.5 CD, cardbupd.exe (UPD970205a) has a size of 227392 bytes and can be found in the \OTHER\UPDATES\CARDBUS\PCI directory, and cardbupd.exe (UPD970811R1) has a size of 172256 bytes and is located in the \OTHER\UPDATES\CARDBUS\PCCARD directory.
Note 36 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
Note that pccardup.exe appears twice: In UPD970128a and in UPD970424R1. The latter has made the former redundant.
pccardup.exe is solely meant for computers with PCMCIA slots (typically laptops). Neither of the versions of
pccardup.exe is publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that will be made publicly available at some point in
the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support. UPD970424R1
(pccardup.exe) can also be found on the OSR2.5 CD. The size of the pccardup.exe that comes on the OSR2.5 CD
(174304 bytes) is different from the one listed on this page, but the only relevant file (PCCARD.VXD) is identical for these
two versions of UPD970424R1, so the differences are irrelevant.
A newer version of the PCCARD update, UPD980225N1, called pccardupd.exe is now publicly avalailable from Microsoft! For those running computers without PCMCIA slots: This pccardupd.exe update contains three files that are solely meant for computers that have PCMCIA slots, but it has been my experience that on computers without PCMCIA slots, these files are simply never used. They are installed, but seem to do no harm. For quite a while, I have been running several non-PCMCIA Windows 95 systems with all PCMCIA updates installed (so not just this one), and it has never caused me any problems.
Note 37 -- Last modified on 31-May-1998
Version 4.72.2106.4 of SHELL32.DLL is installed on systems that have Internet Explorer 4.01 including the desktop
update installed. It is not installed on systems that do not have the desktop update installed. Version
4.72.2106.4 of SHELL32.DLL may cause the computer to hang when shutting down. For more information, see
Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q178941. To resolve this issue, Microsoft has created an
update called ie4shl32.exe (which does not have a UPDxxxxxxxx update code) that installs a newer version of
SHELL32.DLL. There have been at least two versions of ie4shl32.exe: One containing version 4.72.2819.0 of SHELL32.DLL,
and one containing version 4.72.2926.1. ie4shl32.exe will only install an updated version of SHELL32.DLL if the
desktop update is installed.
ie4shl32.exe is not publicly available from Microsoft, although a copy could usually easily be obtained by contacting Microsoft Technical Support. An even newer version of SHELL32.DLL (4.72.3110.6) that also resolves the shutdown issue comes with Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 1. And unlike ie4shl32.exe, Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 1 is publicly available from Microsoft.
Note 38 -- Last modified on 11-Jul-1998
Just like it is possible to upgrade OSR2 to OSR2.1 (through installing usbsupp.exe), it is possible to upgrade
OSR2.1 to OSR2.5. In fact, when installing OSR2.5 from CD, the only differences with OSR2 are:
For more information on the updates that come with OSR2.5, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q178972.
Since these are all the updates that come with OSR2.5, note that this means that most of the updates listed on this page that apply to OSR2 also apply to OSR2.5. In other words: OSR2.5 does not include most of the fixes that were available at the time it was released!!!
Note 39 -- Last modified on 17-Mar-1998
cdvsdupd.exe (UPD961017a) is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully
regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a
copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 40 -- Last modified on 22-Dec-1998
flopupd2.exe (UPD961018a) is for OSR2 and higher only; it should not be applied to earlier versions of
Windows 95. However, Microsoft
Knowledge Base article Q159153 seems to indicate that there also is a version of this update for those earlier versions
of Windows 95. My guess is that this other version is called flopupd.exe. If anybody has any more information about
this other version, please contact me. Thank you very much!
flopupd2.exe has been made redundant by amdk6upd.exe. For more information on amdk6upd.exe, see note 49.
flopupd2.exe is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 41 -- Last modified on 19-Mar-1998
socksvup.exe (UPD970102a) is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it will be made publicly
available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical
Support. This update can also be found on the OSR2.5 CD.
Note 42 -- Last modified on 27-Mar-1998
usbupd.exe (UPD961211a) is for version 4.03.1212 of OSR2.1 only; it should not be applied to earlier
versions of Windows 95, and it is redundant on version 4.03.1214 of OSR2.1 and later versions of Windows 95. This update is
not publicly available from Microsoft. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft
Technical Support.
Note 43 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
usbupd1.exe (UPD970717R1) and usbupd2.exe (UPD970717R2) should only be installed on systems that have
the USB supplement installed. (For more information on the USB supplement, see note 31, on
usbsupp.exe.) The systems with the USB supplement installed are: OSR2.1 original, OSR2.1 QFE, and OSR2.5.
Please note, however, that the USB supplement is not installed by default on OSR2.5. One way to make sure it is installed
is by using my Win9xNTVer program; OSR2.5 with USB support is identified by
Win9xNTVer as Windows 95 OSR2.5, whereas OSR2.5 without USB support is
identified as Windows 95 OSR2.5 without USB support.
usbupd1.exe is solely meant for computers with PCMCIA slots (typically laptops); usbupd2.exe should be used instead on computers that do not have PCMCIA slots. These updates are not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that they will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of either version of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support. usbupd1.exe and usbupd2.exe can also be found on the OSR2.5 CD. In addition, the same versions of the files contained in this update can also be found in pccardupd.exe (UPD980225N1), and, fortunately, this update is publicly available from Microsoft. For more information on pccardupd.exe, see note 36.
There is a second update called usbupd2.exe that is not publicly available from Microsoft either. Just like the first one, this one can also be found on the OSR2.5 CD. This second one makes the first one redundant, but for some reason Microsoft has decided to include the redundant first one on the OSR2.5 CD anyway. This second usbupd2.exe does not have a UPDxxxxxxxx update code, so it does not show up in the list of registered updates generated by ListQFE and QFEcheck. This second usbupd2.exe seems to contain the Pentium II core file update that is listed as one of the updated files in OSR2.5. Although I have not seen Microsoft directly state this anywhere, I have come to this conclusion by combining the following facts:
This second usbupd2.exe also contains version 4.3.0.1215 of the file USBHUB.SYS which fixes the two problems mentioned in note 31, on usbsupp.exe.
Note 44 -- Last modified on 03-Jul-1998
nwlnkupd.exe (UPD970606R1) is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it has not been fully
regression tested yet and will be made publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a
copy of this update, I suggest contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 45 -- Last modified on 08-Aug-1998
Since people keep asking me how to upgrade to a higher version of Windows 95, here is what you can and cannot do by
installing updates:
Note 46 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
The successor to Dial-Up Networking 1.2b, Dial-Up Networking 1.3, is now available. Amongst others, it fixes some security
and installation issues. DUN 1.3 works fine for me, but several people have reported a lot of problems with DUN 1.3 where
DUN 1.2b worked perfectly. As always: If your current version works fine, then the best advice may be to leave it alone and
not risk breaking something that was not broken in the first place. For those who wish to stick with DUN 1.2b, please also
read note 18 regarding some security issues with DUN 1.2b.
wsockupd.exe (UPD970624R1) has been made redundant by DUN 1.3; the files in question come with DUN 1.3 and (unlike with older versions of Dial-Up Networking) they do get installed automatically.
DUN 1.3 does not include Winsock 2. Unlike DUN 1.2b and earlier, though, the DUN 1.3 installer is smart enough not to overwrite Winsock 2 files that it should not overwrite (except possibly for one non-critical file; more on that in the next paragraph). I have verified that installing DUN 1.3 with Winsock 2 already installed leaves Winsock 2 fully intact. Just make sure that whenever you are prompted with a Version Conflict, you choose not to overwrite the existing versions of files with older ones (so: yes, keep existing files). Since DUN 1.3 leaves Winsock 2 intact, and since DUN 1.3 was released about half a year later than Winsock 2, I suggest installing Winsock 2 before DUN 1.3.
For those who use the update download lists on this page and who wish to install DUN 1.2b instead of DUN 1.3: Install DUN 1.2b immediately before the wsockupd.exe entry in the list and make sure to read note 17 first. Unfortunately, it seems that DUN 1.2b is no longer available from Microsoft...
msdun13.exe contains a lot of duplicate files, which explains why its size is so much larger than msdun12.exe's. I can only guess (judging from the CAB files inside it) that this was done to simplify the installation process and to keep things better organised. Or maybe it was sheer laziness. Lots of files within msdun13.exe also come in different versions; as far as I can tell, this is to be able to install a different set of files depending on which version of Windows (pre-OSR2 vs. OSR2 and higher) it is being installed on, and possibly also to distinguish between Winsock 1.1 and Winsock 2. One of the files that come in different versions is TELNET.HLP, the help file for Windows 95's default telnet client. It comes in two versions: One (11436 bytes in size) that can also be found in ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2), and one (24099 bytes in size) that can also be found in the Windows 95 CAB files. I found that, when installing DUN 1.3 with Winsock 2 already installed, Winsock 2's TELNET.HLP was overwritten (the only exception, mentioned above, to files not being overwritten) by the other one. If so desired, I suggest making a backup of \WINDOWS\TELNET.HLP (your Windows path may vary), so that you can later choose which one you like best and then put that one in the \WINDOWS directory once DUN 1.3 is installed.
Note that the version of DUN 1.3 that is available for download contains 40-bit security. People in the United States and
Canada can add 128-bit security to DUN 1.3. To obtain this 128-bit upgrade, please visit the following site:
Do not be fooled by the fact that it may prompt you to save this file as msnt128.exe; if you have chosen the correct file from the drop-down box, you will really get the 128-bit upgrade for DUN 1.3.
Note 47 -- Last modified on 09-Sep-1998
vmmusbup.exe (UPD980804B1) has been made redundant by the second usbupd2.exe (the one without a UPDxxxxxxxx
update code). It was solely meant for systems on which the USB supplement (usbsupp.exe) had been installed.
vmmusbup.exe erroneously registers the version of VMM.VXD it updates in the registry as 4.0.3.1215 instead of
4.3.0.1215. This does not have any implications for system integrity. The only thing that would happen is that if you
had replaced VMM.VXD with a version older than 4.3.0.1215, but at least 4.0.3.1215, then the Update Information Tool would
not have displayed a red exclamation mark to indicate that the installed version had been replaced by an older one.
vmmusbup.exe is not publicly available from Microsoft. If you think you need a copy of this update, I suggest
contacting Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 48 -- Last modified on 03-Oct-1998
pciupd.exe (UPD980826B1) is solely meant for computers with PCMCIA slots (typically laptops), and then only
those running OSR2 or higher. This update is not publicly available from Microsoft. My guess is that it will be made
publicly available at some point in the future. If you think you need a copy of pciupd.exe, I suggest contacting
Microsoft Technical Support.
Note 49 -- Last modified on 22-Dec-1998
amdk6upd.exe (UPD980911N1) is meant for OSR2 and higher only; it should not be applied to earlier
versions of Windows 95. It fixes problems on computers that have an AMD K6-2 processor running at 350 MHz or higher.
Although the name of this update seems to imply that it is meant for systems that have an AMD K6 processor, it also
installs fine on other systems, and for a while now (and without any problems), I have been using a non-AMD Windows 95
system on which this update has been installed. And since this update contains several newer versions of files that come
with other updates (for instance, flopupd2.exe and remideup.exe), and since according to Microsoft's own
Knowledge Base article Q161020,
most updates are incremental (i.e. newer versions fix not only some new problem, but also everything fixed by older versions),
I do not see any reason why this update should only be installed on AMD K6 systems. Finally, even Microsoft and AMD
do not explicitly state that this update should not be applied to non-AMD-K6 systems.
Please note that the version of amdk6upd.exe offered on AMD's site contains a bug. Apparently, Microsoft has found out about this bug, because it is offering a slightly newer version of this update now. The bug only affects systems running OSR2.1 or OSR2.5, so OSR2 users who have installed AMD's version of this update need not apply the new version. The bug is another example of a version number mess-up: The original version of amdk6upd.exe (i.e. the one still offered on AMD's site) contains version 4.0.0.1112 of the file NTKERN.VXD. This file is not used and not installed on OSR2 systems, nor on OSR2.5 systems that do not have USB support installed, so only OSR2.1 systems and those OSR2.5 systems that have USB support installed are affected. The problem is that USB support installs version 4.3.0.1212 of NTKERN.VXD, and when the original version of amdk6upd.exe is installed, it recognises that the version it itself contains (4.0.0.1112) is older than the version that is already installed (4.3.0.1212), and so it does not replace the installed NTKERN.VXD with the updated one. Microsoft has fixed this by changing the version number of the NTKERN.VXD that comes with amdk6upd.exe to 4.3.0.1213 (while leaving the rest of the file unmodified), so the new amdk6upd.exe will replace the installed version NTKERN.VXD with its updated one. Since Microsoft's version of amdk6upd.exe has the same size and update code as AMD's version, it is not straightforward to tell the difference. One way is by looking at the version number of NTKERN.VXD (located in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32 directory) on a system on which some version of amdk6upd.exe has been installed; if the version number is 4.3.0.1212, then the new amdk6upd.exe needs to be applied.
A very strange thing about this update is that it contains a newer version (4.10.0.1998) of Microsoft's Update Information Tool (QFEcheck) than all other updates, and that this version describes itself as the Windows 98 Update Information Tool. However, Windows 98 does not use the QFE SpecialBuild signature used in Windows 95 updates, nor does Windows 98 store the information regarding system updates in the same place in the registry as is checked by QFEcheck. This leads me to believe that, despite its description, this new QFEcheck is solely meant for Windows 95 and is useless on Windows 98. Furthermore, despite its newer version number, this version of QFEcheck still suffers from the same bug described in the section Updated files found below.
Note 50 -- Last modified on 11-Mar-1999
Do not install the US-English version of w95euro.exe on localised versions of Windows 95. For those running a
non-US-English version of Windows 95, following the link below to find the desired localised version of w95euro.exe:
Some people have problems installing w95euro.exe on their machines. Microsoft has acknowledged this and is offering two files that should fix this problem: euro3fix.exe and euro5fix.exe. For more information:
Note 51 -- Last modified on 07-Aug-1999
I have been flooded with e-mails regarding a newer version of the Windows 95 Y2K update. Yes, I am aware of it, but I have
not had much time to update this page the past few months. This new w95y2k.exe does not have an update code like the
old one, and I have not yet found the time to do a full analysis on this update, but I do know that this new w95y2k.exe
(without update code) has made the old win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) redundant. I hope to find the time to list the
contents of this new w95y2k.exe on my Contents page. Meanwhile, for more information on this update, see:
Make sure to also read Microsoft's Knowledge Base article Q230173 regarding some possible problems with this update.
Finally, the English version of this update itself (see the first link above for information on localised versions of this update) can be downloaded from:
Final note -- Last modified on 08-Aug-1998
For each file listed in the table above, the first version number reflects the version of that file that is installed
by the update in question, and the second version number is the highest version number known to me.
When using the Update Information Tool (QFEcheck.exe) to search for updated files, please realise that it has a bug: It will not find files that are in directories that have any of the following attributes set: Archive, Hidden, Read-Only, and System, unless you make it start in any of those directories. For instance, it will not find C:\Program Files\Accessories\BACKUP.EXE, since both "Program Files" and "Accessories" have the Read-Only attribute set. Another example: Some of the updated files can also be found in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP directory. This is a hidden directory (i.e. the Hidden attribute is set), so the Update Information Tool will not go into this directory and therefore not report the updated files there. That's why I wrote ListQFE. ListQFE does not have this limitation. In addition, although the Update Information Tool nicely displays what it finds, this information cannot be cut and pasted into a text file or e-mail. ListQFE, however, writes its output to a text file so the information is much more readily available.
When having the Update Information Tool and ListQFE search for updated files, they may come up with files that are not really updated files. For example: script.exe adds scripting to Dial-Up Networking (only for version 1.1 and below, since scripting is integrated into DUN 1.2 and higher), so it is really the installer for an update, not an updated file itself. Another example is sp1unins.exe, which is not an updated file, but the uninstaller for Service Pack 1.
I used to have a list here of all the updated files that ListQFE found on my system. I decided to delete it because I think that the list was not very informative or helpful. There are too many differences across systems depending on (1) which versions of add-ons (e.g. Winsock 2, Dial-Up Networking, Internet Explorer) are installed, (2) the kind of computer used (desktop vs. laptop; this page even lists some laptop-specific updates: cardbupd.exe, cbssupd.exe, and pccardup.exe), and (3) the flavour of Windows 95 used (original, original + SP1, OSR2, OSR2.1 original, OSR2.1 QFE, OSR2.5, ...); for instance: Some files that are recognised as updated files under the original version of Windows 95 will not show up as such under OSR2, despite the fact that they are even newer ("more updated", so to speak).
Choose the link to the update download list of your choice:
Perhaps the following can serve to help you decide whether or not to install Winsock 2 and Dial-Up Networking 1.3: Windows 98 comes with Winsock 2 (there is no way to uninstall it) and Dial-Up Networking 1.3, so it can be expected that more and more applications will be released that will not work without Winsock 2 and/or Dial-Up Networking 1.3... . Winsock 2 definitely is the future; it also comes with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 and with Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000).
READ THESE NOTES FIRST: |
setup.exe (UPD001 through UPD010) |
Skip this when Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is installed: oleupd.exe (UPD960125a) |
coverpg.exe (UPD960202a) |
krnlupd.exe (UPD960202a) |
iosupd.exe (UPD960319a) |
dsktsupd.exe (UPD960327a) |
backupd2.exe (UPD960328a) |
mspwlupd.exe (UPD960426b) |
rpcrtupd.exe (UPD960723a) |
wsipxupd.exe (UPD960725a) |
prnt5upd.exe (UPD961118a) |
pingupd.exe (UPD961214a) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vtcpupd.exe (UPD970515R1) |
remideup.exe (UPD970521R1) |
secupd.exe (UPD970527R1) |
nwredup4.exe (UPD970527R2) |
dlc32upd.exe (UPD970618R1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: wsockupd.exe (UPD970624R1) |
vrdrupd.exe (UPD970911R1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vtcpup11.exe (UPD971126B1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1) |
win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) is no longer available; see note 51 for an alternative |
Skip this when not installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: msdun13.exe |
w95euro.exe (UPD980821B1) |
READ THESE NOTES FIRST: |
setup.exe (UPD001 through UPD010) |
Skip this when Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is installed: oleupd.exe (UPD960125a) |
coverpg.exe (UPD960202a) |
krnlupd.exe (UPD960202a) |
iosupd.exe (UPD960319a) |
dsktsupd.exe (UPD960327a) |
backupd2.exe (UPD960328a) |
mspwlupd.exe (UPD960426b) |
rpcrtupd.exe (UPD960723a) |
prnt5upd.exe (UPD961118a) |
remideup.exe (UPD970521R1) |
secupd.exe (UPD970527R1) |
nwredup4.exe (UPD970527R2) |
dlc32upd.exe (UPD970618R1) |
vrdrupd.exe (UPD970911R1) |
ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2) |
win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) is no longer available; see note 51 for an alternative |
Skip this when not installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: msdun13.exe |
w95euro.exe (UPD980821B1) |
READ THESE NOTES FIRST: |
Skip this when Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is installed: oleupd.exe (UPD960125a) |
wsipxupd.exe (UPD960725a) |
prnt5upd.exe (UPD961118a) |
pingupd.exe (UPD961214a) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vtcpupd.exe (UPD970515R1) |
Skip this when installing the AMD K6 update: remideup.exe (UPD970521R1) |
secupd2.exe (UPD970527R1) |
nwredup4.exe (UPD970527R2) |
dlc32upd.exe (UPD970618R1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: wsockupd.exe (UPD970624R1) |
vrdrupd.exe (UPD970911R1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vtcpup11.exe (UPD971126B1) |
Skip this when installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: vipup11.exe (UPD980114b1) |
win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) is no longer available; see note 51 for an alternative |
Skip this when not installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: msdun13.exe |
w95euro.exe (UPD980821B1) |
Skip this when not installing the AMD K6 update: amdk6upd.exe (UPD980911N1) |
READ THESE NOTES FIRST: |
Skip this when Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher is installed: oleupd.exe (UPD960125a) |
prnt5upd.exe (UPD961118a) |
Skip this when installing the AMD K6 update: remideup.exe (UPD970521R1) |
secupd2.exe (UPD970527R1) |
nwredup4.exe (UPD970527R2) |
dlc32upd.exe (UPD970618R1) |
vrdrupd.exe (UPD970911R1) |
ws2setup.exe (Winsock 2) |
win95y2k.exe (UPD980323B1) is no longer available; see note 51 for an alternative |
Skip this when not installing Dial-Up Networking 1.3: msdun13.exe |
w95euro.exe (UPD980821B1) |
Skip this when not installing the AMD K6 update: amdk6upd.exe (UPD980911N1) |
All articles listed for an update describe problems that are actually fixed by that update, so ignore the parts that say A fix to this problem is in development, but has not been regression tested. Those articles were written after the problem had been identified, but before the fix had been tested and released.
For conveniently accessing Windows 95 Knowledge Base articles not listed here, use my ConvenientKB95 form below to directly access any article on Microsoft's site. Just enter the Knowledge Base article number of your choice, and click one of the two buttons.
The following is a list of people who have in some way substantially contributed to this page. Since there are several people who for various reasons do not wish to be included in this list, I do not put people's names here without their explicit permission.
Without the contributions of the following people, these pages would not have been what they are today, so my sincere thanks go to:
Steve Bookman, R. E. Creagh, Brett Cruden, Chris Davis, Chris Day (UK), B. E. Dearth (Phoenix, AZ), Bill Drake, Jean-Pierre Fastre, Fhredi, Tony Freeman, Robert Karp, L. K. Lawrie, Doug Miller, Winston O.B., Phillip Pi (Ant), Eric Pircher, Gustav Stedje, Lance Tempel, John F Wilson (Australia), and several people who wish to remain anonymous.