QFE vs. GDR Builds?

Dennis Procopio · External Since: Jul 16, 2009 Posts: 1

Our developers are experiencing issues with like builds of IE6. They haven't
elaborated on the issue, but would like to know if there is a difference
between:

sp2-gdr.090206-1233 (installed in our virtual machines)
sp2-qfe.090206-1239 (installed on our physical pc's)

In "system information," both builds display as 62900.2180.

Can someone tell me if there would be a difference between these 2 builds?
They should be at the same patch level as they both pull from the same WSUS.

Thanks!
Dennis.

PA Bear [MS MVP] · External Since: Jan 08, 2009 Posts: 206

[crosspost to WSUS newsgroup]

GDR = General Distribution Release
QFE = Quick Fix Engineering

Start here:
http://blogs.technet.com/instan/archive/2009/03/04/qfe-vs-gdr-ldr-hotfixes.aspx

Although the above says, "If you have however manually installed a
non-security hotfix that updates a file on your system, that file will from
now on be updated from the QFE/LDR tree," there have been many occasions
when an IE file has been switched to the QFE branch by Windows Update
detection engine yet no QFE hotfix had been previously installed.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Dennis Procopio wrote:
> Our developers are experiencing issues with like builds of IE6. They
> haven't elaborated on the issue, but would like to know if there is a
> difference between:
>
> sp2-gdr.090206-1233 (installed in our virtual machines)
> sp2-qfe.090206-1239 (installed on our physical pc's)
>
> In "system information," both builds display as 62900.2180.
>
> Can someone tell me if there would be a difference between these 2 builds?
> They should be at the same patch level as they both pull from the same
> WSUS.

Harry Johnston [MVP] · External Since: Jul 17, 2009 Posts: 1

There are (or were) some QFE updates included in Windows Update / WSUS.

There is certainly a difference between the sp2-gdr and the sp2-qfe branches;
whether the difference is important depends on the scenario.

There should be an update installed on the physical machines that is not
installed on the virtual machines. You can compare updates using the Add/Remove
Programs control panel or via psinfo (you can search the MS website to get this
tool).

Once you've identified the update, that may provide a clue as to why only the
physical machines have it.

Harry.

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:

> [crosspost to WSUS newsgroup]
>
> GDR = General Distribution Release
> QFE = Quick Fix Engineering
>
> Start here: http://blogs.technet.com/instan/archive/2009/03/04/qfe-vs-gdr-ldr-hotfixes.aspx
>
> Although the above says, "If you have however manually installed a non-security hotfix that updates a file on your system, that file will from now on be updated from the QFE/LDR tree," there have been many occasions when an IE file has been switched to the QFE branch by Windows Update detection engine yet no QFE hotfix had been previously installed.

> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
>
>
> Dennis Procopio wrote:
>> Our developers are experiencing issues with like builds of IE6. They
>> haven't elaborated on the issue, but would like to know if there is a
>> difference between:
>>
>> sp2-gdr.090206-1233 (installed in our virtual machines)
>> sp2-qfe.090206-1239 (installed on our physical pc's)
>>
>> In "system information," both builds display as 62900.2180.
>>
>> Can someone tell me if there would be a difference between these 2 builds?
>> They should be at the same patch level as they both pull from the same WSUS.