SHDOCVW Versions

SHDOCVW.DLL has so far existed in at least seven variations considered by Microsoft to have sufficient external impact to deserve at least a difference in the minor version number.

SHDOCVW Version Distribution
Internet Explorer Windows NT
4.70 3.0, 3.01, 3.02 Windows 95 OSR2  
4.71 4.0    
4.72 4.01 Windows 98  
5.0 5.0, 5.01 Windows 98 SE Windows 2000
5.50 5.5 Windows Me  
6.0 6.0, 7.0, 8.0   Windows XP,
Windows Server 2003,
Windows Vista
Windows Server 2008
6.1     Windows 7

Microsoft documents the existence of earlier versions that have not been found for this survey. See for instance the page Licensing and Distribution in documentation of the WebBrowser Control. After noting that “because the Internet Explorer browser is implemented in Shdocvw.dll, the version of this DLL can be used to determine which version of Internet Explorer is installed”, it lists SHDOCVW versions up to and including 6.0 for the original Windows XP, but stretching as far back as 4.40 for Internet Explorer versions 1.0 and 2.0.

Builds

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 is not commonly changed afterwards. It is readily accessible to anyone with programming knowledge and appropriate tools, e.g., Microsoft’s own DUMPBIN utility.

In the days when Microsoft had two operating systems named Windows, most Internet Explorer versions supplied the executable separately for Windows and NT (and in some cases with a further separation for NT 4.0 and Windows 2000). Where two date stamps are presented on the same row for an Internet Explorer release, it means that the Windows and NT executables differ only in the file header’s date stamp and checksum (and that the date stamps are from the same day).

File Version File Header Date Stamp Size Package
4.70.0.1028 3144BB41 (12th March 1996) 185,856 Internet Explorer 3.00 (NT)
4.70.0.1158 321B44DF (22nd August 1996) 449,296 Windows 95 OSR2
4.70.0.1215 3263C53A (16th October 1996) 476,432 Internet Explorer 3.01
4.70.0.1300 3334052C (23rd March 1997) 478,992 Internet Explorer 3.02
4.71.1712.5 3421723C (19th September 1997) 1,909,520 Internet Explorer 4.0 (Windows)
342173A2 (19th September 1997) 1,910,032 Internet Explorer 4.0 (NT)
4.72.2106.7 3472465F (19th November 1997) 1,916,688 Internet Explorer 4.01 (Windows)
347257A2 (19th November 1997) 1,916,688 Internet Explorer 4.01 (NT)
4.72.3110.3 35474FA4 (30th April 1998) 2,179,072 Windows 98
3553AA2E (9th May 1998) 2,168,592 Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1 (Windows)
3553AB82 (9th May 1998) 2,168,592 Internet Explorer 4.01 SP1 (NT)
4.72.3612.1707 36EEB3E4 (17th March 1999) 2,173,200 Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2 (Windows)
36EEB5AB (17th March 1999) 2,173,712 Internet Explorer 4.01 SP2 (NT)
5.0.2314.1000 36F1D8DD, 36F1DBAC (19th March 1999) 946,448 Internet Explorer 5.0
5.0.2614.3500 3720A21A (24th April 1999) 946,448 Windows 98 SE
5.0.2920.0 3844D03C (1st December 1999) 1,104,144 Windows 2000
5.0.3103.1000 38E3FD11 (31st March 2000) 1,095,952 Internet Explorer 5.01 (Windows 2000)
3947EB48 (15th June 2000) 1,104,144 Windows 2000 SP1
5.0.3105.105 3941292E, 39412A8D (10th June 2000) 1,103,120 Internet Explorer 5.01 (Windows and NT)
5.0.3502.5400 3D3D0210 (23rd July 2002) 1,105,168 Windows 2000 SP3
5.0.3700.6668 3EF274DF (20th June 2003) 1,107,728 Windows 2000 SP4
5.50.4134.100 39403C34 (9th June 2000) 1,159,168 Windows Me
5.50.4134.600 393D8773, 393D8BF1 (7th June 2000) 1,145,104 Internet Explorer 5.5
5.50.4807.2300 3B5CD629, 3B5CD980 (24th July 2001) 1,147,664 Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2
6.0.2600.0 3B7DFE13 (18th August 2001) 1,338,880 Windows XP
3B7DFE4B, 3B7DFFE5 (18th August 2001) 1,336,320 Internet Explorer 6.0
6.0.2800.1106 3D6DFA1F (29th August 2002) 1,341,440 Windows XP SP1
3D6E2AA7, 3D6E2BF2 (30th August 2002) 1,338,368 Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1
6.0.2900.2853 43FAD6F3 (21st February 2006) 1,492,480 Windows XP SP2
6.0.2900.2987 44FBC3E8 (4th September 2006) 1,497,088 Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP
Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP
6.0.2900.5512 4802A110 (14th April 2008) 1,499,136 Windows XP SP3
6.0.3790.0 3E80249C (25th March 2003) 1,393,664 Windows Server 2003
6.0.3790.2643 43FA896F (21st February 2006) 1,513,472 Windows Server 2003 SP1
6.0.3790.2783 44FBC840 (4th September 2006) 1,515,008 Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003
Internet Explorer 8 for Windows Server 2003
6.0.3790.3959 45D70ABA (18th February 2007) 1,508,352 Windows Server 2003 SP2
6.0.6000.16386 4549BDB3 (2nd November 2006) 1,064,960 Windows Vista
6.0.6001.18000 4791A756 (19th January 2008) 1,067,520 Windows Vista SP1
Windows Server 2008
6.0.6002.18005 49E037EB (11th April 2009) 1,068,032 Windows Vista SP2
6.1.7600.16385 4A5BDB00 (14th July 2009) 179,712 Windows 7

The Internet Explorer 8 packages for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 each have the same SHDOCVW as have the corresponding packages for Internet Explorer 7. The Internet Explorer 8 package for Windows Vista has no SHDOCVW.

The SHDOCVW executables for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 are identical.