Description of the File Names That Are Used for Microsoft Product Updates, Tools, and Add-ins (824685)

SUMMARY

Microsoft is adopting a standardized file naming schema for packages that are created and distributed by Microsoft that contain product updates, tools, and add-ins. Microsoft is adopting this new file naming schema for the following reasons:

It creates consistency across product updates, tools, and add-ins.
It improves customers' ability to search for these packages and for the associated Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.
It clearly shows the language of a package and shows the Microsoft product that the package applies to.

This article contains additional information about this new standardized file naming schema. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

MORE INFORMATION

The standardized file naming schema that Microsoft is adopting for packages that contain product updates, tools, and add-ins uses the following format:

ProductName-KBArticleNumber-Option-Language.exe

Examples

WindowsXP-KB123456-IA64-ENU.exe - An update for the English (US)-language version of Microsoft Windows XP for computers with 64-bit Intel processors. The update is associated with Microsoft Knowledge Base article 123456.

OfficeXP-KB123456-Client-ENU.exe - An update for the English (US)-language version of Microsoft Office XP. The update is associated with Knowledge Base article 123456.

Exchange2000-KB12345-x86-ENU.exe - An update for the English (US)-language version of Microsoft Exchange 2000 for computers with 32-bit processors. The update is associated with Knowledge Base article 123456.

VS7.1-KB821309-X86-RUS.exe - An update for the Russian-language version of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 for computers with 32-bit processors. The update is associated with Knowledge Base article 123456.

SQL2000-KB123456-8.00.0000-JPN.exe - An update for the Japanese-language version of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Build 8.00.000. The update is associated with Knowledge Base article 123456.

ISA2000-KB123456-x86.exe - An update for the multiple-language version of Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 for computers with 32-bit processors. The update is associated with Knowledge Base article 123456.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages

816916 OFF: New naming schema for Microsoft Office hotfix packages

817903 XADM: New naming schema for Exchange Server hotfix packages

822464 INFO: Naming schema for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, the .NET Framework, and Visual J# redistributable hotfix packages

822499 New naming schema for Microsoft SQL Server software update packages

822623 New naming schema for Microsoft ISA Server hotfix packages