Summary
Customers who have applied KB4489887 or later Monthly Rollup Packages to Microsoft Server 2008 SP2 may notice a change to the operating system version string. The “build number” component of the version string increases by 1, and the revision number decreases by approximately 4000 numbers.
In previous Monthly Rollup Packages, the build number has remained static and only the revision component (aka QFE value) of the version string was increased.
Exampl e:
The version number consists of four components: major, minor, build, and revision. The format of the version number is as follows “major.minor.build.revision”
A user running Microsoft Server 2008 SP2 with the latest March 12, 2019 Monthly Rollup (KB4489880) installed will observe this version string:
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6.0.6002.24564
A user running Microsoft Server 2008 SP2 after applying the March 19, 2019 Preview Rollup KB4489887 and later rollup packages will observe this version string:
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6.0.6003.20491 [Note, the last component of the string may be a higher numeric value if updates later than the March 19, 2019 Preview Rollup are installed]
How changes in the version string can be observed:
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Running ‘ver’ or ‘winver’ from a CMD line to view the Windows Version
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Values returned from Microsoft Windows Versioning APIs
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Use WMI interfaces that display OS versioning information
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Visually via Windows Explorer properties dialog boxes
Why this is c hanging ?
Within the operating system, the version numbers and their numerical ranges have meaning to internal functions for servicing. The numbers used for the revision portion of the version string are required to stay within a set range. The build number increment from 6002 to 6003 allows the revision numbers to start over from previously used while keeping the overall version string unique.
This change allows Microsoft Server 2008 SP2 to continue to be serviced without version-related issues for the remainder of its lifecycle.
What action is needed?
If the change in the version string is simply observed, there is no action required. Microsoft Server 2008 SP2 will continue to function and receive servicing updates normally.
If application code or scripts are dependent on the version string “6002” as an identifier for “Windows Vista SP2”, these may need to be updated to accommodate the new value of “6003” which now identifies the same Windows Server SP2 version as “6002”.
