6 Appendix A: Product Behavior

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The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.

  • Windows Vista operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 operating system

  • Windows 7 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system

  • Windows 8 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 operating system

  • Windows 8.1 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system

  • Windows 10 operating system

  • Windows Server 2016 operating system

  • Windows Server operating system

  • Windows Server 2019 operating system

  • Windows Server 2022 operating system

  • Windows 11 operating system

  • Windows Server 2025 operating system

Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.

Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.

<1> Section 1.6: In Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, support for the client-side elements of this protocol is available only with the optional installation of the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) (see [MC-BUP]) via Windows Management Framework (WMF). Support for the server-side elements of this protocol is not available for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. For more information, see [MSDN-BITS].

<2> Section 1.7: In Windows HTTP/1.1 clients set the PeerDist version parameter to 1.1 except for clients in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 that set the PeerDist version parameter to 1.0.

<3> Section 1.7: In Windows Server 2008 R2 HTTP/1.1 servers set the PeerDist version parameter to 1.0. Otherwise, in applicable Windows Server releases HTTP/1.1 servers set the PeerDist version parameter to 1.1 when responding to a client that specified a PeerDist version parameter equal to 1.1 and set the PeerDist version parameter to 1.0 when replying to a client that specified a PeerDist version parameter equal to 1.0.

<4> Section 3.1.4: In Windows HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1 clients use the PeerDist content encoding for GET requests only.

<5> Section 3.2: In applicable Windows Server releases, the HTTP/1.1 server sends a PeerDist-encoded response.

<6> Section 3.2.5.1: In Windows Server 2008 R2 the HTTP/1.1 server uses the algorithms and data structures defined in [MS-PCCRC] protocol to generate the PeerDist Content Information only when it receives an HTTP/1.1 request. The server runs the algorithms asynchronously, and therefore it does not use the PeerDist encoding for the response to the request that triggered the execution of the algorithms. Similarly, the server does not use the PeerDist encoding for any HTTP/1.1 requests for the same content that are received during the execution of the algorithms on that content. However, after the algorithms have completed and the PeerDist Content Information has been generated for that content, the server will respond to requests for the same content with the PeerDist Content Information for that content.

<7> Section 3.2.5.1: In Windows Server 2008 R2 the HTTP/1.1 server sends the Connection header field with a value of "close" if the HTTP request is a range retrieval request, and the total length of the full entity-body is greater than 1 megabyte.

<8> Section 3.2.5.1: In Windows Server 2008 R2 the HTTP/1.1 server does not send the Connection header field with a value of "close" if the HTTP/1.1 client is "Microsoft BITS".