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Microsoft deploys application fixes since Windows XP in the the folder %systemroot%\AppPatch. They can provide:

An application compatibility fix. This is a segment of code that replaces a problematic function call with a function call that is compatible with Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003. This ensures that the operating system returns the result that the application expects.

Now, it is the year 2016 and Windows 10 is installed on my current system. Of course, the AppPatch exists and contains prepackaged databases.

Of course I'm trusting Microsoft that they will only fix compatiblity issues with this system, but as a nosy user I want to know what happens when I'm executing binaries - and if a third party is binpatching them.

Is there a way to inspect this prepackaged compatiblity fixes? Or is this ancient technology I've not to think about?

ventiseis
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  • Can somebody explain the downvote? The question ist not off topic and not hypothetical. The specified folder exists and I would like to know how it influences my system. – ventiseis Mar 04 '16 at 13:39
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    I don't know why somebody downvoted you, that's really weird. Maybe they were confused about why you tagged your question with [windows-xp] and [windows-10]? To be honest, I don't know which one you're trying to examine the fixes on, but that's not nearly the worst mistake in the history of Q&A. – Ben N Mar 04 '16 at 21:24
  • @BenN I removed the tag. I added it only because the original technet article refers to Windows XP... – ventiseis Mar 04 '16 at 21:27

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You can use the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10 which contains the Compatibility Administrator (Compatadmin.exe) to inspect some of the installed compatibility shims.

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There is another inofficial tool (called sdb-explorer), but I couldn't find a compiled binary. It shows more details and runs from the command line.

ventiseis
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