Internet explorer history file format -
Microsoft Internet Explorer stores its web browsing history in files named index.dat as of version 4 up to version 9.
Overview
By design these index.dat files are cache files but are used to:
keep a record of URLs that the browser has visited
cookies that were created by a site
temporary internet files that were downloaded in the cache during a visit to a size
Regardless of the information stored in the file, the file is named index.dat.
Note that not every file named index.dat is a MSIE History (Cache) file.
The file format of MSIE 4 is slightly different then that of MSIE 5 up to 9. Most of the information on this page applies to the format used by MSIE 5 - 9.
MSIE 3 probably uses similar records in its History (Cache) files.
File Locations
The index.dat files are stored in multiple locations.
MSIE 5 - 9
The actual location can vary per version of MSIE and version of Windows.
On Windows 95/98 these files were located in the following locations:
%systemdir%\Temporary Internet Files\Content.ie5 %systemdir%\Cookies %systemdir%\History\History.ie5 
On Windows 2000/XP the file locations have changed:
%systemdir%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.ie5 %systemdir%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Cookies %systemdir%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\History\history.ie5 
On Windows Vista/7
%systemdir%\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\ %systemdir%\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low\ 
Internet Explorer also keeps daily, weekly, and monthly history logs that will be located in a sub directory of the global history e.g. on Windows XP:
%systemdir%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\History\history.ie5 
The folders will be named MSHist. For example, the folder containing data from March 26, 2008 to March 27, 2008 might be named MSHist012008032620080327.
The MSIE 4 History (Cache) file starts with the following ACSII string: "Client UrlCache MMF Ver 4.7"
The MSIE 5 - 9 History (Cache) file starts with the following ACSII string: "Client UrlCache MMF Ver 5.2"
This string (or signature) is followed (at byte offset 28) by a four byte value containing the file size. The value is stored in little-endian so the individual bytes must read in reverse.
The file header also can contain the name of the cache directories. In the URL records the cache directories are given as a number, with one representing the first cache directory, two representing the second and so on. The names of the cache directories are kept at byte offset 64 in the file. Each directory entry is 12 bytes long of which the first eight bytes contain the directory name.
Allocation bitmap
The IE History File contains an allocation bitmap starting from offset 0x250 to 0x4000.
Record Formats
Every record has a similar header that consists of 8 bytes.
typedef struct _RECORD_HEADER { /* 000 */ char Signature[4]; /* 004 */ uint32_t NumberOfBlocksInRecord; } RECORD_HEADER; 
The size of the record can be determined from the number of blocks in the record; per default the block size is 128 bytes. Therefore, a length of
05 00 00 00 
would indicate five blocks (because the number is stored in little-endian format) of 128 bytes for a total record length of 640 bytes. Note that even for allocated records the number of blocks value cannot be fully relied upon.
The blocks that make up a record can have slack space.
Currently 4 types of records are known:
URL
REDR
HASH
LEAK
Note that the location and filename strings are stored in the local codepage, normally these strings will only use the ASCII character set. Chinese versions of Windows are known to also use extended characters as well.
URL Records
These records indicate URIs that were actually requested. They contain the location and additional data like the web server's HTTP response. They begin with the header, in hexadecimal:
55 52 4C 20 
This corresponds to the string URL followed by a space.
The definition for the structure in C99 format:
typedef struct _URL_RECORD_HEADER { /* 000 */ char Signature[4]; /* 004 */ uint32_t AmountOfBlocksInRecord; /* 008 */ FILETIME LastModified; /* 010 */ FILETIME LastAccessed; /* 018 */ FATTIME Expires; /* 01c */ // Not finished yet } URL_RECORD_HEADER; typedef struct _FILETIME { /* 000 */ uint32_t lower; /* 004 */ uint32_t upper; } FILETIME; typedef struct _FATTIME { /* 000 */ uint16_t date; /* 002 */ uint16_t time; } FATTIME; 
The actual interpretation of the "LastModified" and "LastAccessed" fields depends on the type of history file in which the record is contained. As a matter of fact, Internet Explorer uses three different types of history files, namely Daily History, Weekly History, and Main History. Other "index.dat" files are used to store cached copies of visited pages and cookies. The information concerning how to intepret the dates of these different files can be found on Capt. Steve Bunting's web page at the University of Delaware Computer Forensics Lab (http://www.stevebunting.org/udpd4n6/forensics/index_dat2.htm). Please be aware that most free and/or open source index.dat parsing programs, as well as quite a few commercial forensic tools, are not able to correctly interpret the above dates. More specifically, they interpret all the time and dates as if the records were contained into a Daily History file regardless of the actual type of the file they are stored in.
REDR Records
REDR records are very simple records. They simply indicate that the browser was redirected to another site. REDR records always start with the string REDR (0x52 45 44 52). The next four bytes are the size of the record in little endian format. The size will indicate the number 128 byte blocks.
At offset 8 from the start of the REDR record is an unknown data field. It has been confirmed that this is not a date field.
16 bytes into the REDR record is the URL that was visited in a null-terminated string. After the URL, the REDR record appears to be padded with zeros until the end of the 128 byte block.
HASH Records
LEAK Records
The exact purpose of LEAK records remains unknown, however research performed by Mike Murr suggests that LEAK records are created when the machine attempts to delete records from the history file while a corresponding Temporary Internet File (TIF) is held open and cannot be deleted.
See Also
Internet Explorer
External Links
What is in Index.dat files
MSIE Cache File (index.dat) format specification, by the libmsiecf project
Digital Detective Knowledge Base: Internet Explorer
Detailed analysis of index.dat file format, by Keith J. Jones, March 19, 2003
The Meaning of LEAK records, Mike Murr, September 10, 2009
Microsoft Internet Explorer PrivacIE Entries, by Digital Detective, April 29, 2010
The INDEX.DAT File Format, by Geoff Chappell, September 13, 2010
The Hash Algorithm for URL Caching, by Geoff Chappell, September 20, 2010
Tools
libmsiecf
pasco, note this tool has not been updated since 2004 and is considered deprecated
pasco2