diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index fb2a8ca0b..1280318a4 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ cache:
 before_install:
   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then ./packaging/travis/setup_osx.sh; fi
   - mkdir -p lbrynet/resources/ui
-  - if [[ -z "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]]; then ./packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh; fi
+  - ./packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
   
 install:
   - if [[ "$TRAVIS_OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then ./packaging/travis/install_dependencies_and_run_tests.sh; fi
diff --git a/packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh b/packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
index 83bbc92df..1192521a2 100755
--- a/packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
+++ b/packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
@@ -6,10 +6,19 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 set -o xtrace
 
+# changes to this script also need to be added to build.ps1 for windows
+add_ui() {
+    wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/dist.zip -O dist.zip
+    unzip -oq dist.zip -d lbrynet/resources/ui
+    wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/data.json -O lbrynet/resources/ui/data.json
+}
 
-# changes here also need to be added to build.ps1 for windows
-python packaging/append_sha_to_version.py lbrynet/__init__.py ${TRAVIS_COMMIT}
+IS_RC_REGEX="v[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+-rc[[:digit:]]+"
 
-wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/dist.zip -O dist.zip
-unzip -oq dist.zip -d lbrynet/resources/ui
-wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/data.json -O lbrynet/resources/ui/data.json
+if [[ -z "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]]; then
+    python packaging/append_sha_to_version.py lbrynet/__init__.py "${TRAVIS_COMMIT}"
+    add_ui
+elif [[ "$TRAVIS_TAG" =~ $IS_RC_REGEX ]]; then
+    # If the tag looks like v0.7.6-rc0 then this is a tagged release candidate.
+    add_ui
+fi
diff --git a/packaging/windows/build.ps1 b/packaging/windows/build.ps1
index 859022a99..d57631927 100644
--- a/packaging/windows/build.ps1
+++ b/packaging/windows/build.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,24 @@
 # this is a port of setup_qa.sh used for the unix platforms
+
+function AddUi {
+   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/dist.zip -OutFile dist.zip
+   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
+
+   Expand-Archive dist.zip -dest lbrynet\resources\ui
+   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
+
+   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/data.json -OutFile lbrynet\resources\ui\data.json
+   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
+}
+
 If (${Env:APPVEYOR_REPO_TAG} -NotMatch "true") {
    C:\Python27\python.exe packaging\append_sha_to_version.py lbrynet\__init__.py ${Env:APPVEYOR_REPO_COMMIT}
    if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode) }
-   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/dist.zip -OutFile dist.zip
-   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
-   Expand-Archive dist.zip -dest lbrynet\resources\ui
-   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
-   wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/data.json -OutFile lbrynet\resources\ui\data.json
-   if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
+   
+   AddUi
+}
+ElseIf (${Env:APPVEYOR_REPO_TAG_NAME} -Match "v\d+.\d+.\d+-rc\d+") {
+   AddUi
 }
 
 C:\Python27\python.exe setup.py build bdist_msi