diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 1280318a4..2b451f735 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
-  - ./packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
+  - ./packaging/travis/setup_build.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_build.sh
similarity index 67%
rename from packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
rename to packaging/travis/setup_build.sh
index 1192521a2..311dd57ec 100755
--- a/packaging/travis/setup_qa.sh
+++ b/packaging/travis/setup_build.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 #
-# Configure the library for a non-production release
+# Configure build-specific things
 #
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -13,12 +13,23 @@ add_ui() {
     wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/data.json -O lbrynet/resources/ui/data.json
 }
 
+set_build() {
+  local file="lbrynet/build_type.py"
+  # cannot use 'sed -i' because BSD sed and GNU sed are incompatible
+  sed 's/^\(BUILD = "\)[^"]\+\(".*\)$/\1'"${1}"'\2/' "$file" > tmpbuildfile
+  mv -- tmpbuildfile "$file"
+}
+
 IS_RC_REGEX="v[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+-rc[[:digit:]]+"
 
 if [[ -z "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]]; then
     python packaging/append_sha_to_version.py lbrynet/__init__.py "${TRAVIS_COMMIT}"
     add_ui
+    set_build "qa"
 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
+    set_build "rc"
+else
+    set_build "release"
 fi
diff --git a/packaging/windows/build.ps1 b/packaging/windows/build.ps1
index 83d3ec481..78a058b12 100644
--- a/packaging/windows/build.ps1
+++ b/packaging/windows/build.ps1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# this is a port of setup_qa.sh used for the unix platforms
+# this is a port of setup_build.sh used for the unix platforms
 
 function AddUi {
    wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/lbry-ui/development/dist.zip -OutFile dist.zip
@@ -11,14 +11,24 @@ function AddUi {
    if ($LastExitCode -ne 0) { $host.SetShouldExit($LastExitCode)  }
 }
 
+function SetBuild([string]$build) {
+   (Get-Content lbrynet\build_type.py).replace('dev', $build) | Set-Content lbrynet\build_type.py
+   if ($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) }
    
    AddUi
+   SetBuild "qa"
 }
 ElseIf (${Env:APPVEYOR_REPO_TAG_NAME} -Match "v\d+\.\d+\.\d+-rc\d+") {
    AddUi
+   SetBuild "rc"
+}
+Else {
+   SetBuild "release"
 }
 
 C:\Python27\python.exe setup.py build bdist_msi