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Folders called $NtUninstall******$ can appear in your Windows directory. We'll look at what they are, and whether or not they can be safely deleted.
I have 75 files in my Windows Directory that look like $NtUninstallKB885836$. What are these files? Can they be safely deleted?
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Well, first, those are folders - not files. Folders, also known as directories, contain files or other folders.
The clue is that KB part - that stands for KnowledgeBase, and the number that follows it is a Microsoft Knowledgebase article. The other clue is the word "Uninstall" in the folder name.
That will help us determine what they are. Whether or not you can delete them ... well, it turns out that's up to you, once you understand what they're for.
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To use the example you've provided, Knowledgebase article number 885836 is a security bulletin: "MS04-041: A vulnerability in WordPad could allow code execution". The folder $NtUninstallKB885836$ is created when you download and install the patch for that vulnerability. That happens either via Automatic Updates, or by visiting the Windows Update web site and installing the patches yourself.
If you go to Control Panel, and look Add or Remove Programs, you'll find an entire section there labeled "Windows XP Software Updates". In that list you'll probably find an entry that references KB885836.
By now, you'll probably have gathered that the folder $NtUninstallKB885836$ contains the information necessary to uninstall that update. If you go looking in that folder, you'll probably find the previous versions of any files affected by the update, as well as an uninstall program and more than likely some additional support files.
Can you simply delete the folders?
Yes, if you are positive you'll never want to uninstall the associated patch.
A safer approach is the one I outlined in a earlier article Is it safe to delete this file? - back up the folders first. Burn them to CD, copy them to another machine, do something such that if you find out some time later that deleting them was a mistake you can get them back.
Then delete them. It's a fine way to free up some disk space - but probably not as much as you think. If they're a different color in Windows Explorer, ever wonder why? It's because Windows has compressed them for you. Since they are used so rarely, compressing the files makes a lot of sense. It does mean, though, that when you delete them you may not get back as much disk space as you thought.
Article C2845 - November 19, 2006
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Disks are cheap so it is not the space that bothers me, but the extra time they add to a virus scan. Being in the Windows dir they get scanned even in quick-scan routines. I think I will take Leo's advice (thanks Leo) and move them to a distant archive disk somewhere.
Happy New Year to all
Posted by: Mike Avison at January 2, 2010 3:10 AMLeo -
Most of my Windows Update Uninstaller folders are located in the path mentioned in this article. However, there are several also in the following path: c:\WINDOWS\$MSI31Uninstall_KB... Is it also safe to delete these Uninstaller folders? And if something goes wrong immediately after deletion, can a system restore point resurrect these folders?
Thanks...
Posted by: Yeppers at May 2, 2010 6:44 PMCompressed or not they can add up to 2gigs. win XP pro sp3.
Posted by: Fluke at June 28, 2010 7:04 AMThere are a lot of regkeys referencing those folders, most of them under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\\SP{0..n}\UninstallCommand. I'm setting up a test W2K3 system and for ezample, after installing W2K3 SP2 the following key was been created: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Updates\Windows Server 2003\SP2\KB914961 containing a number of strings among which there is the UninstallCommand, pointing to D:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe. The same is true for most of the updates installed: in theory I might move all my 100+ $NtUninstall* folders into another partition/disk and remap all the related UninstallCommand to point to the new location and Windows would have nothing to complain, but it might be a tedious job... Anybody knows about a tool to move such pervasive folders?
Posted by: Parsec at September 6, 2010 3:19 PMThere is a program to safely remove these folders which also adjust the corresponding registry entry as well.
Best tip on which to delete would be any folders that is older than a few weeks, in case a recent update needs rolling back.
Remember: This is a one-way operation. If you remove the Hotfix backup files and the Registry entries, it cannot be undone, unless you back up these items manually.
Posted by: tork at February 15, 2011 11:19 PMNote this program will let you uninstall as well as remove the backup folder so choose the right option.
Link: http://www.tech-pro.net/windows-update-remover.html