Comments for Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

Comment from tork on 2011-02-15

2011-02-16T07:19:19Z

There 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.
Note 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

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Comment from Parsec on 2010-09-06

2010-09-06T22:19:45Z

There 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?

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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Comment from Fluke on 2010-06-28

2010-06-28T14:04:22Z

Compressed or not they can add up to 2gigs. win XP pro sp3.

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Comment from Yeppers on 2010-05-02

2010-05-03T01:44:11Z

Leo -

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...

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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Comment from Mike Avison on 2010-01-02

2010-01-02T11:10:06Z

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

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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Comment from Bill DeWitt on 2008-09-10

2008-09-10T11:23:18Z

I want to delete these, but not because of the space. I just don't want to have to scroll down five pages every time I look for something in the Windows directory. Is there a way to make them install themselves into a separate directory when they come in? Like put all the $ntunistall* folders in one "NtUninstall" folder?

Not automatically, no. But you could do that manually, I suppose.

-Leo

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Comment from Robert Syputa on 2008-08-02

2008-08-02T17:40:04Z

I backed up the NtUninstall files by year to 7zip compressed files in the Windows directory. The compressed files occupy less than 18% of the space and will be relatively easy to retrieve if needed. This probably isn't necessary because of the upgrade to SP3 but it is easy.

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Comment from Leo Notenboom on 2006-12-22

2006-12-22T17:55:01Z

Well... probably because they were in use by some other program and the burning software was unable to read them in order to write them to the DVD.

This article might help: http://ask-leo.com/how_can_i_find_out_who_is_using_a_file_in_use.html

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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Comment from Ben on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T21:02:42Z

When copying to a dvd several directories were excluded because the burner program complained files in those directories where in use. How come?

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Comment from Dave on 2006-11-25

2006-11-25T19:50:10Z

lol...I just checked how much space is used on my computer for those folders....400 folders taking up 390 mb's, not enough too really worry about.

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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Comment from Dan Ullman on 2006-11-21

2006-11-21T21:48:13Z

Is there any good way to get updates out of the ADD/Remove list?

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A comment on: Can NtUninstall folders be deleted?

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