$Ntuninstall

[Andy]

Downloading and installing Windows updates results in NtUninstall folders being placed in the Windows Directory, pertinent to each download.

Do these folders need to be maintained and if so for how long? Over time, these folders accumulate to occupy a significant wad of disk space.

If they can be deleted i.e. there are no problems resulting from the update, what is the recommended procedure?

Will the deletions have any detrimental effects in on-going operations?

Dave's Answer:

Hmmm... I never knew that 'wads' was a unit of disk space, actually.

More seriously, the files contained within the NtUninstall folder tells your computer how to uninstall the a Windows update that you have downloaded and installed. Each folder has a specific name ending in the name of a particular Windows update.

If you were to go to add/remove programs and select a Windows update to uninstall, the information on how to run this process would come from the corresponding folder.

Some of these files are also related to what Microsoft refers to as "hotfixes" and they can be removed if you aren't planning on rolling back from a hotfix, though it's not entirely obvious which update is which.

Fortunately, a smart programmer named Doug Knox has prepared a utility thatwill assist in removing those files if you so desire. It has the surprisingly intuitive name of XP Remove Hotfix Backup. The utility won't remove allthe files in your NtUninstall folder, but it will let you easily remove the ones related to hotfixes.

To summarize, you can delete these folders, just as long as you are sure asyou don't want to uninstall that particular Windows update. Your best bet would be to keep them, but if your are desperate for hard disk space wait for a week or two to insure that the updates you have installed are running fine, and then you can delete the corresponding NtUnistall folder safely.

Hope that helps you reclaim "wads" of disk space!
Read more at http://www.askdavetaylor.com/can_i_..._windows_ntuninstall.html#ZzAqUewJsMkBWJRR.99

 

[Paul]

Downloading and installing Windows updates results in NtUninstall folders
being placed in the Windows Directory, pertinent to each download.

Deleting those, would free up roughly 500MB on my C:

Is that significant ?

I just cleaned up my user downloads directory, and pulled 9GB of
files trouble-free off of C:. That's a better use of my time
than nuking NtUninstall.

I could probably compress each and every file on my machine,
with 7ZIP ultra compression, but where would be the fun be in
that. I own a 2TB backup drive now, and it's a lot cheaper
in terms of personal time, to just move stuff to that.

Another place you can save some space, is by cranking down
the System Restore maximum file storage percentage. By default,
it stores too many restore points. The oldest restore points
are virtually useless, in any recovery situation. You can
dial System Restore down to the 1.5GB to 3GB range, and save a
hell of a lot more than you'd get from nuking NtUninstall.

And if you have a backup scheme (you should), you
probably don't need System Restore at all, and could
turn it off entirely. I leave mine turned off now,
because I dual boot Windows 8, and I can't trust the
two OSes to not mess with system volume information.

Paul

 

[Twayne]

In

Downloading and installing Windows updates results in
NtUninstall folders being placed in the Windows
Directory, pertinent to each download.

Running those will uninstall updates and hotfixes; never a good idea.

If you really think they take up too much space, ZIP them all into one file
and move it to a CD, DVD, tape, external drive, whatever you have. At least
then if you ever needed to do a rollback (I've never had to) you'd be able
to unzip the one you want and uninstall it. Then you could safely delete all
of them. Beware though, removing those files can mess up the Updates needed
process.

Do these folders need to be maintained and if so for how
long? Over time, these folders accumulate to occupy a
significant wad of disk space.

No, there is no need to do anything wth them. They just sit there in case
you ever need to roll one back out.

Unless you have a tiny hard drive, the space they actually occupy is
negligble. It probably bugs you to "see" them more than anything else; they
are space wasters n that way.

If they can be deleted i.e. there are no problems
resulting from the update, what is the recommended
procedure?

Don't just delete them. As I suggested above, zip them all into one file and
store it safely away.

Will the deletions have any detrimental effects in
on-going operations?

No. It won't. They are still fully installed. But what if MS screws up and
needs to roll one of them back and replace it in the future? Unlikely, but
possble. So if you delete them, save them someplace.

HTH,

Twayne`

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