How to remove all windows updates. How to remove a service pack if the system cannot boot

As you know, many users of Windows 7 and 8.1 have recently received a message about the availability of an update to version 10.

Despite the fact that you can use this service if you wish, the update icon after such a message is installed on the computer of everyone with a licensed OS and periodically appears, interfering and annoying during work. But this is only half the trouble, since along with this icon there also appeared new folder, having Name$WINDOWS.~BT, which serves for an easier transition to a new version and the data contained in it are not deleted. This phenomenon is not very pleasant for those users who do not want to use the innovation, especially when the system disk is almost full of the necessary data, because the weight of the folder is quite large, even 3 GB.

In addition, all this can cause problematic situations in the functioning of a PC or laptop, which is also not very good. Therefore, the best option would be to produce removing unnecessary update, and there are several ways to do this.

It is worth noting that these methods work for rollback any system update.

Uninstall via Update Center

The first method, which is the simplest, is to destroy the component using Parameters And Control panels. To perform this you will need the following operations:


After all the activities, a list of all versions that were installed on the computer will be opened. Among them are selected unnecessary updates and press “ Delete" Next, this action is confirmed and its completion is waited for.

You can also get to the list of updates using Control Panel, in which using the section “ Programs and components", a side menu opens where you select " View installed updates».

Using the command line

The second way to get rid of updates is to use the command line. To carry out the process, the following actions will be required:


Is it possible to remove updates? For many reasons, there is a need to uninstall Windows 7 updates. It often happens that after automatic installation of an update, one of the programs stops working, the equipment began to work worse due to overload, or errors began to appear.

The reasons can be varied: there are updates that directly make changes to the kernel of the Windows 7 operating system itself, which entails a failure of the drivers. There can be a lot of reasons and options. Of course, it is better not to touch the updates that are installed on your computer, they are usually useful for the operating system, but still, to prevent negative consequences, we will look at the main ways to remove them.

How to remove updates

Uninstalling an update through the control panel

If you need to uninstall updates in the latest versions of Windows 7, you can do this in the appropriate item in the Control Panel:

1. You need to go to the control panel and find the “Windows Update” item.

2. Your second step will be to find the “Installed updates” link.

4. You need to select Windows 7 updates, and click delete, after which you confirm the removal of the update.

After the removal is complete, the system will prompt you to restart your computer. This must be done so that the system is updated again and does not react to fragments from a remote update.

Uninstall update via command line

Windows has a special tool called “Offline Update Installer”. If you call it via the command line (start, run, cmd, Enter)

you can also uninstall the update from Windows 7. To do this, you need to use the following type of command: wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2222222. In this command, kb:2222222 is the identification number of the update that you need to remove.

In conclusion, I will say that we have covered the basic principles and steps of uninstalling an update on your OS, but if you do not want to bother, and updates are not so important to you, you can try to completely disable automatic updates of Windows 7.

A good and instructive article on the topic of how to properly remove necessary and unnecessary Windows updates. I don’t know why you will need to remove the necessary updates, but the ones you don’t need may well come in handy. The article was written at the request of visitors.

Before you start uninstalling, you should know that Windows updates are released in order to fix found vulnerabilities in the system and make it better. Therefore, it is not recommended to remove them. It’s another matter if after such updates the system begins to work unstably or you need to free up some space from unused updates (and there are some). But let's talk about all this in order.

First, let's figure out how to properly remove any updates installed in different versions of Windows.

How to remove updates in Windows XP

There is also another way to remove updates in Windows XP.

To do this, go to the Windows folder on the system drive and look for folders there with a blue name, something like this:


As you can see, their name begins with the $ sign. Inside there is a folder spuninst, inside of which there is a file spuninst.exe, which you need to run to remove the update.

How to remove updates in Windows 7

Start -> Control Panel -> select type View By Categories and choose system and safety:


View installed updates


We get a list by selecting and highlighting the update from which you can delete it:

How to remove updates in Windows 8

In the "eight" everything is practically the same as in the "seven". I will show you how to do this only if you select View By Large icons:




You can also remove updates via . This method does NOT work on Windows XP.

Launch and enter the command:

wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:100500


where 100500 is the number of the update to be removed. Of course, you need to know it, and it is also advisable to run the command line as an administrator.

We are done with information about deleting all deletions. Now let's focus on if you need to remove unnecessary updates. Yes, yes, there are some. The fact is that if you have installed Windows for a long time, then it contains a bunch of unnecessary updates. Let's look at an example.
Let's assume that the system is already about 3 years old. All updates are downloaded and installed correctly. But after one update, more and more new ones are released, which often “overlap” old updates with their “patches”. What happens to the old ones that have already been downloaded and have been “blocked” 10 times? Yes, they are in the system, or more specifically, on the system partition of the disk, where there is always not enough space.

I wrote about this a year ago in an article. It doesn't exist in Windows XP. You can read the article in more detail.

In addition to that article, I want to give one recommendation for clearing unnecessary updates (this is not in That article).

So, go to My Computer and click on the system partition (this is where Windows is installed. There is also a special icon there and often this is a disk WITH) with the right mouse button. In the context menu select Properties.


The information collection procedure will begin. We have to wait. How much time? Depends on system load. Sometimes a minute is enough, sometimes ten:


After you have waited and the system has scanned all the files that can be cleaned without loss of functionality, you need to scroll down the list looking for the item “Cleaning Windows updates” and check it. You can also check some other box along the way (for example Memory dump files And Debug Dump Files), fortunately the description is present on all of them (we read and think whether you need it). Then click OK:


If after you have chosen Disk Cleanup and you don’t see an option for uninstalling Windows updates, then click on “Clean up system files”


and in the next window search, install and delete:

Where are Windows updates stored?

Of course, in Windows, updates must be stored somewhere. For all versions (Windows XP, 7, 8) the folder for storing updates is the same. It is located along the path:

System disk -> Windows -> SoftwareDistribution -> Download


This is where all the update folders and files are located:


What is all this for? No, not for deletion. It is wrong to delete from here! This is more for general information, and also so that you can create a backup copy of this folder.
For example, you save everything from here, then you reinstalled Windows, or you went to a friend with a new OS, or some error occurred - in general, there can be many situations. You will simply copy saved updates and will not need to search for or install them. In short, you understand what I'm getting at.
Please understand that not all updates from this backup may be suitable for another system. From seven to eight, of course, it won’t work, but you also need to take into account.

Also, if the update folders or files contain the name express , then you need to know that such updates are not reinstalled.

That's all I have. Now you know how to remove all Windows updates, as well as where they are located, how to disable them and create a backup copy.

Operating system updates are a useful thing. They fix bugs, close vulnerabilities, and sometimes even add new features. But sometimes installing the latest updates disrupts the normal operation of the system, and in this case it is better to get rid of them until the next fixes are released. We talked in detail about how to remove updates in Windows XP, and now let's talk about how to remove updates in Windows 7.

Uninstalling individual updates

To uninstall old Windows 7 updates, open the Start menu and select Control Panel. In the window that appears, enter the keyword “updates” (without quotes) in the search bar and select “Windows Update” from the results. In the next window, click the "Installed updates" link in the lower left corner. A list of all installed updates appears, sorted by product type. Updates to the operating system itself are located at the end of the list in the “Microsoft Windows” section. You can select any of them and click the “Delete” button. This way you can remove all Windows 7 updates.

Uninstalling the latest updates

If you've just installed updates and notice that your system is acting strangely, you can also quickly return it to its previous state using a restore point. As a rule, before installing updates, the system automatically creates such a point so that changes can be easily rolled back.

To uninstall the latest Windows 7 updates, open the Start menu, right-click on Computer and select Properties from the menu that appears. In the window that opens, click the “System Protection” link in the left panel.

The System Properties dialog box appears, opened under the System Protection tab. Click the "Restore" button. After a short boot, the System Restore window will appear. Click Next and look in the list for the last restore point created before installing the updates.

Keep in mind that rolling back to the last restore point returns the system to the state it was in when that point was created. If you managed to install any new programs during this time, they will be deleted. To check which applications will be affected by the restoration, click the “Search for affected programs” button, look at the list that appears and click the “Close” button.

Now click the "Next" button. If you have any important documents and applications open, close them and click the "Done" button in the "System Restore" window. The computer will reboot and begin the recovery process, after which the system will boot to the state it was in before installing the latest updates.

Any update, especially if it affects system files, is a potential threat to system stability. Despite the fact that updates are tested both by Microsoft itself and by administrators themselves, situations when installing an update leads to complete system inoperability do occur from time to time. What to do in this case? We will talk about this in this article.

The main problem, which is also an undoubted advantage, of Windows systems is their diversity. It is almost impossible to calculate the number of possible combinations of hardware and software running on it, therefore, no matter how carefully you test updates, there can always be a combination of hardware and software that turns out to be incompatible with a given update. Most often, problems are associated with third-party drivers or low-level software running at the kernel level.

A separate discussion concerns unlicensed systems. Most often, activation is bypassed by patching and replacing the kernel. This in itself is unsafe and fraught with potential problems, and with updates that affect the kernel, you risk a system failure, which has happened more than once. Various amateur builds available on the Internet are also susceptible to this drawback; many builders immediately include a patched kernel in the system or forcefully launch the activator immediately after installation, without checking the presence and validity of the system key.

This happened last Patch Tuesday. Next security update KB3045999 for Windows 7, when rebooting, it resulted in a “blue screen of death” (BSOD).

Users burst out with further reproaches to Microsoft for releasing “buggy” updates, but it soon became clear that only systems with a patched kernel were susceptible to the error. Nevertheless, the problem also affected quite law-abiding users who were too lazy to assemble it and, in order not to download gigabytes of updates, simply downloaded a suitable assembly from the network.

We will not discuss the moral and legal aspects of using unlicensed software; let everyone decide this issue on their own, but rather consider ways to restore the system.

Installation disc or Windows PE

This is the most accessible, although not the easiest, method. Any disk from a compatible system will do, the only condition is compliance with the bit capacity. You should also remember about backward compatibility, i.e. to restore Windows 7, you can use disks not only from Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, but also Windows 8 / Server 2012. In some cases, you can try to use a disk from an earlier system, but not all options may be available, for example, It will not be possible to implement the instructions below with a disk from Windows Vista / Server 2008.

If you are using Windows PE, then it must also be created on the basis of the current version of the OS or a later one, and the bit depth must also be the same.

Let's boot from the installation disk and on the screen offering OS installation, select the item System Restore.

The utility will detect the installed OS and offer to proceed with automatic system recovery, there are few options here, so click Further.

But there is absolutely no need to wait for the wizard to finish his work, especially since he won’t be able to help us, so on the next screen we click Cancel.

Then take your time and select the link in the window that appears Show additional system recovery options.

Now you have the opportunity to exit to the command line, which you should use.

If you booted from Windows PE, you will be taken to the command line immediately.

Then you should clarify which letter the system disk received. With standard markup, this will be the letter D, the letter C will be the service section. To check, let's do:

Once you are sure that it is indeed the system drive, you can proceed to the next steps. Before doing this, it would be a good idea to clarify the name of the problematic update; as a rule, this is easy to do using the Internet. Then we get a list of all installed packages with the following command:

DISM /Image:D:\ /Get-Packages

In the output we find the number of the required update and copy the package name; if it is unknown, then delete all packages with the date of the last update.

To copy the name of a package on the command line, select it and press the key Enter, just right-click to insert.

To remove a package, run the command:

DISM /Image:D:\ /Remove-Package /PackageName:Package_for_KB3045999~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1

where as an option PackageName provide the package name obtained in the previous step.


Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

A set of diagnostic and recovery tools ( Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (MSDaRT) is a tool based on ERD Commander from Sysinternals and available through Software Assurance (SA) subscription, but it is not difficult to find on the Internet. To work with Windows 7 you will need at least version 6.5 of MSDaRT, version 8.0 is current

We boot from the MSDaRT disk, remember that compliance with the bit depth is a mandatory requirement, and on the first screen, after selecting the language (in our case, version 8.0 is used), select Diagnostics:


Then Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset:


After which a window will open in front of you with a selection of available tools, we are interested in Hotfix Uninstall or Removing patches.

Working with the wizard is not difficult; select one or more updates and delete them:

As you can see, working with MSDaRT is much more convenient than with the command line, but it requires preparing for possible emergency situations in advance.

In both cases, after removing the problematic update, you should reboot and carefully analyze the reasons for the failure. We hope that this material will help you quickly restore system functionality after an unsuccessful update.

 

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