How to uninstall Windows Vista updates
Tue, 10/16/2007 - 10:12 — Ciprian
In our previous article about Windows Update we have shown you how to update your system and how to configure the automatic updates of your system. In this short tutorial we will show you how to uninstall updates installed via Windows Update.
To uninstall any Windows update you need to go to Programs and Features. There are several ways to find it. One of the simplest is to use the search box from the Start Menu.
In the Programs and Features window, click on the View installed updates link.
After a few seconds, Windows Vista will load the list of installed updates. Scroll down until you find the update you want to remove, select it with the mouse and then click on Uninstall.
Windows Vista will ask you to confirm that you want to uninstall the update you selected. Click on Yes and the uninstall procedure will start.
Depending on the size of the update, the uninstall procedure can take from a few seconds up to several minutes.
Wait until the above window disappears and then, if needed, reboot your PC. The update is now removed.
Related articles:
How to work with the new Windows Update
How to add and remove Windows Vista features
Add/Remove Programs - nowhere to be found?
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Comments
Updates
I would like to know if there is a way to delete the history of the windows updates, without unistalling the updates? Please let me know. Master1951@sbcglobal.net
Updates - delete history of all installed updates
1 In the Start menu search box, type "services.msc" and press Enter
2 Stop the Windows Update service (leave the window open - you will restart the service in step 4)
3 Navigate to your Windows folder (C:\WINDOWS) and delete the folder named "SoftwareDistribution"
4 Restart the Windows Update service
5 Open Windows Update by clicking the Start Button and entering "Windows Update" in the search box
6 Ta-da! Windows Update states that you have never checked for updates! Simply click "Check for Updates" and you're ready to begin installing updates!
Folder where the updates are downloaded before being installed
i recntly downloaded aproximately 42 updates for my vista pc, but something made it crash, taking space in my HD and still not getting the updates, now, when i go to WU(Windows Update) to install them it justs download them again, still taking space, now, because of this i'm running on a critical space warning, my HD is only 40 GB and now the non-installed, space consuming updates have shrinked it to less than a GB, now, where is the folder that contains the files that have the updates but are yet not installed?, so i can free up some space before i buy my new HD???
completely desperate
some days ago my automatic updates were not correctly installed and today, when i installed vista sp1, the problems only just started: first of all, it could not really install the sp, now my computer always tries to install it when rebooting, but gets to step 1 of 3 99%, then stops.
each time i reboot, i get an error message, then i have to select my keyboard (german), a test runs, i get the error "ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt", the computer starts and again, tries to install the service pack, the i can use it normally. When i try to install the sp1 once again, it tells me "was installed" and i see a green frame but when rebooting the same sh.. starts all over again.
next problem - i can't uninstall ANY update - neither sp1 nor a simple optional update - no idea why, i'm admin on my laptop and till today, i didn't have any probs
plz somebody - help me :'-(
my friend had the same
my friend had the same problem on his laptop
it kept restarting and never finished installing the updates!!!
i fixed it for him by using my computer i searched for a start up and repair disk, on the net, and downloaded it, its about 120 mb and its
free, from Microsoft, i for get the site i got it from but it explained to
me to me to burn the start up and repair download as .iso or otherwise known as an disk image, as opoused to like data disk or music disk its called iso any way that's the type of burn u do with the start up and repair down load,
then u have to make sure in ur bios that its set up to boot from cd first as opoused to booting from the hard drive first, google bios start up, if ur confused (to get to bios hit delete button repeatedly the second u turn on ur machine or tab or f11 or f12 or what ever button it says to hit to enter bios usually u see on the screen in the first second of turning on machine)
. any who booting from the start up and repair disk restore ur computer to an earlier time to about a week or so or maby a month or so b4 u first started having the installing updates restarting problem, and after u click restore it takes a while so be patent and it might look like it froze so dont power off after it has finished restoring when u restart ur computer it should work again.
try google restore using start up and repair disk if ur confused
and a tip is in the restore to an earlier time window it only gives u like 5 restore points which could all be in the one day
if u look down at the end of the window ul see a back to previous months of restore points and click back and it should now show u loads more of restore points from previous months
delete downloaded vista update
vista sp1 update was downloaded to my computer and the "new updates are avaliable" Icon appered on my taskbar. I do not want to run sp1 update. Is there a way to delete the downloaded sp1 update and remove the "new updates are avaliable" Icon from my taskbar for the sp1 update case
Follow these instructions to
Follow these instructions to hide windows updates, start with the paragraph which begins with "So, here goes.":
http://www.petri.co.il/hide_updates_windows_vista.htm
After your updates are hidden, there will no updates to install and then icon will not appear on your taskbar.
Man i love you!! Pfff was
Man i love you!!
Pfff was searching for that answer on allot of topics...
Thnx for it!
svchost.exe
I wonder if I can unistall windows update completely. so i will never update my windows. because when i connect to the internet, eventhough the automatic update is OFF, the svchost.exe uses my cpu 100% and makes my pc to work very slowly. it takes 5 minutes and then the svchost.exe becomes down. so please help me in this. I've read in a website that to repair this problem I should uninstall windows update but i don't know how to do it in vista. I can's find it in programm list in control panel.
please please help me in this 'couse i'm really suffering.
Updates come back after
Updates come back after removing using above method
I removed mutiple updates (click "restart later") at one go. Does this cause all these problems?
Also, I noticed "CPU performance" (control panel > power options > change plan settings > change advance plan settings) has disappeared after reformatting. I formatted again but that option has vanished for some reason. Please help!
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