Windows – CLI way of uninstalling a Windows update

command lineuninstallwindowswindows 7windows update

Basically, what can be achieved by going to Control Panel > Uninstall a Program > View Installed Updates > Right Click Uninstall, but through the command line? Looking for a way that works across the Windows platform but if (and according to my reading, most likely) it's version dependent so be it.

Maybe something like:

C:\command /uninstall "Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2705219)"

Looks like using the KB would be great but wusa.exe works for the above example update but not for say "Security Update for Silverlight (KBXXXXXXXX)". Not much consistency.

I'm really surprised there isn't much documentation on this. How does an app like WUInstall do it?

Follow up question is how is that list of "View Installed Updates" populated? I've searched the registry like crazy hoping for an "UninstallString" or equivalent but only found references to the regular Add/Remove Programs list.

Best Answer

For Server 2003 and XP you could try:

C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB940157$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /quiet /norestart

Where the KB number would be the KB you would like to kill.

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