Windows XP – How to Selectively Uninstall Windows Updates

uninstallwindows updatewindows xp

I recently installed a bunch of updates from the Windows update site. Now, some of the previously installed enterprise Java applications on my computer are not functioning properly, so I would like to back out these updates. Ideally, System Restore would do the trick, but the IT admins here disabled that feature. From Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs I can select any single update and remove it without issue. Unfortunately, it doesn't give you a nice sortable list (i.e. install dates are often missing and you can't sort by KB#). I already uninstalled the handful of updates that I could find without fixing the problem. Is there another way (command line or another tool or utility) that I can use to selectively uninstall Windows updates? Thanks.

Best Answer

NirSoft WinUpdateList does the trick.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wul.html

Related Solutions

Windows – CLI way of uninstalling a Windows update

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.

Windows – How to completely remove the Visual C++ Express installation

Option 1 would be to use System Restore if you have an appropriate restore point handy.

Option 2 would be to reinstall Visual C++ Express 2010 and them uninstall everything in reverse order, i.e. hotfixes/updates first and finally the app itself.

If Options 1 and 2 are not possible for some reason, I recommend you try this instead:

At an elevated command prompt, type:

dism /Online /Get-Packages > Packages.txt

Open Packages.txt and you'll see something similar to the following:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Packages listing:

Package Identity : Package_for_KB2705219~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1
State : Superseded
Release Type : Security Update
Install Time : 15-08-2012 05:38 PM

...

The operation completed successfully.

Based on the information about each package, try and identify the ones you want to remove. For example, the one above corresponds to this update. Similarly, try and locate the packages for the hotfixes listed in your screenshot, such as this one for example.

Now use a command similar to the following to remove the specified packages:

dism /Online /Remove-Package /PackageName:Package_for_KB2705219~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1 /PackageName:<Package Identity 2> /PackageName:<Package Identity 3> ...

Hopefully it will work and not throw the same error about the main program no longer being installed. If it doesn't work, a final option might be to use some freeware/commercial uninstallation utility, but not sure which one would work and how well.

Edit: Some more things to try:

Visual Studio 2010 Uninstall Utility

From an elevated command prompt:

wusa /uninstall /kb:<KB Number> (For example: wusa /uninstall /kb:983233)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – CLI way of uninstalling a Windows update

Windows – How to completely remove the Visual C++ Express installation

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