How to uninstall Windows updates – 2 ways

How to uninstall Windows updates; When working on a computer, there are situations when, when trying to install a cumulative system update, Windows Update displays a message stating that an error occurred installing the update. There were problems installing this update, so it was not installed on the PC.

The process of installing Windows updates, with default settings, runs automatically, the user can visually observe the installation in Windows Update.

About once a month, Microsoft releases regular cumulative updates for the Windows operating system. Basically, these are patches that solve security problems, as well as fixes or improvements for the system.

The process of installing an update for the Windows operating system takes place in two stages: first, the update files are downloaded to the computer, and then they are installed on the PC.

In some cases, after installing cumulative updates, a system update error appears. Usually, the update is already downloaded to the computer, but for some reason it was not installed.

Windows Update displays an “Update failed” message indicating that this update or multiple updates could not be installed on the computer.

The user can use the simplest option to solve this problem:

1. You need to restart your computer.
2. Then you need to enter the “Windows Update”, and then restart the search and installation of updates.

In most cases, the update reinstallation process completes successfully.

If there was an error installing Windows updates, or the update did not install again, the question arises: can I remove the downloaded Windows updates from the computer? Yes, there is such a possibility. In addition, the operating system has the ability to remove already installed updates from Windows.

In this guide, you will find instructions on how to remove uninstalled Windows updates from a PC. The proposed methods work in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 operating systems.

How to uninstall Windows updates using the Disk Cleanup utility

Now we will try to remove the downloaded Windows updates using the system tool: the Disk Cleanup application. Uninstalled updates are on the computer like normal files that are not needed and uselessly take up some disk space. Therefore, we needed to remove the downloaded Windows updates.

Do the following:

1. In the search box, type “disk cleanup”.
2. Run the application as an administrator.
3. The Disk Cleanup window opens and estimates the amount of space that can be removed from your computer. This procedure takes some time.
4. In the “Disk Cleanup {C:}” window, in the “Disk Cleanup” tab, check the boxes next to “Windows Update Cleanup” and “Windows Update Log Files”.

5. Click on the “OK” button.
6. After deleting the files, restart your computer.

How to uninstall Windows updates – 2 way

The following method assumes that the user will delete all update data manually, without the help of software. We will need to independently remove unnecessary files from the computer disk.

Go through the following steps:

1. Press the “Win” + “R” keys.
2. In the “Run” dialog box, enter the command: “services.msc”, and then click on the “OK” button.
3. In the Services window, find the Windows Update service, right-click on it, and select Stop from the context menu.
4. Open Explorer, enter the folder “SoftwareDistribution” located along the path:

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

We are interested in two folders: “Download” and “DataStore”, located in the “SoftwareDistribution” folder. By default, the operating system, 10 days after installation, deletes the update files on its own, and the data of uninstalled updates remains on the disk.

5. Delete the contents of the “Download” and “DataStore” folders, which contain downloaded, installed and uninstalled updates, the Windows update cache.

Nothing will happen to the installed updates, since they are already included in the operating system.

6. Log in to service management again, in the Services app, start the Windows Update service.
7. Restart your computer.

From the system settings, enter Windows Update, search for available updates, and then install the updates you want.

Article Conclusions

In the Windows operating system, there are situations when, for some reason, a cumulative system update is not installed on the computer. In this situation, the update files were downloaded to the PC, but the installation did not take place, for example, because the update was corrupted. These updates are no longer needed, so the user can remove uninstalled Windows updates in order to free up disk space on the computer.