Where do the updates save on your hard drive from Windows Update?

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

I am doing a SP2 install & installing about 150mb of updates/patches. Where do those files save themselves on my hard drive? I am looking to clean up my temp files & other extra stuff so I can make an Acronis backup image that will be under 4gb.

Thanks

Rich

[cluberti]

You will find hidden folders under \Windows starting with "$NtUninstall", and those contain the uninstallation packages and file backups made by hotfixes downloaded from Windows update. If you don't plan on ever uninstalling the hotfixes for any reason, you can safely delete these folders.

Note not to delete the hidden $hf_mig$ folder, though.

[RichTJ99]

Thanks, that is a great thing to know. Why would anyone uninstall an update (this might be a dumb question).

[cluberti]

In case it breaks an application on your box? That's the main reason I can think of, but I'm sure there are others...

[Andromeda43]

To properly answer your original question,

the actual updates DO NOT store on your HD.

The update is held like a temporary file till it installs

then the uninstall file is created and the update itself

is NO MORE.

If the update didn't cause any problems on your PC,

the uninstall file can then be deleted.

In the same Windows folder with the uninstall files

there are KBxxxxx.log files that can also be deleted.

I just took a chance the first time I deleted these files,

and so far I've seen no downside to doing it.

Good Luck,

ME B)

[severach]

I'm pretty sure Service Packs uninstall some of the updates that came just before it. I've noticed that a fully updated system takes a lot longer to update than one without any updates.

If you use Windows Update the files are downloaded into c:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution but few of them are downloaded in a canonical EXE form that you can actually use. Each is deleted right after install so the few that you can get you need to watch like a hawk to capture.

If you use Windiz Update they are all downloaded in canonical EXE form to C:\WUTEMP and left there after install. You can capture them and use them for other projects or you can do what I do. I copy previously captured updates to C:\WUTEMP before Windiz starts and it reuses any of them that are current and apply to your machine.

[DESERAPIS]

Note not to delete the hidden $hf_mig$ folder, though.

What is this folder for , all i see inside is some compressed file in blue , i been deleting since long don't know from when, never experience any problem what wrong in doing so ...??

Beside this folder i delete every compressed folder inside

C:\WINDOWS\..........

including C:\WINDOWS\ie7 and C:\WINDOWS\updateforie7

and i think C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download is update folder .....am i wrong ??

And can delete files inside C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache is free some extra space

Plus if you still don't know you can have update file (.exe for XP and .msu for Vista) from

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/

Thank you

Deserapis

Edited September 9, 2007 by DESERAPIS

[bizzybody]

In my experience, deleting the uninstallers and any update installers Windows does keep will only make Windows Update want to download them again, even though they're already installed.

CrapCleaner is freeware that can delete them and fix the registry so Windows Update won't download them again. It also does much more.

Windows Update prior to 4.0 would keep ALL the installers and you could save a ton of time by just copying that folder full of them to any new install. Windows Update 4.0 would put them into wutemp then delete them after installing. Saving them before being deleted and putting them into the wutemp folder doesn't do squat for a new install. Windows Update 4.0 and later will ignore them and redownload all updates even if the files in wutemp are identical.

If you really want to save time, the Autopatcher can still be found on Bittorrent and other P2P filesharing and mirror sites. The final update was August 2007, then Microsoft finally decided to be nasty and stop them. You should have XP SP2 or 2000 SP4 before using autopatcher, but it will install some updates on prior releases that're applicable to them.

[ficod]

Hi everyone,

After using (the great) CCleaner, some directories referring to updates are still under %windir%:

$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$ -- ??

$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$ -- ??

$NtUninstallMSCompPackV1$ -- ??

$NtUninstallWMFDist11$ -- Windows Media Player 11 related (dont' like wmp, but I think it's wise to have the media "engine" updated to last version, so I don't plan to uninstall it)

$NtUninstallwmp11$ -- Windows Media Player 11 related (same as above)

$NtUninstallWudf01000$ -- ??

Is it 100% safe to remove them? Why CCleaner doesn't clean them?

I was wandering also what's the use of the directories:

ie7 -- hmm... the program isn't actually stored under %programfiles%\Internet Explorer ?!? (same as for wmp11, I dont' want to uninstall ie7, even if it has an ugly interface)

ie7updates -- safe to remove?

A personal consideration: XP is from 2001... so we (eheh) should have some experience on it.. does anybody knows if it's ever been necessary to manually uninstall a patch? I'm curious... If a faulty patch is released, shouldn't it be replaced with successive updates?

Edited September 18, 2007 by ficod

[Arie]

A personal consideration: XP is from 2001... so we (eheh) should have some experience on it.. does anybody knows if it's ever been necessary to manually uninstall a patch? I'm curious... If a faulty patch is released, shouldn't it be replaced with successive updates?

Yes, it should and most of the time, if not always, it will indeed be replaced... but this process might take a few days, perhaps even a month, which might make it necessary for you to uninstall the faulty patch if for example it causes a problem with other software or an application. I have had to manually uninstall a patch only once though.