How to remove all windows 7 updates at once. How to remove unnecessary Windows updates and free up tons of space

The article discusses ways to uninstall all updates in Windows 7 at once. Since the OS developers have not built in such a function, without third party software can't get by here.

Why are updates needed?

Anyone who hears the word “updates” for the first time will say that these are certain measures aimed at improving the product. Their task is to correct bugs and shortcomings in any program, not necessarily in Windows 7. For example, a year after the release of the application, the company decided to improve the interface and released a package of updates that the user must download and install, after which he will see these changes.

Updates in Windows 7 are usually aimed at fixing security and compatibility issues operating system with drivers and programs. This also includes compatibility issues with programs that require installation software platform Microsoft. Net Framework and so on.

Unfortunately, you cannot avoid problems with updates - after a while they become irrelevant, as new ones appear to replace them. In this regard, a “dump” arises in the section with installed updates, and I’d like to have more on my hard drive free space.

There is only one solution: remove all Windows 7 updates and reinstall only the ones you need. But what if you have a thousand of them? Windows 7 does not have a function that allows you to uninstall all updates at once, so you cannot do without third-party software.

Problems that may arise during a deupdate

It is recommended to create a system restore point, since the methods discussed in this article may lead to unpleasant consequences, For example, certain programs may refuse to work, the OS may begin to “slow down,” which may result in a system failure, etc. The only way to fix this is to roll back Windows 7 to the point when the updates were installed.

Not all updates will be removed, only those that do not require user action. The remaining updates will have to be uninstalled manually.

First, let's look at a simpler method that will take literally a few minutes of your time, while the second one is longer and requires certain software. All these processes will not interact in any way with the update center. Just in case, temporarily disable the search for updates to successfully complete operations.

Uninstalling Windows 7 updates via batch file

Do you know the method for removing updates via command line? So, this method simplifies it: now you won’t have to enter the command “wusa.exe/uninstall/ update number” every time - all possible updates will be automatically removed from your computer.

Let's create a file with the extension .bat (batch file). To do this, write the following code in notepad:

@echo off
color 0A
mode con: cols=40 lines=12
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
Set templist=%TEMP%\listTMP.txt
set list=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\uninstall_updates.cmd
echo.
echo.
echo Please wait
echo.
echo.
if exist %templist% del %templist%
if exist %list% del %list%
wmic qfe get hotfixid>>%templist%
call:1 "KB" "KB:"
echo DONE
timeout /t 3 /nobreak > nul
exit /b
for /f "tokens=1* delims=]" %%a in ("find /v /n "" ^<"%templist%"") do (
if not "%%b"=="" (set line=%%b) else (set line=not)
set newline=!line:%~1=%~2!
set newline=!newline:not=!
echo wusa.exe /uninstall /!newline!/quiet /norestart>>%list%
::set templist=%list%
goto:eof

Then save with .bat at the end of the file name, selecting “All files”. After running it, uninstall_updates.exe will appear on your desktop. To begin the update removal procedure, run it and wait for the process to complete (the command line window will automatically close).

In my case, when the program finished its work, only 90 modifications remained out of 233. We can safely say that its task was partially completed. Restart your computer to reconfigure Windows.

Uninstalling updates using Revo Uninstaller

To complete the update removal process, we need the Revo Uninstaller program. You can buy it on the developer’s website for $39 or download it somewhere, it’s up to you.

After launching Revo Uninstaller, we see a list of programs available for removal, but there are no updates here. To fix this, in the top menu, click on the “Tools” tab and select the section with parameters (Alt + O). In the navigation panel on the left, click on the “All programs” item and check the necessary settings: show system updates, show system components, click “OK” and you will notice significant changes in the list of programs - applications will appear, the name of which will contain the update number.

Select them and click “Delete”. Of course, this method requires certain actions from the user, but you do not have to manually click on each component in the Windows 7 update center.

Operating system updates are a useful thing. They fix bugs, close vulnerabilities, and sometimes even add new features. But sometimes installing the latest updates disrupts the normal operation of the system, and in this case it is better to get rid of them until the next fixes are released. We talked in detail about how to remove updates in Windows XP, and now let's talk about how to remove updates in Windows 7.

Uninstalling individual updates

To uninstall old Windows 7 updates, open the Start menu and select Control Panel. In the window that appears, enter the keyword “updates” (without quotes) in the search bar and select “Windows Update” from the results. In the next window, click the "Installed updates" link in the lower left corner. A list of all installed updates appears, sorted by product type. Updates to the operating system itself are located at the end of the list in the “Microsoft Windows” section. You can select any of them and click the “Delete” button. This way you can remove all Windows 7 updates.

Uninstalling the latest updates

If you've just installed updates and notice that your system is acting strangely, you can also quickly return it to its previous state using a restore point. As a rule, before installing updates, the system automatically creates such a point so that changes can be easily rolled back.

To uninstall the latest Windows 7 updates, open the Start menu, right-click on Computer and select Properties from the menu that appears. In the window that opens, click the “System Protection” link in the left panel.

The System Properties dialog box appears, opened under the System Protection tab. Click the "Restore" button. After a short boot, the System Restore window will appear. Click Next and look in the list for the last restore point created before installing the updates.

Keep in mind that rolling back to the last restore point returns the system to the state it was in when that point was created. If you managed to install any new programs during this time, they will be deleted. To check which applications will be affected by the restoration, click the “Search for affected programs” button, look at the list that appears and click the “Close” button.

Now click the "Next" button. If you have any important documents and applications open, close them and click the "Done" button in the "System Restore" window. The computer will reboot and begin the recovery process, after which the system will boot to the state it was in before installing the latest updates.

For Windows 7, Microsoft only releases security updates. In all other aspects, the operating system is virtually unsupported, although millions of people use it. After the next reinstallation, if your computer is missing some critical patches, it will offer to acquire them through the Update Center. Usually updates bring positive changes to the OS, but there are exceptions. Let's figure out how to remove unnecessary Windows 7 updates in every possible way.

Before we start getting rid of updates, we should understand that at the same time the operating system will become less secure, previously patched holes, corrected errors, etc. will appear in it - depending on what function the patch being removed performs.

Seven users most often delete files KB971033 and KB976902. What happens if they are removed, and what are they responsible for? These are undesirable updates for unlicensed copies of Windows 7. The first removes the background image, and when you launch system programs and open the Control Panel, it displays a notification about using an unlicensed version of the OS. The second eliminates holes in the operating system activation mechanism, which will also lead to activation failure.

This hole is used by several dozen utilities for activation.

These files are a compulsion to legalize, but it is not necessary to pay several thousand rubles. Downloaded and installed patches in Windows 7 are easy to remove.

Control Panel Toolkit

Open the “Control Panel”.

Next you need to remove the warning - it will probably disturb you.

Call the “Programs, Features” element if the icons are not grouped.

Otherwise, click “Remove programs”.

Activate the “View installed...” link.

We find our file and use the context menu to call the command to uninstall it.

Confirm the action.

At this point the update is deleted.

Command line

This way you can send a couple of downloaded updates to the trash. If you need to get rid of several patches at once, it is better to use the command line. To do this, you need administrator rights, as in the first case.

We launch it with the “cmd” command, which we enter into the text line of the “Run” window.

We open it through “Start” or using the keys Win + R.

To work with update packages from Microsoft, there is a console utility wusa.exe. Let's use it.

Enter the command “wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:976903”.

The offline installer will then launch and remove the specified component.

As you can see, it is much faster to achieve your goal through the command line if there are several objects to uninstall.

You can get rid of many update packages or erase everything at once using a script you wrote yourself.

Open a text editor (regular notepad) by running the “notepad” command in the command interpreter or the Start search form.

We enter template lines like “wusa /uninstall /quiet /norestart /kb:zzzzzzz” for each element, where at the end after a colon we set the number of the unnecessary component. Here:

wusa – call a utility for working with patches;
uninstall – an argument that sends the program an uninstall command;
quiet – automatic confirmation of the operation;
norestart – the computer will not restart after the procedure is completed.

As a result, our file will look similar (see screenshot), but with a larger number of lines. To get rid of a couple of elements, you can use the previous method.

Using the “File” menu item, execute the command to save the document.

We select the storage directory, enter its name, and after the extension dot we write “bat”.

To launch a file, double-click on it with the left key.

To see the result of the batch file, it is better to run the bat nickname on the command line: call it, enter the path to the script and press Enter.

To prevent Windows 7 from installing new patches, .

Video instruction

We learned why the operating system needs patches, how to remove them one by one and in batches without using third-party software. In the attached video you can see how this is done, with comments from experts.

Any update, especially if it affects system files, is a potential threat to system stability. Despite the fact that updates are tested both by Microsoft itself and by administrators themselves, situations when installing an update leads to complete system inoperability do occur from time to time. What to do in this case? We will talk about this in this article.

The main problem, which is also an undoubted advantage, of Windows systems is their diversity. It is almost impossible to calculate the number of possible combinations of hardware and software running on it, therefore, no matter how carefully you test updates, there can always be a combination of hardware and software that turns out to be incompatible with a given update. Most often, problems are associated with third-party drivers or low-level software running at the kernel level.

A separate discussion concerns unlicensed systems. Most often, activation is bypassed by patching and replacing the kernel. This in itself is unsafe and fraught with potential problems, and with updates that affect the kernel, you risk a system failure, which has happened more than once. Various amateur builds available on the Internet are also susceptible to this drawback; many builders immediately include a patched kernel in the system or forcefully launch the activator immediately after installation, without checking the presence and validity of the system key.

This happened last Patch Tuesday. Next security update KB3045999 for Windows 7, when rebooting, it resulted in a “blue screen of death” (BSOD).

Users burst out with further reproaches to Microsoft for releasing “buggy” updates, but it soon became clear that only systems with a patched kernel were susceptible to the error. Nevertheless, the problem also affected quite law-abiding users who were too lazy to assemble it and, in order not to download gigabytes of updates, simply downloaded a suitable assembly from the network.

We will not discuss the moral and legal aspects of using unlicensed software; let everyone decide this issue on their own, but rather consider ways to restore the system.

Installation disc or Windows PE

This is the most accessible, although not the easiest, method. Any disk from a compatible system will do, the only condition is compliance with the bit capacity. You should also remember about backward compatibility, i.e. to restore Windows 7, you can use disks not only from Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, but also Windows 8 / Server 2012. In some cases, you can try to use a disk from an earlier system, but not all options may be available, for example, It will not be possible to implement the instructions below with a disk from Windows Vista / Server 2008.

If you are using Windows PE, then it must also be based on the current version of the OS or a later one, and the bit depth must also be the same.

Let's boot from the installation disk and on the screen offering OS installation, select the item System Restore.

The utility will detect the installed OS and offer to proceed to automatic system recovery, there are few options here, so click Further.

But there is absolutely no need to wait for the wizard to finish his work, especially since he won’t be able to help us, so on the next screen we click Cancel.

Then take your time and select the link in the window that appears Show additional system recovery options.

Now you have the opportunity to exit to the command line, which you should use.

If you booted from Windows PE, you will be taken to the command line immediately.

Then you should clarify which letter the system disk received. With standard markup, this will be the letter D, the letter C will be the service section. To check, let's do:

Once you are sure that it is indeed the system drive, you can proceed to the next steps. Before doing this, it would be a good idea to clarify the name of the problematic update; as a rule, this is easy to do using the Internet. Then we get a list of all installed packages with the following command:

DISM /Image:D:\ /Get-Packages

In the output we find the number of the required update and copy the package name; if it is unknown, then delete all packages with the date of the last update.

To copy the name of a package on the command line, select it and press the key Enter, just right-click to insert.

To remove a package, run the command:

DISM /Image:D:\ /Remove-Package /PackageName:Package_for_KB3045999~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1

where as an option PackageName provide the package name obtained in the previous step.

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

A set of diagnostic and recovery tools ( Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (MSDaRT) is a tool based on ERD Commander from Sysinternals and available through Software Assurance (SA) subscription, but it is not difficult to find on the Internet. To work with Windows 7 you will need at least version 6.5 of MSDaRT, version 8.0 is current

We boot from the MSDaRT disk, remember that compliance with the bit depth is a mandatory requirement, and on the first screen, after selecting the language (in our case, version 8.0 is used), select Diagnostics:

Then Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset:

After which a window will open in front of you with a selection of available tools, we are interested in Hotfix Uninstall or Removing patches.

Working with the wizard is not difficult; select one or more updates and delete them:

As you can see, working with MSDaRT is much more convenient than with the command line, but it requires preparing for possible emergency situations in advance.

In both cases, after removing the problematic update, you should reboot and carefully analyze the reasons for the failure. We hope that this material will help you quickly restore system functionality after an unsuccessful update.

Updating your operating system is good. However, sometimes the adage “perfect is the enemy of good” comes into play, causing a system that is supposed to be more productive to suddenly begin to behave strangely. Often installed modifications are to blame.

Let's look at how to remove Windows 7 updates if they are causing your system to malfunction or if they simply take up too much space.

Removal

If you installed Windows 7 and subsequently encountered incorrect updates, follow these steps:

Open "Control Panel", go to the "Programs" section. Click on the "View installed updates" link.
A list of modifications that have been installed on your computer will appear. They are all sorted by product type - you are interested in "Microsoft Windows".
You can select and uninstall any modification. The main thing here is not to make mistakes.

There cannot be any automatic updates in Windows XP, since Microsoft no longer supports this operating system.

However, if necessary, you can remove all unnecessary updates using the Add or Remove Programs function. You just need to check the “Show updates” option so that they are displayed in a list and become available for deletion.
If you want to get rid of the latest installed modifications, use the system restore function. Roll back the system to its previous working state, but be careful: if, for example, you installed drivers on Windows 7 after a checkpoint, they will be lost. The same applies to programs, so it is recommended not to get carried away with system rollbacks.

The WinSxS directory is a kind of repository for old versions of system files that are unnecessary after the next update. These files are needed so that, if necessary, you can roll back the system to an earlier state. Sometimes this is useful - for example, if an update “breaks” the system.
However, in most cases, the files from this folder lie like dead weight, taking up a lot of space (from 5 GB and above). Let's see what we can do with this directory in Windows 8 and 7 to clean up our hard drive a little.

Important! Windows 7 must have SP1 or KB2852386 installed, otherwise the cleanup feature will not have the required settings.

As part of this cleaning, all files that were installed more than a month ago are destroyed.

In Windows 8 and 8.1, this procedure is no different. This way will get rid of all the unnecessary files that are taking up space, so don’t forget to use it at least once a month.

As you can see, Windows developers are well aware of the shortcomings of their system and are trying to fix them. Perhaps in the tenth version there will be additional functions that allow you to get rid of unnecessary files, but we will learn about this a little later.