Windows Uninstall

[someone]

I don't know if this is the right newsgroup or if my question is applicable
to any MS newsgroup. I have a whole bunch of Uninstalls under the Windows
Folder in my XP Pro. I actually have several questions. All these
Uninstalls begin with "$" and end with "$." Is that the same as "%"? I
think that "%" ... "%" means all the files included in that folder, but I'm
not sure. That would mean that "%" ... "%" is the same as "* ... *. If I'm
wrong, please correct me.

Most of these Uninstalls are $NTUninstallKB numbers 873333 to 958644$. Why
would Knowledge Base items have been installed on my computer? Some refer
to Service Packs. Since I don't plan to uninstall any service pack, can I
delete them (or remove, if applicable)? Some others are WMFDist11,
MSCompPackV1, WMP11, and Wudf01000. I guess I don't want to delete this
stuff (especially since WMP11 looks like Windows Media Player 11 - which
should be removed in the Control Panel), but what about the uninstalls for
the service packs and the KBs? Thanks in advance.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I don't know if this is the right newsgroup or if my question is
applicable to any MS newsgroup. I have a whole bunch of Uninstalls
under the Windows Folder in my XP Pro. I actually have several
questions. All these Uninstalls begin with "$" and end with "$." Is
that the same as "%"? I think that "%" ... "%" means all the files
included in that folder, but I'm not sure. That would mean that "%" ...
"%" is the same as "* ... *. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Most of these Uninstalls are $NTUninstallKB numbers 873333 to 958644$.
Why would Knowledge Base items have been installed on my computer? Some
refer to Service Packs. Since I don't plan to uninstall any service
pack, can I delete them (or remove, if applicable)? Some others are
WMFDist11, MSCompPackV1, WMP11, and Wudf01000. I guess I don't want to
delete this stuff (especially since WMP11 looks like Windows Media
Player 11 - which should be removed in the Control Panel), but what
about the uninstalls for the service packs and the KBs? Thanks in advance.

If you're confident that you won't need to uninstall either the
service pack or any of the subsequent hotfixes, you can safely delete
those folders. You can then open the Control Panel's Add/Remove
Programs applet and select each of the pertinent removal choices, in
turn. You should get an error message stating that the removal files
are missing, and asking if you'd like to delete the menu option.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[JS]

The $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folders and associated files in these
folders are created during each Windows Update that is installed
on your PC and are safe to remove if you do not plan to uninstall
any security or hotfix updates.

However once deleted you will no longer be able to un-install
a patch or update that was associated with the deleted folder/files.
I would keep the most recent set (last two months just in case) of folders
and delete the older updates.
Note: As a safety net I burned these folders to a CD before deleting them.

Other folders that may be on your hard drive:
$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$
$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$
Created if and when you installed IE7.
If you delete them you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7

$NtServicePackUninstall$
Created when you install a service pack.
If you are currently using XP with SP2
then if you remove the folder you can no longer
uninstall SP2. When and if you install SP3 this folder will be
deleted and replaced by a new SP3 $NtServicePackUninstall$
folder to be used if you uninstall SP3.
If you have already installed SP3 then I would leave
this folder as is, at least until you are certain that no bugs have
cropped up after installing SP3.
Note: Once you delete this folder you are stuck with SP3

Warning: One folder you should not delete is: $hf_mig$
(and any folders that are part of/contained in $hf_mig$)
It is a necessary folder for future updates

Also See Doug Knox's page on this issue:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

And:
Is it safe to delete the $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folders:
http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I don't know if this is the right newsgroup or if my question is applicable
to any MS newsgroup. I have a whole bunch of Uninstalls under the Windows
Folder in my XP Pro. I actually have several questions. All these
Uninstalls begin with "$" and end with "$." Is that the same as "%"? I
think that "%" ... "%" means all the files included in that folder, but I'm
not sure. That would mean that "%" ... "%" is the same as "* ... *. If I'm
wrong, please correct me.

Most of these Uninstalls are $NTUninstallKB numbers 873333 to 958644$. Why
would Knowledge Base items have been installed on my computer? Some refer
to Service Packs. Since I don't plan to uninstall any service pack, can I
delete them (or remove, if applicable)? Some others are WMFDist11,
MSCompPackV1, WMP11, and Wudf01000. I guess I don't want to delete this
stuff (especially since WMP11 looks like Windows Media Player 11 - which
should be removed in the Control Panel), but what about the uninstalls for
the service packs and the KBs? Thanks in advance.

These files are the uninstall files for Windows updates you have
installed.

Yes, you can delete them, but if you do, you will never be able to
uninstall the associated updates.

If you are sure you will never want to uninstall the updates, feel
free to delete them, but bear the following in mind:

1. Deleting them will save only a small amount of space.

2. If that small amount of space is significant to you, deleting them
will be only a stopgap measure. You need to bite the bullet and buy a
larger (or a second) drive.

My personal practice, since they take up so little space, is to leave
them there, just in case.

 

[someone]

Thanks. I'll leave them be. I assume that my assumptions regarding $, %
and * are correct, since nobody noted an error in my assumptions.