Can I safely delete thes type of files?

[Frankie]

I have a lot of files such as: $NTUninstalKB887742$, $NTUninstalKB908250$,
$NTUninstallKB888111WXPSP2$, in my C:\Windows files.
They are in a blue color as opposed to black for other files in the same
file. Can I safely delete these and what are they?

 

[housetrained]

They are in case you want to uninstall the MS update, delete to recycle bin
if you want.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

See http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

 

[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 burn these folders to a CD or DVD before
deleting them.

After deleting the $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folders,
open the Control Panel, select Add or Remove programs,
and remove the checkmark in the 'Show Updates' box.
Add/Remove will now longer see the Windows updates you deleted.

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

 

[Lushington]

In the unlikely event that you decide to uninstall an update after you've
burned the folders to CD and removed the Add/Remove entry, I assume that the
procedure is to copy the $NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$ folder back to C:\Windows and
then run C:\Windows\$NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.

Sometimes, there's an spuninst.bat in the ...\spuninst folder (more often
it's spuninst.txt and/or spuninst.inf), but I assume that this is *used* by
spuninst.exe and is not what the user should use.

 

[JS]

You got it, as long as C: is where Windows is installed,
which it is in most cases.

For a dual boot you will have two drive letters, so this will
work for either: Start/Run and enter:
%windir%\$NtUninstallKBxxxxxx$\spuninst\spuninst.exe.

Can you post a the contents of the .bat file?

 

[Lushington]

Just picking one at random (and on my system %windir% is C:\WINNT) ...

Contents of C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$
spuninst (folder)
dwwin.exe
faultrep.dll

Contents of
C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\spuninst
spuninst.bat
spuninst.exe
spuninst.inf

Contents of C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\spuninst\spuninst.bat
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\dwwin.exe"
"c:\winnt\system32\dwwin.exe"
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\faultrep.dll"
"c:\winnt\system32\faultrep.dll"
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\dwwin.exe"
"c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\dwwin.exe"
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB821253$\faultrep.dll"
"c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\faultrep.dll"

In contrast, the contents of C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB828028$\spuninst are
spuninst.exe
spuninst.txt
spuninst.inf

In this case, spuninst.txt has similar commands to the spuninst.bat file in
the other folder:
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB828028$\msasn1.dll"
"c:\winnt\system32\msasn1.dll"
COPY "C:\WINNT\$NtUninstallKB828028$\msasn1.dll"
"c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\msasn1.dll"

Perhaps at some point the crew in charge of Windows Updates changed
spuninst.exe to use a *.txt file instead of a *.bat file to accomplish
getting the old files back in place.

 

[JS]

KB821253 is an XP Service Pack 1 update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821253
So if your at SP2 or SP3 it's of no value.

KB828028 is also an SP1 update:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-007.mspx
Also of no value.

What XP Service Pack do you have installed?
Start/Run/winver

 

[Lushington]

I'm running sp3, but it's not relevant. I'm not the OP who asked about
deleting the files. I was just making a comment following your suggestion to
burn the files to a CD. In any case, all of them together (not including
$NtServicePackUninstall$ itself) take up less than 500 MB.

My feeling is that if you're so desperate for disk space that you're
searching for things to delete it's way past time for a larger disk.