Windows updates -- recovering disk space

I've just spent some time Googling this, but without success. I
suspect my search terms are bad, but I can't think of better ones.

I'd like to delete the installed Windows update uninstall files from
my system. Please understand: I don't want to uninstall the updates,
I want to delete the uninstall files for the updates that are already
in my system because I know I won't want to uninstall them.

In Windows XP, we would delete anything with $NTuninstall... from the
Windows folder, but I don't see anything like that in my Windows 7
Home Premium C:\Windows Folder.

I did run cleanmgr and ask it to clean up system files. It found the
SP1 backup file taking almost 1 GB, but no other Windows update
backup files. However, Programs and Features shows 35 Windows
updates installed, including one the day after after the Service
Pack.

Do installed updates in Windows 7 just not leave backup files behind,
or are they in some other location?

Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
recover wasted disk space.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On 02/05/11 09:39, Stan Brown wrote:
> I've just spent some time Googling this, but without success. I
> suspect my search terms are bad, but I can't think of better ones.
>
> I'd like to delete the installed Windows update uninstall files from
> my system.
I don't think you can.

Stan Brown wrote:
> I've just spent some time Googling this, but without success. I
> suspect my search terms are bad, but I can't think of better ones.
>
> I'd like to delete the installed Windows update uninstall files from
> my system. Please understand: I don't want to uninstall the updates,
> I want to delete the uninstall files for the updates that are already
> in my system because I know I won't want to uninstall them.
>
> In Windows XP, we would delete anything with $NTuninstall... from the
> Windows folder, but I don't see anything like that in my Windows 7
> Home Premium C:\Windows Folder.
>
> I did run cleanmgr and ask it to clean up system files. It found the
> SP1 backup file taking almost 1 GB, but no other Windows update
> backup files. However, Programs and Features shows 35 Windows
> updates installed, including one the day after after the Service
> Pack.
>
> Do installed updates in Windows 7 just not leave backup files behind,
> or are they in some other location?
>
> Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
> recover wasted disk space.

With terabyte disk drives common and cheap, 1 GB of "wasted disk space"
is no longer an issue. It is hard for anal types like myself to accept
that, but I have given up trying to delete every installation log and
uninstall file and learned to live with an OS that uses ~20GB of disk
space and is destined to keep growing.

--
Crash

"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable."
~ Laurence J. Peter ~

"Stan Brown" <> wrote in message news:...
> I've just spent some time Googling this, but without success. I
> suspect my search terms are bad, but I can't think of better ones.
>
> I'd like to delete the installed Windows update uninstall files from
> my system. Please understand: I don't want to uninstall the updates,
> I want to delete the uninstall files for the updates that are already
> in my system because I know I won't want to uninstall them.
>
> In Windows XP, we would delete anything with $NTuninstall... from the
> Windows folder, but I don't see anything like that in my Windows 7
> Home Premium C:\Windows Folder.
>
> I did run cleanmgr and ask it to clean up system files. It found the
> SP1 backup file taking almost 1 GB, but no other Windows update
> backup files. However, Programs and Features shows 35 Windows
> updates installed, including one the day after after the Service
> Pack.
>
> Do installed updates in Windows 7 just not leave backup files behind,
> or are they in some other location?
>
> Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
> recover wasted disk space.
>


I think most of the update files end up in the winsxs folder.

You could try this if it's important to you, but I don't
think you'll gain much disk space. You might even give
yourself some problems.
http://www.khamnam.com/2010/02/28/ho...-update-files/

On Mon, 02 May 2011 08:15:06 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
>
> Stan Brown wrote:
> > Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
> > recover wasted disk space.
>
> With terabyte disk drives common and cheap, 1 GB of "wasted disk space"
> is no longer an issue. It is hard for anal types like myself to accept
> that, but I have given up trying to delete every installation log and
> uninstall file and learned to live with an OS that uses ~20GB of disk
> space and is destined to keep growing.

I understand your point, Dave. But it bulks up my backup of the C:
drive by about 15%, so the backup takes longer and uses more disks
when I burn a hard copy (as I do monthly).

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

"Stan Brown" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I've just spent some time Googling this, but without success. I
> suspect my search terms are bad, but I can't think of better ones.
>
> I'd like to delete the installed Windows update uninstall files from
> my system. Please understand: I don't want to uninstall the updates,
> I want to delete the uninstall files for the updates that are already
> in my system because I know I won't want to uninstall them.
>

I use a batch file (modify for your own use!):

****************************************
net stop wuauserv
rmdir %windir%\softwaredistribution /s /q
net start wuauserv
exit

****************************************

Copy and paste between the stars into Notepad and save it as something like
Clean.bat. Mine is actually stored on another drive so I have commands to
change the drive and path in my version:

CD C:\
CD Windows
net stop wuauserv
rmdir %windir%\softwaredistribution /s /q
net start wuauserv
exit

Don't know if I need the CD Windows command or not (I'm an old-timer) but I
can tell you the batch file works fine.

On 03/05/11 00:19, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> I understand your point, Dave. But it bulks up my backup of the C:
> drive by about 15%, so the backup takes longer and uses more disks
> when I burn a hard copy (as I do monthly).
>
Interested to know why you back up the SYSTEM so often - do you change
the SYSTEM every day/week? I don't - it's my DATA that changes, not the
SYSTEM....

--
My Alternative Computing Blog <http://gbplinuxfoss.blogspot.com/>

On 03/05/11 00:19, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Mon, 02 May 2011 08:15:06 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
>> Stan Brown wrote:
>>> Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
>>> recover wasted disk space.
>> With terabyte disk drives common and cheap, 1 GB of "wasted disk space"
>> is no longer an issue. It is hard for anal types like myself to accept
>> that, but I have given up trying to delete every installation log and
>> uninstall file and learned to live with an OS that uses ~20GB of disk
>> space and is destined to keep growing.
> I understand your point, Dave. But it bulks up my backup of the C:
> drive by about 15%, so the backup takes longer and uses more disks
> when I burn a hard copy (as I do monthly).
>
And in any case - unless you are making a system IMAGE then there's no
earthly point in backing up system files anyway...

In article <>, Stan Brown at
says...
>
> On Mon, 02 May 2011 08:15:06 -0400, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
> >
> > Stan Brown wrote:
> > > Again, I don't want to uninstall Windows updates; I just want to
> > > recover wasted disk space.
> >
> > With terabyte disk drives common and cheap, 1 GB of "wasted disk space"
> > is no longer an issue. It is hard for anal types like myself to accept
> > that, but I have given up trying to delete every installation log and
> > uninstall file and learned to live with an OS that uses ~20GB of disk
> > space and is destined to keep growing.
>
> I understand your point, Dave. But it bulks up my backup of the C:
> drive by about 15%, so the backup takes longer and uses more disks
> when I burn a hard copy (as I do monthly).

for Data backup just copy your C:\Users\<your name>\ folder

--
Zaidy

On Tue, 03 May 2011 08:11:45 +0100, Gordon wrote:
>
> On 03/05/11 00:19, Stan Brown wrote:
> >
> > I understand your point, Dave. But it bulks up my backup of the C:
> > drive by about 15%, so the backup takes longer and uses more disks
> > when I burn a hard copy (as I do monthly).
> >
> Interested to know why you back up the SYSTEM so often - do you change
> the SYSTEM every day/week? I don't - it's my DATA that changes, not the
> SYSTEM....

Well, I install new programs or new versions; I change settings; and
of course application data are on C.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...