Uninstall a Windows Updates on Windows 11 or 10 PC

This post Guide on How to uninstall Windows updates manually, and prevent your device from installing the buggy update again.

Microsoft regularly releases Windows updates that help keep us safe and improve the features and stability of our system. But sometimes they can also cause some problems too. If Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC is acting up after an update, you found the latest cumulative update has a bug that causing the problem you can uninstall Windows 10 updates following the steps below.

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How to Uninstall Windows Updates manually

Before moving forward with steps to uninstall Windows updates on your PC, Let’s understand what is Windows updates and its types. Windows updates is/are cloud enabled services that Microsoft regularly releases on supported devices that bring security enhancements, bug fixes and new editions (features) to the operating system.

Microsoft divided Windows updates into two types, Quality updates and feature updates. Quality updates are released regularly on Patch Tuesday (the second Tuesday of every month) and that includes security patches, bug fixes and some other small tweaks. But Windows feature updates a pretty big in size the packed with new features, big changes include security enhancements and bug fixes. (Feature updates are released every 6 months but recently Microsoft has announced, that feature updates are released once per year only)

If you experience problems after installing a Windows update, you can uninstall the Windows update by following the steps below. But if you are looking to uninstall a Windows 10 feature update you have to look for the Rollback option. Here this post explains how to roll back the Windows 10 feature update.

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Uninstall Windows update from Windows 10 settings

  • Press the Windows Key + I keyboard shortcut to open Settings
  • Click Update & Security and under the “Check for updates” button click on the View Update History link.

View update history

  • This will display a list of the updated history of recent cumulative and other updates,
  • Click the Uninstall Updates link at the top of the page.
  • The classic control panel page opens that contains the list of recently installed updates.
  • Scroll down and find the update you want to get rid of, right-click on it, and choose Uninstall.
  • You will be prompted to verify you want to uninstall it and see a progress bar during the uninstall process.

Note: This list only allows you to uninstall cumulative updates that were installed since the feature update.

Uninstall Windows 10 Cumulative Updates

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Uninstall cumulative updates using the Windows 10 command line

Updates can also be removed from the command line using the Wusa tool. To do so, you need to know the KB (KnowledgeBase) number of the patch you want to remove.

  • Type cmd on the start menu search, right-click on the command prompt and select run as administrator. This launches an elevated command prompt.
  • To remove an update, use the command wusa /uninstall /kb:4470788

Note: Replace the KB number with the number of the update that you want to remove

Uninstall Windows updates from advanced options

You can easily uninstall a problematic Windows update from Windows 10 settings or use the command line tool. But what if a recent Windows update causes Windows won’t boot? In such case, you need to access the advanced option and click on the uninstall updates options. That allows uninstall the recent Windows update from your PC.

How to Delete pending Windows updates?

If you are looking to delete pending updates, that are corrupted, prevent installing new updates, or cause a different issue. Follow the steps below:

  • Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and ok
  • Scroll down look for Windows update service, right-click and stop

stop windows update service

  • Now navigate the following path
  • C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
  • Select everything (Ctrl + A) and hit the Delete button.
  • Now restart the Windows update service by right click select restart.

Clear Windows Update Files

How to Reinstall a Windows update?

After uninstalling the cumulative update, follow the steps below to reinstall the update on your Windows 10 PC.

  1. Open Settings using the keyboard shortcut Windows + I,
  2. Click Update & security then Windows Update.
  3. Here click the Check of Updates button to trigger an update check,
  4. This will re-download and install the update automatically again.
  5. Click the Restart Now button to complete the task.
  6. Once your computer reboots, hopefully, the update will have been installed correctly, and you can go back to be productive with your Windows 10 device.

Checking for windows updates

Prevent Windows 10 auto-update

If uninstalling the update fixes your issue, follow the steps below to prevent Windows 10 auto update.

Pause windows update

Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options and scroll down and turn on the switch to pause updates.

Using group policy editor

  • Press the Windows logo key + R then type gpedit.msc and click OK.
  • Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > WindowsComponents > Windows Update.
  • Select Disabled in Configured Automatic Updates on the left, and click Apply and OK to disable the Windows automatic update feature

Windows 10 Home basic users

  1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and ok.
  2. Scroll down and look for Windows update service, double click on it to open properties.
  3. Here change the startup type to disable and stop the service next to service startup.
  4. Click apply and OK.

Stop Windows Update Service

Prevent specific updates from installing on your device

If you are looking to prevent specific updates from installing on your device follow the steps below.

  • Download the Show or hide updates troubleshooter from Microsoft support.
  • Double-click the .diagcab file to launch the tool, and Click Next.
  • Click Hide updates to continue.
  • The tool will check online and list the available updates currently not installed on your PC.
  • Select the Windows Update that is causing problems, and click Next.
  • Click Close to complete the task.

hide updates

Did these help to uninstall, and reinstall Windows updates on your device? let us know in the comments below, Also read:

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