NtUninstall Folders

The $NtUninstall Q_____$  folders under the windows folder are files needed to uninstall Microsoft WinXP hot-fixes that XP or you have installed.  Actually, each of these also has a corresponding entry in the Add-Remove Programs box, and that is where you would want to uninstall them from.

The number to the right of the "Q" (for example, Q140393) is either MS Knowledge Base article number ot the number of the update.  Each one of these folders has a corresponding entry in the Add-Remove Programs window - they are listed near the bottom and they all begin with "Windows XP Hotfix (SP2)".  Some of these were critical updates that were installed.

Some updates are much larger than others, and their corresponding uninstall is also larger.  For example 810565 and 328310 are fairly large (10MB and 4 MB).  However, in total they really do not take up much space, especially since today's hard drives are so huge.

Removing the Folders

The folders are placeholders whose only purpose it to display the installation in the Add/Remove programs list - and to allow uninstallation of these fixes.  They do not contain the installed hotfixes themselves, and therefore can be removed if you want to.  Just realize that you will no longer be able to uninstall the fix.

If you are sure you will not need to uninstall any of these patches - go ahead and delete the folders.  However to do this cleanly, since the system can no longer uninstall these Hotfixes, you would want them removed from the Add-Remove Programs box also.

NOTE:  to remove the entries from the add/remove list, you will need to either edit the registry or use TweakUI.  Editing the reg may be dangerous since you don't want to delete entries in the Regsitry that allow the Hotfixes to operate !!!  Here are where the Hotfix entries reside:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\WindowsXP\SP2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Hotfix