How To Roll Back Windows Hot Fixes & Patches

Apr. 9th, 2009 BySharninder

Microsoft, like all other software companies, releases patchesand hot fixes for its Windows operating system quite frequently.Installing the latest patch or Hot fix is highly recommended if youwant to keep your installation in tip-top shape.These patches are mostly harmless but there are times whenyour current configuration, hardware or software might not becompatible with a particular patch and you find that out only when your system startsmisbehaving

after

you’ve applied the patch.The new patch might not be compatible with your current hardware. An ancient software thatyou still use and love might stop working with the new patch. In times like these, one reallywishes that Microsoft had a built in patch rollback mechanism. Are you one of those wishing forsuch a feature ?Well, the good news is that Microsoft already has mechanisms to roll back patches. The badnews is that the roll back procedure is just not that obvious.

Roll back a patch on Windows XP

If you’re using Windows XP, browse to the Windows install directory, typically

c:\WINDOWS

and enable the hidden files view using the

Tools -> Folder Options

menu option.You should now be able to see a bunch of hidden folders under the main c:\WINDOWS folder.All the folders which have names of the form of

$NTServicePackxxxx, $NTUninstallxxxx and $NTUninstallKBxxxx

are folders corresponding to the different patches that you’ve installed

The folders with

in their name followed by a 5 or 6 digit number are hot fixes whichMicrosoft has released in response to a bug and the number denotes the correspondingMicrosoft knowledge base articleassociated with that hot fix.

Now, to uninstall a particular patch, go inside the folder corresponding to that patch. You willsee another folder named

spuninst

. Inside this folder will be a Windows setup executable of the same name.This is the Uninstaller program for the particular patch that you’re browsing right now. Just runthe program and the patch will be rolled back and your system will be as pristine as it wasbefore you applied the patch.

Roll back a patch on Windows Vista

I am using Windows Vista on my primary work machine these days and on this machine, Icouldn’t find the

$NTUninstall

folders but I found another way to roll back patches on Vista –System Restore.Windows Vista, by default, takes a snapshot of a system before applying any patches using afeature called System Restore.To roll back a patch using System Restore, click on the Start menu and start System Restoreusing the

All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools

menu item.

Add MakeUseOf to:System Restore is a wizard based utility which lets you chose the restore point and brings thesystem back to the chosen state.If you want to restore your system to a point earlier than the recommended restore point,then select the second radio button and you will be able to see a list of the restore pointsVista has available for you to roll back to.This is definitely the easiest method to roll back a wayward patch or hotfix.Have you guys ever had to roll back a patch ? How did you do it ? Let us know in thecomments.

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