Windows 10 Delete "Deleted" Updates

Hello,

I manually uninstalled 3 of the latest Windows 10 updates successfully.

However, as you can see from the screenshot below they can still be seen (even though they are properly uninstalled).



How can I delete these so-called "ghost file" leftovers? I don't want any trace of the past updates.

I did delete the contents in the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder but that didn't change anything.

WINDOWS VERSION NUMBER: 20H2

Thanks a lot for your input!

Hello kryion and welcome to TF ,

If you type "winver" from powershell, what is the full version # like 19042.1288 that you see? Just want to confirm they all actually got uninstalled.

If you see 1904x.1288, KB5006670 is still installed.

steve108 said:

Hello kryion and welcome to TF ,

If you type "winver" from powershell, what is the full version # like 19042.1288 that you see? Just want to confirm they all actually got uninstalled.

If you see 1904x.1288, KB5006670 is still installed.

Hello, thanks for the welcoming words! And thanks for your reply I genuinely appreciate it



Here's a direct screenshot of my Winver, I should've included it in my original post but forgot.

My OS Build is 19042.804

Thanks a lot for your help!

kryion said:

Hello, thanks for the welcoming words! And thanks for your reply I genuinely appreciate it



Here's a direct screenshot of my Winver, I should've included it in my original post but forgot.

My OS Build is 19042.804

Thanks a lot for your help!

Glad to help. If you want to wipe ALL history: Clear Windows Update History in Windows 10 (see the screenshots in the tutorial - ALL get removed from history)

I'm not aware of a way to be selective and for example, clear only the three you have circled. So it's delete all history or just leave it alone I'm afraid.

steve108 said:

Glad to help. If you want to wipe ALL history: Clear Windows Update History in Windows 10 (see the screenshots in the tutorial - ALL get removed from history)

I'm not aware of a way to be selective and for example, clear only the three you have circled. So it's delete all history or just leave it alone I'm afraid.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

Yes, I already did that multiple times before I posted my query here.

Unfortunately, this only deletes the History section but the updates can still be seen in the Uninstall Updates section which I shared a screenshot of in my original post.

kryion said:

Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

Yes, I already did that multiple times before I posted my query here.

Unfortunately, this only deletes the History section but the updates can still be seen in the Uninstall Updates section which I shared a screenshot of in my original post.

Oh, I see. Didn't realize you tried that already and it didn't affect the uninstall section. Seems like the uninstall section should reflect the things you installed. Did you confirm rebooting doesn't affect the list?

steve108 said:

Oh, I see. Didn't realize you tried that already and it didn't affect the uninstall section. Seems like the uninstall section should reflect the things you installed. Did you confirm rebooting doesn't affect the list?

Yeah, I rebooted my PC more times than I can count haha.

And I scoured every last corner of the internet looking for solutions. That's why I turned to the forum because I couldn't find anything that solves this particular issue.

I do agree with you that the Uninstall Updates section should reflect what's installed and what isn't.

However, for some reason when you manually uninstall/delete an update it remains there as a "ghost" even though it was removed successfully, which is extremely weird and I want to solve it.

Thanks again for the reply!

What happens when you click on a ghost? Do you have the option to uninstall?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-635cd532a6d5 I'm not at a PC now, so maybe you can take a look at the registry and see if the ghosts are there.

steve108 said:

What happens when you click on a ghost? Do you have the option to uninstall?

Yes, that's the weird thing. When I left/right click or double-click on each one of them nothing happens, literally nothing. Like I'm clicking on an inert object

- - - Updated - - -

steve108 said:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-635cd532a6d5 I'm not at a PC now, so maybe you can take a look at the registry and see if the ghosts are there.

Good find, thanks! I just looked at this registry and I took a careful look at each one of the keys there, but cannot find the Updates.

It's such a perplexing issue