Prohibit removal of updates
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Installer Description
This policy setting controls the ability for users or administrators to remove Windows Installer based updates. This policy setting should be used if you need to maintain a tight control over updates. One example is a lockdown environment where you want to ensure that updates once installed cannot be removed by users or administrators. If you enable this policy setting, updates cannot be removed from the computer by a user or an administrator. The Windows Installer can still remove an update that is no longer applicable to the product. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, a user can remove an update from the computer only if the user has been granted privileges to remove the update. This can depend on whether the user is an administrator, whether "Disable Windows Installer" and "Always install with elevated privileges" policy settings are set, and whether the update was installed in a per-user managed, per-user unmanaged, or per-machine context."
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer Value name: DisablePatchUninstall
Enabled: DisablePatchUninstall = 1
Disabled: DisablePatchUninstall = 0
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_MSI/MSI_DisablePatchUninstall Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer]
"DisablePatchUninstall"=dword:00000001More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisablePatchUninstall' -Value 1 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_MSI/MSI_DisablePatchUninstall
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer' -Name 'DisablePatchUninstall' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisablePatchUninstall' -Value 1 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer' -Name 'DisablePatchUninstall' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prohibit removal of updates
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: Windows Installer v3.0
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisablePatchUninstall' -Value 1 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.