KB5002665 says it's installed, but won't uninstall

Bithead 0 Reputation points
2026-10-17T00:39:18.64+00:00

After wrestling with the KB5002914 copy/paste issues in Excel, it took a few hours, but I was able to uninstall it and tell Windows Update to ignore it. Today I installed a new round of updates, apparently including KB5002665, the pseudo-fix for KB5002914. I have hundreds of macros that I rely on, many of which do paste operations. I also use conditional formatting a lot, and KB5002665 prevents paste operations from working in workbooks using conditional formatting. So, now my macros in these situations are broken and I'm not about to change every macro from 'paste' to 'paste special' (the official workaround for the issue when working interactively in Excel).

So.... I need to get rid of KB5002665, and every attempt tells me it is not installed. And when I try to install the downloaded patch, I am told that it's already installed.

I've tried uninstalling and installing after a fresh boot, so no Office apps are running. Here are the uninstallation attempts, run from an elevated command prompt:

msiexec /package {90160000-0011-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE} /uninstall {4DFED0BD-23FA-401D-BA60-378290EAA38D} /qb

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\Oarpmany.exe" /removereleaseinpatch "{90160000-0011-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}" "{4DFED0BD-23FA-401D-BA60-378290EAA38D}" "1033" "0"

Both uninstall attempts say it isn't installed. Th GUID for the patch does not appear in anywhere my registry, seeming to support this. But again, if I run the installer for the patch, it says it is already installed. <aaaargh!>

I could revert to a restore point before today's updates were installed, but that seems a bit drastic, so I thought I'd try here first. Any ideas out there?

Here's what I'm running:

Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit OS, v22H2, OS Build 19045.7807

MS Office Professional Plus 2016

TIA for any words of wisdom!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

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  1. Aetherin 3,680 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-10-17T01:27:35.5266667+00:00

    Hi @Bithead,

    Could you please check the following first?

    • Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > View installed updates. Which Office 2016 updates show an Installed On date of October 17, 2026? Please share the corresponding KB numbers.
    • In Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel and provide the exact version and build number. Also, please confirm whether your Office installation is 32-bit or 64-bit, and whether it is MSI-based or Click-to-Run.
    • How was KB5002665 installed: through Windows Update, the Microsoft Update Catalog, or a standalone package downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center? If you used a standalone package, did you download a fresh copy recently or rerun a previously downloaded copy?

    I would recommend leaving the System Restore option as a last resort, since it affects the entire system and may remove other Windows or Office updates installed at the same time, including important security updates.

    Looking forward to your update so we can investigate this further.

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