If you delete them, you will lose your Update history. In addition, the next time you run Windows Update, this will result in longer detection times. Step 1: Type Command Prompt in the Search menu. Then right-click it to choose Run as administrator :.
If files are in use and you cannot delete some files, then you should restart your device. Run the above command again after restarting. Now you will be able to delete files from Software Distribution folder on Windows After emptying this folder, you can either restart your computer or type the following command one by one in Command Prompt and press Enter to restart Windows Update related services:.
Best 2 ways to boot to Command Prompt Windows Open an elevated command prompt and type the following commands one after the other, and press Enter :. In conclusion, you can know how to delete Software Distribution Folder and how to rename it. I hope this post can be useful to you.
One of our Windows servers has a fairly small C-partition, which is approaching full. I think this folder is used as a temporary storage for Windows Update, but as all the pending Windows updates have now been installed, is it OK to delete the contents of this folder?
Hello, Recently I have cleared the space in SSD by clearing almost 10gb from windows software distribution folder. All my question is will there be any problem??
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John DeV Independent Advisor. I'll be happy to assist you today. I've found SoftwareDistribution folders over 6GB in size because updates are just stuck in there. Try 11GB. It's been there for more than 6 months! I'm deleting right now. I don't need to "revert" windows update more than 4 updates.
Because if something happens that I need more than that, I'll throw windows out of the window! I have patience, but just like my disk drive space, it has limits.
Yet that's exactly what you were doing in writing your post. However, I did find value in Jedi's post and thought it was appropriate and well stated.
Nothing like being a hypocrite while attacking others who identify those posting condescending answers Office Office Exchange Server. Not an IT pro? Windows Server TechCenter. Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Sign in to vote. I usually address this by: Stopping the Automatic Updates service.
Restarting the Automatic Updates service. Thanks in advance for your input. Monday, August 22, PM. I am not aware of a 'best practice' way of reducing the size of the folder The 'best practice' is to never touch the folder. Any continued issues is evidence of a more serious client health issue.
Changed "30 days" to "10 days". Tuesday, August 23, AM. Saturday, June 2, PM. If you found this post helpful, please give it a "Helpful" vote. If it answered your question, remember to mark it as an "Answer". Any questions? Tuesday, August 23, PM. The current size of the SoftwareDistribution folder is MB. So here are my questions: 1. Thanks, -Rob. However, recovering a few hundred megabytes of space from the WUAgent is like using an eyedropper to fill a bucket. It is evidence that some content has been abandoned.
Evidence that a current fault exists would be confirmed by content that is between days old. If the July Patch Tuesday content is still there, or if the August Patch Tuesday content was installed before the 13th and is still there, that would suggest that the WUAgent is not maintaining the current content.
Delete the content older than 10 days and monitor the folder. Other than being absolutely unnecessary? Hard to say. If you NEVER need to refer to that Update History, then the downsides are nil; however, if you destroy information you might need at a later time to troubleshoot some other issue, you can't use what you don't have.
I typically remove mine days after update installation, as by that point, either the update is working in which case the installation log and uninstallation folder has no real value , or it's already failed. Not Declined update, it is retained in the DataStore. If an installed update gets uninstalled, and that update is not in the DataStore, how would the WUAgent know that the update was, once again, needed?
It's really a moot point, though, as you cannot control this. The WUAgent caches update metadata for all relevant updates. That is one of the primary purposes of the DataStore, along with the installation history for those updates. If you destroy the DataStore, the cache for hundreds, if not thousands of updates must be rebuilt; the installation history cannot be rebuilt.
Thank you Rich. This is exactly the information I was looking for as I have an XP system, in service since November The SoftwareDistribution directory is 1. While I do have plenty of free space, I generally dislike bloat when it can be trimmed. Tuesday, November 8, PM. Any guidence on where to go next once the server fills up again? Monday, November 14, PM. The WinSXS can be safely deleted. The large caveat to this is that you are deleting the backup files for Windows Updates and Service Packs.
If you delete them, you will be unable to roll back updates. Tuesday, November 15, AM. If you have other tricks like that, I would like to know.
You definitivly are earing our call lol. Friday, November 18, PM. This happens because windows update lets you select updates that are part of other updates. These smaller updates later fail to install because they no longer apply. Sunday, November 20, PM.
Edited by t0lkien Monday, January 16, AM. Monday, January 16, AM. My install is exactly 2 days old A couple of questions here: Did you install a base image of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 released Spring , or did you install a base image of Windows 7 RTM released Fall Monday, January 16, PM.
Adam J. Friday, February 3, PM. But this conversation is not about network utilization, it's about DISK utilization. Saturday, February 11, AM. And gasoline is not cheap for the owner of a Maserati, either, but I have little sympathy for their economic woes, as well.
Sunday, February 12, AM. Regards Simon. Wednesday, February 15, PM. Thursday, February 16, AM. Garvin Mr. Bahahahahahahahahahahahahaha L. Monday, February 20, AM. I was originally just going to ignore the guy you mentioned.
But when I read your message I thought Bravo! I thought the same exact thing about the poster. Arrogant and condencending. However, I know he will proabably reply back saying the question is off topic.
Which I agree completely with, he has changed the subject matter with his Arrogant answers. Monday, February 20, PM. Wednesday, March 21, AM. Davis 6. Monday, March 26, PM. Hello I came here looking for an answer to "why my softwaredistribution folder has 1. Good luck. Monday, April 16, AM. Good luck Oh how true same problem here Thursday, April 19, AM. ElderJedi, You rock. I'm not sure I ever read a better right-hook in a forum.
The guy is down, the ref has finished counting. The links Thursday, May 3, AM. Dear Lawrence, I have no idea which world you live in but in the real world, this folder gets absurdly bloated on even clean machines. Regards Bob. Friday, May 4, AM. Edited by phantomflash Tuesday, May 8, PM. Tuesday, May 8, PM. Edited by pcdropper Friday, May 11, AM. Friday, May 11, AM. Sunday, May 27, PM. Thanks to you, it really helped. Wednesday, June 6, PM. Lawrence - Thanks. I'll give this a shot.
Wednesday, June 13, PM. Thursday, July 5, AM. Thursday, July 5, PM. Saturday, July 7, PM. My main reason for wanting to nuke it is the malware scan is taking forever Strictly speaking, your malware shouldn't be scanning the folder anyway.
Everything in that folder is validated by digital certificate and SHA-1 hashing. Although, in the wake of Flame, one wonders. In fact, you can delete anything dated prior to June 28th. The point made way early in this thread is that the WUAgent does clean up after itself on a well-functioning system.
But there's a combination of actions that can break that functionality I'm searching my email archives for the email I received that describes the exact scenario.
Sunday, July 8, PM. Also, you should exclude the WinSXS folder from your malware scan. Or am I wrong? Wednesday, September 26, AM. If it's more than a few thousand, that's a problem. How many approved updates are on the WSUS server? If it's more than a few hundred, that's a problem. How many groups are configured on the WSUS server? A large number of groups can exacerbate the problem with the previous two values. Thursday, September 27, PM. Lawrence - Your observations seem to make a lot of sense, though I don't pretend to fully understand especially the part about WSUS.
Wednesday, October 3, PM. Paging activity caused by a memory starved system. Thursday, October 4, AM. Thursday, October 4, PM. Friday, November 23, PM. Saturday, November 24, PM. Kindly Konrad Im just a regmanipulating nerd. Tuesday, November 27, AM. Your attitude about how windows is right and the user is wrong is condescending. If windows does not respect user's hard drives, windows is broken. It holds people's computers hostage.
My advice? Switch to Mac. Everyone else is. Tuesday, January 22, PM. Thursday, January 24, PM. Saturday, February 2, PM. I installed 3 servers with an image of server R2 SP1. I ran into this thread looking for ways to minimize unnesessary files on the C: drive.
Thanx for all the information and rants, was a fun read ;- Keep up the good work Lawrence, found a lot of useful information in your posts. Thursday, March 28, AM. Krystal 0. Friday, April 19, PM. Lawrence, I have a few servers running Windows Server and they are all experiencing greatly diminished disk space in the system partition.
Tuesday, July 16, PM. Thursday, August 15, PM. Friday, August 16, PM. Wednesday, October 9, AM. Just my 2 cents. Tuesday, November 12, PM. Thursday, November 14, PM. Interesting discussion, and some popcorn-worthy drama, but a dose of reality is needed. Sunday, November 17, AM. Good point! It's not a "properly working system".
If the Software Distribution folder is large because the Download folder is large , then the correct remediation is to delete the old files in the Download folder. Thursday, November 21, PM. Thursday, January 2, AM. Thursday, January 2, PM. Tuesday, March 25, PM. Save the ReportingEvents. Stop the WUA service. Delete the SoftwareDistribution folder. I have read that there won't be any problem if I delete the content of Download Folders, also found that I won't be able any more to rollback updates, is that right?
Thanks LauraJ. Saturday, April 5, PM. I have read that there won't be any problem if I delete the content of Download Folders Generally this is correct.
Rolling back an update is a function of the specific operating system involved. Monday, April 7, PM. I like hearing there is NO reason on a normally functionning system to fiddle with the software distributions download folder How about getting rid of around 20gigs of useless data since they already have been installed?? So quite frankly i find there are numerous reasons to flush the WU download cache, even on a perfectly good and working machine.
And if WU agent maintains this directory, it's not doing a very good job since it never cleans it up for any reason and winds up taking over 10 to 20gb in most cases, specially after doing a clean install and putting in all the updates available I understand that deleting the WHOLE softwaredistribution folder is excessive, but the download directory itself is another story What you just said at the start of this post is about the same as saying if a car engine runs fine, don't change the oil in it, there's no reason to do so the engine takes care of maintaining the oil itself It's just not true and just won't handle itself even in a million years, just like the download folder So i don't want to be rude, but it's not because YOU don't see any use in it that there isn't any.
Sunday, July 6, PM.
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