Can I delete the contents of WINNT\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ on Server 2003?

Question

We have a small server running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, SP2 that only has 12GB of HD space. The C:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ folder is taking up over 1 GB of space.

Is it safe for me to delete the items in this folder?

Solution 1

That folder is where Windows stores Windows Updates. It is generally safe to delete its contents so long as you have no pending updates. That is, if you have not performed any recent updates or at least have made sure to reboot and complete any recent updates, then you can delete them.

Solution 2

May as well remove the whole SoftwareDistribution folder used by Windows Update Service. Open a command line with administrator privileges and run:

net stop wuauserv
cd %systemroot%
ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
net start wuauserv

Check for updates (will take longer then normal as it rebuilds it's database) and make sure it's all working then if desired backup and delete the SoftwareDistribution.old folder. No reboot is necessary.

Comments

[Synetech]

possible duplicate of Safe to delete "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download"

[afrazier]

+1 - It's a download cache, nothing more. Reboot and clear it out.

[Bobson]

Yup, Windows Update will re-download anything it needs (I have wasted some bandwidth in this regard). :) Of course you need to be sure that it is not in the middle of updating locked files, hence making sure to reboot. (It would be the same as installing a program that asks you to reboot, and deleting the contents of the temp folder before rebooting. You may have deleted a file it needs.)

[Bobson]

That is too much. Deleting the whole SoftwareDistribution folder will require Windows Update to re-scan the system to determine what updates are installed and what are needed. This can take quite a while with XP, 2003, etc. Also, WU settings (such as language, beta options, etc.) will be lost and need to be re-set.

[Moab]

Usually this is only done to solve windows update errors and corruption.