Service Pack Files

[Stephen]

There is a folder in my Windows directory called ServicePackFiles, with a
subfolder called i386 which contains what appears to be a complete set of
installation files.

I'm assuming this was created when I installed SP1 several months ago.

Can I now safely delete the folder and all the files?

Thanks for any advice offered.


Stephen

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Stephen,

Yes, that is how it was created. You can delete it, as it is not actively
used but is a repository, but if you should ever need to replace a system
file from it due to its being corrupt, you may wind up having to redownload
and reinstall SP1. Keep in mind that things like sfc /scannow will be
looking for replacement files there rather than the CD or main I386 folder,
so it may hinder that utility as well.

Unless disk space is a concern for you, I would recommend that it be left
intact.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Alex Nichol]

There is a folder in my Windows directory called ServicePackFiles, with a
subfolder called i386 which contains what appears to be a complete set of
installation files.

I'm assuming this was created when I installed SP1 several months ago.

Can I now safely delete the folder and all the files?

No. It contains the service pack file versions for use in preference to
ones from the original CD if needed by File Protection/SFC/New Hardware
etc. On an NTFS drive a useful amount of space can be saved by
compressing it. What you can do if you have a CD burner is burn the
complete folder to a CD, then run regedit.exe and at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Change the value of ServicePackSourcePath in the right pane to reflect
the drive. Best if you have 2 drives, and can have the original
SourcePath on one and this on the other