Can I safely delete these directories?

[Bob Barnes]

SP2 on XP Pro is installed and running fine. I'd like to delete 4
directories under C:/windows/
ServicePackFiles
SoftwareDistribution
$NtServicePackUninstall
DownloadedInstallations

Is it safe to get rid of those? Thanx for any replies.

 

[Eric P.]

Read this posting yesterday

<QUOTE>
Installing SP2 leaves a lot of space on hard disk taken up by files you
would only ever need if you were to uninstall it. Once you are sure you
are happy with it:

A very big restore point will have been made. Once a new regular size
one has been made in the ordinary way, clean up by going to
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup
and in 'More Options' click the bottom button to remove all but the most
recent restore point

Delete the hidden folder of files that would be restored by an
Uninstall: C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall
Once done, if you try to use the 'Remove' for Service pack 2 in
Add/remove programs, that will fail and offer to remove itself

There may also be a large folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
depending on how you did the installation. That can also be deleted

Check that the installations temporary folder did get properly removed -
it will be on the drive where you downloaded the setup files, so
probably C: and have a long name of random letters. If it is still
around, delete it. And burn the downloaded file to a CD so as to have it
if you ever need to reinstall.

There will also be a large folder C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles. Do not
delete this - it will be used in future by Windows File Protection - but
on an NTFS disk you can compress it to save about 200MB of disk space.
R-click on it, Properties, click the Advanced button, and select 'Compress'
_________________
Alex Nichol, MS-MVP Windows XP
</QUOTE>

 

[Squire]

The only one's I see that can be safely deleted are the - $NtServicePackUninstall files.
They are the backups for the hot fix service packs, in case you run into problems.

If you delete ServicePackFiles, you will lose the updates for XP.
The other files you can experiment with, to see if you have startup problems.
Try renaming them, before you delete them.

 

[Ramesh [MVP]]

Good post!, Eric

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Window XP Shell/User
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k


Read this posting yesterday

<QUOTE>
Installing SP2 leaves a lot of space on hard disk taken up by files you
would only ever need if you were to uninstall it. Once you are sure you
are happy with it:

A very big restore point will have been made. Once a new regular size
one has been made in the ordinary way, clean up by going to
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup
and in 'More Options' click the bottom button to remove all but the most
recent restore point

Delete the hidden folder of files that would be restored by an
Uninstall: C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall
Once done, if you try to use the 'Remove' for Service pack 2 in
Add/remove programs, that will fail and offer to remove itself

There may also be a large folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
depending on how you did the installation. That can also be deleted

Check that the installations temporary folder did get properly removed -
it will be on the drive where you downloaded the setup files, so
probably C: and have a long name of random letters. If it is still
around, delete it. And burn the downloaded file to a CD so as to have it
if you ever need to reinstall.

There will also be a large folder C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles. Do not
delete this - it will be used in future by Windows File Protection - but
on an NTFS disk you can compress it to save about 200MB of disk space.
R-click on it, Properties, click the Advanced button, and select 'Compress'
_________________
Alex Nichol, MS-MVP Windows XP
</QUOTE>

 

[Bob Barnes]

Thanx alot Eric, I appreciate your reply quite a bit.