ServicePackFiles folder OK to delete?

[Ron Bandes]

The \WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles folder on my WinXP Pro system has 509 MB in
it. Is there anything in this folder that needs to be kept, or is it only
needed during the installation of the service pack?

TIA,
Ron Bandes

 

[Uncle John]

Best to keep it because if a file updated by is corupted your OS will look
for it there and if you have deleted it you will need to insert the SP2 disk
and have some more hassle.

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

The \WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles folder on my WinXP Pro system has 509 MB in
it. Is there anything in this folder that needs to be kept, or is it only
needed during the installation of the service pack?

Hi

If you are sure you don't need to uninstall the service pack, you can
delete the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder.

(to remove the Add/Remove Programs entry, just click on it *after*
the $NtServicePackUninstall$ is deleted and you will get an offer
to remove it)

Alternatively (for the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder):

If you make a backup of the folder to e.g. a CD, you can put it
back if you need to uninstall SP2. After restoring the backup,
run %windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
to start the process.

 

[Alex Nichol]

The \WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles folder on my WinXP Pro system has 509 MB in
it. Is there anything in this folder that needs to be kept, or is it only
needed during the installation of the service pack?

You need to keep it. 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

 

[Uncle John]

Alex,

You are right that one can go the route of copying tie SP files to a cd etc.
and then delete the folder from the hard drive.

However when I had to cerify the system files later the SP1 disk was also
called for. So I think it is better to keep the folder, it is not very much
by today's standards.