Should I keep "ServicePackFiles" folder

[Peter Rossiter]

Am on XP Pro. I SP1 a long time ago.

I see I have a folder called C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 which
I would like to delete as it is 274 MB.

Is it better to keep this or should I have deleted it long ago?

 

[R. McCarty]

Don't delete it - This is the source for Service pack files which
XP requires.

What you can do is move it to another partition on your PC.

If you do that, you must modify the Registry Key that points
to it's location.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
ServicePackSourcePath = 'Drive:\Folder"

Before ever editing/changing Registry Keys/Values have a full
System image backup, or at the least Export the Key before
making a change.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Am on XP Pro. I SP1 a long time ago.

I see I have a folder called C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 which
I would like to delete as it is 274 MB.

That 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. So you need access to it.

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