TOO MUCH hard drive space used for Windows XP SP2

[Bryan S]

Istalling Windows XP SP2 has reduced my amount of hard
drive space about about 1GB. Has anyone else experienced
this? I didn't think it was supposed to use this much
space. Is this due to an archiving of my system in case
of uninstall of SP2? How can I reduce the amount of hard
drive space SP2 has used without totally damaging my
system?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

 

[Jerry]

Buy a bigger hard drive.

 

[Howard Harris]

Istalling Windows XP SP2 has reduced my amount of hard
drive space about about 1GB. Has anyone else experienced
this? I didn't think it was supposed to use this much
space. Is this due to an archiving of my system in case
of uninstall of SP2? How can I reduce the amount of hard
drive space SP2 has used without totally damaging my
system?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

See, especially, Alex Nichol's post in the topic Tidying up after
installing SP2 at http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7265

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Istalling Windows XP SP2 has reduced my amount of hard
drive space about about 1GB. Has anyone else experienced
this? I didn't think it was supposed to use this much
space. Is this due to an archiving of my system in case
of uninstall of SP2? How can I reduce the amount of hard
drive space SP2 has used without totally damaging my
system?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Hi

Folders you can consider deleting and other disk cleanup tips
after a SP2 installation:

1)
If you are sure you don't need to uninstall SP2, you can delete
the %windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\ folder.

(%windir% is typically C:\Windows)

Note that the folder is marked as hidden, so to see it, you need
to have Explorer configured to show hidden files/folders.

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.


2)
If you see %windir%\$NTUninstall* folders which dates back to your
SP1 installation, you can delete those. They are not removed by the
SP2 installation in case you want/need to go back to SP1 (and then
be able to uninstall the hotfixes in case you need to).

The following folders should be safe to delete:

%windir%\$xpsp1hfm$\
%windir%\$NtUninstallQ<some#>$\
%windir%\$NtUninstallKB<some#>$\

Note that the folders are marked as hidden, so to see them, you
need to have Explorer configured to show hidden files/folders.


3)
You should clean out this folder now and then (WU5's
temporary download folder):

%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download\


4)
Stop and start System Restore to possibly regain some space (but
you will lose your current Restore points). You also may want to reduce
the amount of disk space System Restore is allowed to occupy.

How to turn on and turn off System Restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310405

More about System Restore here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.mspx

 

[Sharon F]

Istalling Windows XP SP2 has reduced my amount of hard
drive space about about 1GB. Has anyone else experienced
this? I didn't think it was supposed to use this much
space. Is this due to an archiving of my system in case
of uninstall of SP2? How can I reduce the amount of hard
drive space SP2 has used without totally damaging my
system?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Take a look at the topic, "Tidying up after installing SP1" by MVP Alex
Nichol: http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7265

 

[Bob Harris]

I noticed his too. Most of it was a very large system restore file. If
SP-2 is running well, you can delete this file by:

1. Manually make a new restore point. Start --> Help and Support --> Sytem
Restore --> Create a restore point...

2. Then, use the disk cleanup tool: In WindowsWxplorer, right-click on
C:\ --> properties --> disk cleanup --> More Options --> System Restore ...

This recovered about 1 Gig for me.

Also, you can consider deleting a file called $ntservicepackuninstall$,
which is probably located in C:\windows.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Istalling Windows XP SP2 has reduced my amount of hard
drive space about about 1GB. Has anyone else experienced
this? I didn't think it was supposed to use this much
space. Is this due to an archiving of my system in case
of uninstall of SP2? How can I reduce the amount of hard
drive space SP2 has used without totally damaging my
system?

See our Forums on Installing SP2:
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=45

and specifically the section on Tidying up