Can i safely delete softwaredistribution download files

Let your system create a restore point. It may take a couple of minutes for the process to complete. After creating a restore point, you can now delete the SoftwareDistribution folder. To do that, you need to follow the instructions below:. Note: You can also use an elevated form of Command Prompt for this method. Right-click Command Prompt from the results, then select Run as Administrator. When this happens, all you need to do is restart your computer.

Some users are worried about removing the SoftwareDistribution folder. After all, it is an essential part of Windows Update. If you share the same sentiment, then we suggest that you can rename the folder. Here are the steps:. Were you able to rename the SoftwareDistribution folder, using the steps we shared?

If it remains the same, we recommend that you boot into Safe mode, then change the name of the folder to SoftwareDistribution. Do not worry about doing anything damaging to your computer. After all, this process only involves removing the historical information of the folder. So, expect for the update process to take more time that it used to, especially since WUAgent will have to check and create the Datastore information. Your email address will not be published.

Yes, you can because some of those old files can become corrupt. So if you delete the entire folder nothing bad will happen. All of the ones that you need, the programs will create new ones. Windows 10 will always re-download all the necessary files, or re-create the folder and re-download all the components, if removed.

It is generally speaking safe to delete the contents of the Software Distribution folder, once all files required by it have been used for installing Windows Update. If you delete them you will lose your Update history. Active Oldest Votes. This is ok. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. How know all pending updates are installed? Powershell script like community. ZaB ZaB 2, 1 1 gold badge 13 13 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges.

Disk cleanup didn't list these files as ones that could be deleted, but so far it seems to have been OK to delete them. Some people reported problems with Windows Update after deleting these files, while others didn't. It depends apparently on what you do. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. The Overflow Blog.