Drive space and GPO

Discussion:

Drive space and GPO

(too old to reply)

Dipti

2010-02-08 19:03:01 UTC

We have several DCs in the domain. One particular site Houston has three
domain controllers and we deploy GPO to this site only for Houston OU as
needed. My quesiton is one of the domain controller is running low on
diskspace on C:\ drive. Looking at the file/folders, I see
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder is 3gb in size. I was told by
one of our admin that he believes that folder is associated with GPO. I was
wondering if I create a new volume and move this folder to the new volume,
will there be any problem? Our other two domain controllers in Houston have
the files in same location and those two servers have plenty of space.

--
Dipti

NuGearz

2010-02-08 19:54:02 UTC

Permalink

That's the location for files from Windows Software Update Services/Automatic
Updates.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Post by Dipti
We have several DCs in the domain. One particular site Houston has three
domain controllers and we deploy GPO to this site only for Houston OU as
needed. My quesiton is one of the domain controller is running low on
diskspace on C:\ drive. Looking at the file/folders, I see
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder is 3gb in size. I was told by
one of our admin that he believes that folder is associated with GPO. I was
wondering if I create a new volume and move this folder to the new volume,
will there be any problem? Our other two domain controllers in Houston have
the files in same location and those two servers have plenty of space.
--
Dipti

Matija Kapraljevic [Revenger]

2010-02-08 20:11:05 UTC

Permalink

As NuGearz already suggested, that is the location where Automatic
updates/Windows update/WSUS saves the downloaded updates before installing
them.
There should be no harm if you stop Automatic Updates service
(Start>Run>services.msc and stop Automatic Updates service, minimize
Services console), empty the folder, and then start the service again
(maximize Services console and start the service).

Florian Frommherz [MVP]

2010-02-08 20:23:22 UTC

Permalink

Howdie!

The folder is used for Windows Updates and alike. When you delete it,
you probably aren't able to roll back some Updates properly. I've never
experienced that myself, though. I haven't messed with the folder yet.

Keep in mind that Domain Controllers aren't machines you should be
messing with too much. Search for a solution that will help you for
longer terms not just the next couple of weeks until the drive fills up
again.

Cheers,
Florian

--
Microsoft MVP - Group Policy
eMail: prename [at] frickelsoft [dot] net.
blog: http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog.
ANY advice you get on the Newsgroups should be tested thoroughly in your
lab.

Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]

2010-02-09 11:35:51 UTC

Permalink

Hello Florian Frommherz [MVP],

As far as i know the softwaredistribution folder isn't used for uninstalling.
Just the c:\windows\$Uninstallkbxxxxxxx$ are needed for uninstalling.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
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Post by Florian Frommherz [MVP]
Howdie!

Post by Dipti
We have several DCs in the domain. One particular site Houston has
three domain controllers and we deploy GPO to this site only for
Houston OU as needed. My quesiton is one of the domain controller is
running low on diskspace on C:\ drive. Looking at the file/folders, I
see C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder is 3gb in size. I
was told by one of our admin that he believes that folder is
associated with GPO. I was wondering if I create a new volume and
move this folder to the new volume, will there be any problem? Our
other two domain controllers in Houston have the files in same
location and those two servers have plenty of space.

The folder is used for Windows Updates and alike. When you delete it,
you probably aren't able to roll back some Updates properly. I've
never experienced that myself, though. I haven't messed with the
folder yet.
Keep in mind that Domain Controllers aren't machines you should be
messing with too much. Search for a solution that will help you for
longer terms not just the next couple of weeks until the drive fills
up again.
Cheers,
Florian

Phillip Windell

2010-02-09 15:16:27 UTC

Permalink

Post by Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]
Hello Florian Frommherz [MVP],
As far as i know the softwaredistribution folder isn't used for
uninstalling. Just the c:\windows\$Uninstallkbxxxxxxx$ are needed for
uninstalling.

Hi Meinolf,
Isn't it for storing installations that GPO is supposed to push out and
install to clients? If not, what is it for?

--
Phillip Windell

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

Phillip Windell

2010-02-08 21:24:48 UTC

Permalink

There are three DCs at that location.
Why not just decommission the DC gracefully,...DCPromo to a Member,...then
from a Member to a Workgroup. Then you can flatten the machine replace the
drives with bigger ones,...reinstall the OS,...join to the
Domain,....DCPromo back to being a DC. Now you have a nice clean pure
machine with more drive space than it had before.
--
Phillip Windell

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

Jorge Silva

2010-02-09 21:14:51 UTC

Permalink

Hi
Go to the Windows Folder and check hidden folders that start with
$Uninstall..., normally, to get some space people delete those. They are
needed to uninstall updates that were installed in a given server, but the
problem is that over time they consume too mutch space without a real need.
If you need to uninstall a given update at a given time and you don't have
the $Uninstall... folder for that update, you can download the update again
and re-run setup to remove it.

You can also remove the "SoftwareDistribution" folder using
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058 - Basically you will be creating a
new clean DB.
--
I hope that the information above helps you.
Have a Nice day.

Jorge Silva
MVP Directory Services

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.