Deleting of Windows Installer Cache (C:\Windows\Installer\) Files

Trucidation said:

Layback Bear said:

I found that folder and it has lots of things in it and I will leave it alone. Could something messing with this folder also stop Windows Updates?
Thanks for the information.

From a recent problem I had with Windows Updates, apparently it uses the following folder: \%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ . As far as I can tell messing with it should be no problem as Windows will just re-download whatever failed.

Deleting the Windows installer cache is a bad idea but deleting the contents of the software distribution folder under Windows is harmless. Actually, it can help with some Windows Update issues since it completely resets the Windows Update system. In fact, the first time you go to Windows Update after deleting the contents of the folder, it will tell you that it has never been run. By purging it, that can help correct a variety of errors. In order to delete all of the contents though, one first does need to stop the Windows Update service since the folder is otherwise always in use. You then just turn it on afterwards. It really is completely harmless. The folders under software distribution just store old downloaded updates, history, and the basic settings. Personally, I think with the rise of things like ultrabooks that all have small SSDs for hard drives, there really should be a setting to allow the folder to be automatically purged to save space....

I would never mess with deleting folders in Windows dir, seems too risky to me.