Odd new folder - what is this?

[nate42nd]

This appeared a week ago. Is it normal? It says it was created 7 days ago. That means it was not there for about 7 days because I installed Windows 7 about 2 weeks ago. I have heard of i386 and Amd64 but not of the long one on the root of the C drive where they are sitting. Anybody know what's up?
View attachment 6079

 

[smarteyeball]

Windows update perhaps?

 

[limneos]

Yes, these random hex characters folders are usually created from Windows Update...

These are installation files that either stayed there without being deleted after install, or failed , or a unexpected restart prevented their deletion.

It's safe to delete anyway, Windows Update is not based on whether these files exist or not. If it needs them, will download them again.

 

[nate42nd]

I don't know. Windows ran for a week. I was thinking about network shares....I noticed it after trying to get folders to share on my home network. i386 and amd64 are they not copys? or backups?

 

[nate42nd]

Yes, these random hex characters folders are usually created from Windows Update...

These are installation files that either stayed there without being deleted after install, or failed , or a unexpected restart prevented their deletion.

It's safe to delete anyway, Windows Update is not based on whether these files exist or not. If it needs them, will download them again.

Thanks Limneos, I have installed every WU fine. The folder contains two other folders. Amd64 and i386. They were also locked. I had to "unlock them"

 

[limneos]

Thanks Limneos, I have installed every WU fine. The folder contains two other folders. Amd64 and i386. Strange.

These are build-specific....Probably it's a common update including both versions, and it extracts all files until it runs what is needed according to your system (32bit or 64bit).

And some more info:

amd64 is the 64 bit architecture that the 64bit Windows versions support.
That is because Amd was the first to introduce a processor that could handle both 64bit and 32bit requests. These are the common "64bit" processors you find in the market, like Intel Core2Duo etc.

But real 64bit processors are not so widespread. Intel's Itaniun is one of them...

 

[nate42nd]

I wonder if any of you who are running x86 (7048) can look to see if you have one of these folders too. In guess it may depend on the hardware too? If you see one....let us know. Thanks.

 

[Beginning]

I remember seeing those when I had build 7000 beta I downloaded from MS... But I've been running build 7057 since the 6th of this month and they aren't there yet. I've done all updates..

 

[nate42nd]

Just so everyone knows, I deleted this stray folder. The machine booted up fine and I have been playing around for a hour or so. All is well. I guess we're safe to delete them. (unless they are needed for something down the road) I have had no problem. I am very impressed with this build (7048)
View attachment 6093

 

[Brink]

Hi Nate,

I believe that it may have been just an installation log.