Script or command to delete contents of Software Distribution folder?

[teckneeculler]

Hi all. Anyone able to suggest a vbs (or command-line file) to clean out C:\Windows\Software Distribution\Download?

Thanks, I'm aware of the significance (or lack of) of this folder, and I realize I could just drill down to it and manually dump the contents. I'm just looking for a more elegant solution.

Incidentally, the folder seems to named 'SoftwareDistribution' on my XP machines, but 'Software Distribution' (with a space) on my Win7 pc. Maybe just a glitch in the matrix?

Cheers

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hello,

Save the the below text a Notepad. And save it as a batch file. i.e.

File > Save as > <filename>.bat

Note: You have to Right Click on the Batch File and Run as administrator

net stop wuauserv
ren %windir%\SoftwareDistribution SD.old
net start wuauserv

Hope this helps,
Captain

 

[teckneeculler]

Thanks Captain, looks like it'll do the trick!

 

[teckneeculler]

Later: Sorry, it didn't do the whole job. What I've ended up with after a reboot is:

a) A folder named SD.old that still contains the original files. What I was aiming at was a quick way of emptying the contents of the SoftwareDistribution\Download folder.

b) Oddly, perhaps because I routinely disable Windows Update, there's no fresh incarnation of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution together with its attendant subfolders. Still, that's no BFD, I guess if Update was turned on, the folder might have been rebuilt.

Any suggestions?

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Later: Sorry, it didn't do the whole job. What I've ended up with after a reboot is:

a) A folder named SD.old that still contains the original files. What I was aiming at was a quick way of emptying the contents of the SoftwareDistribution\Download folder.

b) Oddly, perhaps because I routinely disable Windows Update, there's no fresh incarnation of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution together with its attendant subfolders. Still, that's no BFD, I guess if Update was turned on, the folder might have been rebuilt.

Any suggestions?

I believe so. We used to rename that folder to troubleshoot Windows Update issues. Once you update through Windows it should rebuild the folder.

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

To empty the contents you could try this command

del %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download\. /f /q
for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('dir %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download\. /b') do rd "%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download\%%i" /s /q

 

[teckneeculler]

Thanks for the command. How would it be if I saved it as a bat file?

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Thanks for the command. How would it be if I saved it as a bat file?

Copy it to a Notepad. Then go to File > Save as > filename.bat and save it. Make sure when you run it right click and run as administrator.