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SBS 2003 C:\Windows\Installer too big?

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Dear all,

I am running SBS 2003 with all the latest service packs. I have Exchange running on a different partition.

My C: drive is getting full, went looking and found that C:\Windows\Installer is around 14GB of data..most of the files are .msp (Windows Installer Patch) most of them dated 12/11/2007.

First what do these files do? I’m assuming they are client update files..so as the server downloads an update it holds a copy so it can pass down to clients, but not 100% sure.

Second, can these be deleted?

Topic

Clarifications

In reply to SBS 2003 C:\Windows\Installer too big?

Clarifications

Run the WSUS cleanup tool and see if it helps..

In reply to SBS 2003 C:\Windows\Installer too big?

Also download this and see if it brings up any errors….

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en

WSUS?

In reply to Run the WSUS cleanup tool and see if it helps..

Is this a utility built into SBS 2003? If not how do you run it.

Running the Server Cleanup Wizard

In reply to WSUS?

To run the Server Cleanup Wizard

1. In the WSUS administration console, select Options, and then Server Cleanup Wizard.

2. By default this wizard will remove unneeded content and computers that have not contacted the server for 30 days or more. Select all possible options, and then click Next.

3. The wizard will begin the cleanup process, and will present a summary of its work when it is finished. Click Finish to complete the process.

In some cases, particularly if you run the Server Cleanup Wizard on a WSUS 3.0 server that has WSUS 2.0 downstream servers, you may see discrepancies in update metadata on upstream and downstream servers. If this is the case, you may solve your problem by running iisreset on the upstream server to refresh the Web cache.

WSUS 3.0 Cleanup Process.

http://simultaneouspancakes.com/Lessons/2010/01/19/automating-the-wsus-3-0-cleanup-process/

Installing WSUS 3.0 on SBS 2003
http://www.petri.co.il/install_wsus_3_on_sbs_2003.htm

http://www.petri.co.il/wsus_3_released.htm

installed / ran program didn’t help

In reply to Running the Server Cleanup Wizard

I install the WSUS 3.0 with SP1 directly from MS. However, prior to install my C: drive had 3.6GB free..after install (even though I told it to install on different drive letter) my C: drive became 265mb free. I ran the clean up wizard and it did not find much to delete only 5 files that equal less then a meg.

Get the biggest hdd you can…

In reply to installed / ran program didn’t help

And do a copy/clone from the old one to the new hdd.
Then run the cleanup wizard.

I suggest you get some server books ….

In reply to SBS 2003 C:\Windows\Installer too big?

And read up on your type of server and understand how it works so that you get a bit of knowledge.

Yes and No

In reply to SBS 2003 C:\Windows\Installer too big?

They are Windows records of every installed, removed, and changed program.

If you don’t ever plan on uninstalling a certain program, yes you can delete the selected ones.

Be careful though…you run the risk of not being about to remove or rollback a program if you ever need to.

This is what I did

In reply to Yes and No

To test I renamed the Installer to Installer.old, reboot server. This has no effect on anything..so I copied the Installer folder over to my NAS for safe keeping and deleted it off the server.

Now 60% of my hard drive is freed up.

Thanks for your help.

[Author]

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