Remove windows software distribution folder

Office Office Exchange Server. Not an IT pro? Resources for IT Professionals. Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Asked by:. Archived Forums. Windows 10 General. Sign in to vote. Hello all, We are looking for a way to to clear the SoftwareDistribution folder under the Windows folder to re-download updates. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The Software Distribution folder is a folder located in the Windows directory.

It is used to save files temporarily that may be required to install Windows Update WU on your computer. Its size can vary and depends on your computer state. If your machine is ready to install system updates already downloaded the update files , the size of the Software Distribution folder is comparatively larger than usual. Otherwise, its size is smaller.

In general, after all files required to install Windows update are used, it is safe to delete them from the Software Distribution folder. Even if you accidentally removed them before installation, they will be re-downloaded automatically. And, the Datastore folder includes the system update history files. If you choose to delete this folder, you will lose your update history details. Besides, you will have a longer detection time the next time you conduct a Windows update. For example, you may find yourself struggling to update your operating system.

In this kind of scenario, the update files in the SoftwareDistribution folder are likely incomplete or corrupt. When you discover that Windows Update has started to malfunction, then it is vital for you to clean this folder.

Of course, you can open the folder and clear out its contents manually. However, if Windows Update keeps on showing you an error message, then the best course of action is to delete the SoftwareDistribution folder entirely.

However, everything changes when you learn that there are synchronization issues with Windows Update or when the files in the folder have been corrupted. Do not worry because it is completely safe to get rid of the SoftwareDistribution folder. That said, you should still take some precautions before deleting this folder. You must ensure that the root cause of the errors on your PC is Windows Update. So, when the update files are ready, your operating system will recreate the folder.

Whenever you decide to make changes to your system, it is essential that you create a restore point. This way, if anything goes wrong, you can always bring back your OS to a working state. So, follow the steps below:. Let your system create a restore point. It may take a couple of minutes for the process to complete. After creating a restore point, you can now delete the SoftwareDistribution folder.

To do that, you need to follow the instructions below:.