Delete directory dos windows 2003

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I have low space on the C: drive C: drive is 12 GB. I hear somewhere on the net that you can actually delete the install files of Windows updates. How can I delete them? Where are they located? Is deleting these files going to damage Windows or remove the installed security patches?

These subdirectories contain the uninstall files for updates. Deleting these directories removes your ability to uninstall the updates that created them. I tend not to delete these directories because I prefer to have the flexibility to back-off an update, if need be.

In a couple dire situations I've moved these directories to another volume for "safe keeping" to free up space but I wouldn't recommend deleting them. If it has grown very large, then yes, you can delete it by stopping the Windows Automatic Updates service and then delete the folder and restarting the Windows Automatic Updates service.

It's definitely not best practice, since it deletes the cache and install history and upon the next check of updates will have to catalog everything again to see what is and isn't installed, but sometimes the folder does get bloated beyond what it should. There will probably be a prompt asking if you want to remove that directory. If so, just type "y" and hit enter. And that's it! That should be everything you need to know to remove files and folders in the Windows Command Prompt.

All of these commands should work in PowerShell, which is basically Command Prompt version 2. Did these commands help you? Are there any other commands that you find useful? Either way, let me know over on Twitter. If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Tweet a thanks. I will try again and see. Without it, the directory won't be removed if there's anything in it.

Perl is cross platform. Philip Durbin Philip Durbin 1, 2 2 gold badges 15 15 silver badges 24 24 bronze badges. That will certainly work but will be a bit slower than doing a wildcard delete from the command line.

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