How to Delete the SoftwareDistribution Folder in Windows 10 & 11
By Timothy Tibbetts |
On your PC, there's a folder in C:\Windows called SoftwareDistribution that stores temporary files during Windows Updates. Under typical situations, you should leave this folder alone. However, if you have an issue with Windows Updates, deleting the contents of this folder may resolve those problems. Here's how.
Note that removing the SoftwareDistribution folder will delete your Windows Updates history and cause the next Windows Updates to take longer than usual for the first time while Windows redownloads everything you removed.
If you're looking to free up disk space, you could try using Windows Disk Cleanup.
Video tutorial:
Delete the SoftwareDistribution Folder in Windows 10 & 11 From Safe Mode
The easiest way to delete the SoftwareDistribution folder is to reboot and use Safe Mode.
Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to open it.
Press Ctrl + A to highlight all of the files.
Press Delete.
If you're having trouble getting into Safe Mode, we can manually try and delete some of the files:
1: Stop the Windows Update Service and Background Intelligent Transfer Services
Open a elevated command prompt and type in the following two lines, and press Enter after each:
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
Each command should take a few seconds, so wait until you see the messages that the services were stopped successfully. Leave the command prompt open for now.
2: Delete the Folders Contents
Navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and open the folder. Press CTRL + A to select all files and folder, then press the Delete key. All the files in the SoftwareDistribution should be deleted. We don't want to delete the folder itself.
3: Reboot or Restart Services
Rebooting will start the two services we stopped, but if you don't want to reboot, open up the command prompt again and type in the following two lines, and press Enter after each:
net start wuauserv
net start bits
And, that's how we delete the SoftwareDistribution folder and hopefully fix your Windows Update problems.
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Note that removing the SoftwareDistribution folder will delete your Windows Updates history and cause the next Windows Updates to take longer than usual for the first time while Windows redownloads everything you removed.
If you're looking to free up disk space, you could try using Windows Disk Cleanup.
Delete the SoftwareDistribution Folder in Windows 10 & 11 From Safe Mode
The easiest way to delete the SoftwareDistribution folder is to reboot and use Safe Mode.
Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to open it.
Press Ctrl + A to highlight all of the files.
Press Delete.
If you're having trouble getting into Safe Mode, we can manually try and delete some of the files:
1: Stop the Windows Update Service and Background Intelligent Transfer Services
Open a elevated command prompt and type in the following two lines, and press Enter after each:
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
Each command should take a few seconds, so wait until you see the messages that the services were stopped successfully. Leave the command prompt open for now.
2: Delete the Folders Contents
Navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and open the folder. Press CTRL + A to select all files and folder, then press the Delete key. All the files in the SoftwareDistribution should be deleted. We don't want to delete the folder itself.
3: Reboot or Restart Services
Rebooting will start the two services we stopped, but if you don't want to reboot, open up the command prompt again and type in the following two lines, and press Enter after each:
net start wuauserv
net start bits
And, that's how we delete the SoftwareDistribution folder and hopefully fix your Windows Update problems.
Similar:
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