One of our Windows 2003 servers has a fairly small C-partition, which is approaching full. I've had a quick look round using Disktective as to where the space has gone, and a fair bit of it seems to be taken up with C:WINDOWSSoftwareDistributionDownload
Since deleting the software distribution folder, which 99% of people said would be safe, I am now unable to use windows update running Windows Vista 32bit. I was trying to solve a problem that would not let the Windows Malicious Software tool download. Jun 13, 2019 Windows 10: Microsoft Store install button greyed out Discus and support Microsoft Store install button greyed out in Microsoft Windows 10 Store to solve the problem; I recently purchased the Xbox gamepass for PC, and during my installation of several games ran into a problem. On attempting to install Metro Exodus. Discussion in 'Microsoft Windows 10 Store' started by Aegis270, Jun 13, 2019. Jun 09, 2011 Does Windows update start at all? I'm trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. That fixit renames datastore and download so deleting those folders can't be the problem. Of the other folders I have in Win7 Software Distribution really only SelfUpdate and wuredir has anything in them. C Windows SoftwareDistribution DataStore. Delete everything in the DataStore folder BUT DO NOT DELETE THE LOGS FOLDER. Open the Logs folder and delete everything in there. You will have to shut down windows updates then restart the computer, so you can delete everything. Turning windows updates back on after.
I think this folder is used as a temporary storage for Windows Update, but as all the pending Windows updates have now been installed, is it OK to delete the contents of this folder?
Abel3 Answers
After you have installed all the pending updates, it is safe to delete all the files and folder under C:WINDOWSSoftwareDistributionDownload
As @Zab said, stop the Update Service while you clean up the folder
- Enter
net stop wuauservinto an elevated command prompt - Manually clean up
C:WINDOWSSoftwareDistributionDownload - Enter
net start wuauservinto an elevated command prompt
As soon as the service starts again, some folders will be re-created. This is ok
You should stop 'automatic updates' and 'windows update' services, then you can delete all downloaded/(and already installed) updates
You can also clean the database folder nearby to 'reset' windows update.
Harry reports problem with people who deleted the directories, as opposed to people who deleted files in directory.
ZaBZaBIf I were you I'd run the Microsoft Disk Cleanup wizard and see if it proposes deleting this directory.
If it doesn't do that, then I wouldn't touch it.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windowswindows-update or ask your own question.
The system that I'm looking at is Windows 7, 32bit.
When the system boots up it spends a ton of time reading and writing to the DataStore.edb file which is located in WindowsSoftwareDistributionDataStore directory. This makes the system run really slow for several minutes, probably about 10 if I'm honest. If you stop the Windows Update service, within a minute the system will stop reading and writing from the file and everything runs smoothly.
Things I've tried:
I've stopped Windows Update, deleted the file, rebooted, but when I do that Windows rebuilds the file until it's a few hundred MB in size. Once Windows is happy with whatever it's doing, it stops and my disk usage and cue drop down to normal levels and the system does whatever you want with plenty of speed.
I've booted into SafeMode and run several virus scans and Kaspersky's RootKit killer tool and nobody finds anything offensive.
What should I try next?
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9 Answers
I know it's way past the point of being able to provide a suitable solution for you now, but I have exactly the same thing with a Windows 7 machine at work. For future reference, you can always check the integrity of (/g) and/or defrag (/d) *.edb files with esentutl.exe.
e.g. esentutl.exe /d c:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDataStoreDataStore.edb
If you are unable to run this command with '-1032' error, you can boot into safemode (without networking) and run the command from there. You might first need to run it with the /p switch to repair file corruption.
Brian WebsterRAMMap showed that C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDataStoreDataStore.edb mapped file was wasting 400 Mb of my precious RAM.Moreover Windows Update was constantly slowing down the system in process of updating that huge file.
esentutl.exe just reduced DataStore.edb size from slightly more than 600 Mb to slightly less that 600 MB and proved to be useless in my case.
http://juneyourtech.blogspot.com/2013/06/datastoreedb-and-windows-vista.html states that deleting this file is also not an option as Windows Update would rebuild it to the same size of next run.
So I had to completely disable Windows Update Service autorun. This greatly lowered waste of RAM, CPU and disk IO. The system is much more responsive now.
See also How to schedule download of windows 7 updates? for a way to launch update using Windows Task Scheduler.
Update
Take a look also at Windows 7 SP1 Windows Update stuck checking for updates
Expanding upon @mafbailey 's answer (And a big thanks to you, as well!) make sure to open the command prompt as an administrator when utilizing the following command line action to have the appropriate file permissions.
I'd have been stuck had I not known =)
I have experienced the same problem with a slowly starting computer running w7 home edition. Opening email or firefox was frustrating.
On my computer, during start up, the anti virus program (windows essentials) seemed to be taking a lot of time on the datastore.edb file.
This link about'Improve PC Performance and Stability by Properly Configuring Anti-Virus' solved the slow start up problem for me.
The solution basically involves telling the virus scanner (windows essentials) to exclude checking this file. I did the other exclusions on the windows files as well. (but i'm fine with the scanners checking my photos, even though they should be safe)
Hastur
Try installing Windows Update KB3050265, released 2nd June 2015.
This is optional so you may have to look for it in Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > Show all available updates > Optional, and manually install it.
Fixing Windows Update, this method is for Windows 7
Go to Programs Accessories: Cmd prompt
Click the right mouse button and run as administrator.
In the prompt window follow the sequence below:
net stop wuauserv (after Enter)
net stop bits (after Enter)
In Windows Explorer:
Go to the folder windowssoftware distributiondownload (delete everything in there)
Go to the folder windowssoftware distributionDataStore (delete everything in there)
Go to the folder windowssoftware distributionDataStoreLogs (delete everything in there)
Go to the folder windowssoftware distributionPostRebootEventCache (delete everything in there)
The CMD prompt window:
net start wuauserv (after Enter)
net start bits (after Enter)
Sources:- http://tecnicoinformaticacuritiba.com.br/corrigindo-windows-update/ / https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/pt-BR/d75e92b9-4caf-425d-b841-0bae79f7adf1/windows-7-windows-update-no-funciona?forum=winvistapt
Microsoft released a new WindowsUpdate Client Update to fix the slow Update searching/Installation.
Installing and searching for updates is slow and high CPU usage occurs in Windows 7
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810
Download:
32Bit:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=fcd6bf5d-f004-4ca3-aa7e-1de462b91dd0
64Bit:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4fe566bd-31b1-4413-8c4c-412b52533669
This updates reduces the detection time and uses less RAM. So try it out
magicandre1981magicandre1981I don't know why this says that I posted this in January 2013, this problem was only a few months ago in 2015. Ha!
Rmdir C Windows Softwaredistribution Datastore Error
Anyway - I'm sorry to waste everyone's time. For some reason I wasn't getting notifications about this thread until today, December 9, 2015.
I tried a number of things and ended up on the phone with the manufacturer of the device that this computer was within. It turns out that they have a bug in their implementation of Windows that causes this to happen. The only solution to the problem is to re-image the machine and hope it doesn't happen again.
This applies to Zeiss OCT machines for those who are wondering.
Delete Windows Softwaredistribution
I have run into similar problems.
I installed KB3050265 from the website and it solved all these problems.
Make sure you install the correct version for your Windows ( 64 bit (x64) or 32-bit (x86))