Safe to delete "C:WINDOWSSoftwareDistributionDownload"

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:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download

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?

Answer

After you have installed all the pending updates, it is safe to delete all the files and folder under C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\

_{As @Zab said, stop the Update Service while you clean up the folder}

1. Enter net stop wuauserv into an elevated command prompt


2. Manually clean up C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\


3. Enter net start wuauserv into an elevated command prompt
   As soon as the service starts again, some folders will be re-created. This is ok