Is it safe to delete from C:\Windows\Installer?
Problem
I've been looking on an XP machine what is using all that diskspace, and it turns out C:\Windows\Installer is high up there on the list of directories that use the most diskspace. It seems to contain a cache of msi and msp files. Is it safe to delete those? To save diskspace, I've been deleting the "$KB...$" directories for ages without any problems. I want my Windows Updates in my system, why you would want to uninstall them is something that I have never understood. (Except when you're on an update revision board professionally or something of that order.)
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1 Fix
Fix for: Is it safe to delete from C:\Windows\Installer?
No, it's not. Windows Installer uses that to cache installation files for anything installed on the machine using Windows Installer. At a minimum, you could lose the ability to add or remove programs, at the worst, you may lose the ability to run some programs. Since Windows Update can also deploy Windows Installer patches, you could also prevent your machine from receiving Windows and Office updates.
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