I'm running Windows Server 2008 Standard running in VMware. It has 2 disks:
- system disk: 16 GB
- data disk: 500 MB
I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1 + MSDN and some small tools and libraries that don't take much space. Over time the system disk's free space has been going down (I suspect because of regular system updates – NetFx (.NET), service packs, and regular updates).
Questions 1
How do you remove Windows Update uninstall files from Windows Server 2008?
Question 2
I also found lots of files in C:/Windows/Installer
folder.
Is it possible to determine which .msp file goes with which patch?
I would like to delete some of them, because they do take a lot of space.
Best Answer
Associating the files with patches. The "
WINDOWS\Installer\
" folder has severalkey
sub-folders.You can search for the sub-folder name (without the braces
{}
) in the registry.The key can be searched within the "
HKLM\SOFTWARE\
" treeto get the Software association.
The key would be placed in the
Installer
sub-tree on the nameENU_GUID
.Similarly, in the registry path "
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\
",The key will usually match in a subtree against the "
ProductIcon
" name.There will be a "
ProductName
" field next to it that will give you an association.This search should be script-able with a
dir WINDOWS\Installer /d
outputstored to a text file that is processed with a registry search.
The
.MSP
files have a level of indirection in the registry.You should search for the MSP name first in,
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\
That will give you a Patch number (the sub-tree name string) which is to be then searched again in the same path as above. The associated registry sub-tree will give you details for the patch.
Meanwhile, the mouse-over context in my Windows XP explorer also gives basic information on the patch. Have you checked that already?
Older data:
Use msizap to remove orphaned cached Windows Installer Data Files to increase free disk space.
The article discusses up to Windows Server 2003.
Update: This Microsoft KB description also limits at Server 2003.
It should work for Server 2008, or there would be another version for it.
The article describes existence of two versions.
Download references -- in case that link goes dead.