Installation files left behind after Windows Update

Hello,

We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows Update.
On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange names
on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and the
upgrades procede well there too.
Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?

Greetings from a cold Holland,
--
Peter Vreeswijk,
SFW.

Do you have View settings the same on all three? - the files may be Hidden
but visible on the one, and Hidden (without the View option set) on the
others.

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Peter from holland" <> wrote in
message news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
> Hello,
>
> We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows
> Update.
> On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange names
> on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
> I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and the
> upgrades procede well there too.
> Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?
>
> Greetings from a cold Holland,
> --
> Peter Vreeswijk,
> SFW.

I'm sorry Noel, but we had checked his out already. The view setting is not
the problem. Any other suggestions? Is it normal that these downloads are
placed on the harddisk?



"Noel Paton" wrote:

> Do you have View settings the same on all three? - the files may be Hidden
> but visible on the one, and Hidden (without the View option set) on the
> others.
>
> --
> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
>
> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>
> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>
> "Peter from holland" <> wrote in
> message news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
> > Hello,
> >
> > We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows
> > Update.
> > On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange names
> > on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
> > I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and the
> > upgrades procede well there too.
> > Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?
> >
> > Greetings from a cold Holland,
> > --
> > Peter Vreeswijk,
> > SFW.
>
>
>

By definition, they have to be on the hard disk before they can be
installed - the question becomes, therefore, why the installer didn't remove
the file (assuming that the install proceeded well).

Such problems are often caused by Anti-Virus issues, or other programs
running in the background during the install/download - you wouldn't by any
chance be running Norton software of any kind?????


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Peter from holland" <> wrote in
message news:F5586CB6-D7FD-416A-820D-...
> I'm sorry Noel, but we had checked his out already. The view setting is
> not
> the problem. Any other suggestions? Is it normal that these downloads are
> placed on the harddisk?
>
>
>
> "Noel Paton" wrote:
>
>> Do you have View settings the same on all three? - the files may be
>> Hidden
>> but visible on the one, and Hidden (without the View option set) on the
>> others.
>>
>> --
>> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
>>
>> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
>> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
>> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>>
>> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>>
>> "Peter from holland" <> wrote
>> in
>> message news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows
>> > Update.
>> > On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange
>> > names
>> > on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
>> > I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and
>> > the
>> > upgrades procede well there too.
>> > Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?
>> >
>> > Greetings from a cold Holland,
>> > --
>> > Peter Vreeswijk,
>> > SFW.
>>
>>
>>

Hello Noel,

Thanks for the reply. We use Sophos as AV-tool but I do not think this is
the problem.
We detected that the sepcific server was not rebooted for a long time. After
reboot of this server the files were disappeared from the disk! I assume now
this is a normal situation ? Until you reboot the files are places on the
most free disk on the server...

Greetings Peter.

"Noel Paton" wrote:

> By definition, they have to be on the hard disk before they can be
> installed - the question becomes, therefore, why the installer didn't remove
> the file (assuming that the install proceeded well).
>
> Such problems are often caused by Anti-Virus issues, or other programs
> running in the background during the install/download - you wouldn't by any
> chance be running Norton software of any kind?????
>
>
> --
> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
>
> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>
> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>
> "Peter from holland" <> wrote in
> message news:F5586CB6-D7FD-416A-820D-...
> > I'm sorry Noel, but we had checked his out already. The view setting is
> > not
> > the problem. Any other suggestions? Is it normal that these downloads are
> > placed on the harddisk?
> >
> >
> >
> > "Noel Paton" wrote:
> >
> >> Do you have View settings the same on all three? - the files may be
> >> Hidden
> >> but visible on the one, and Hidden (without the View option set) on the
> >> others.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
> >>
> >> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
> >> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
> >> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
> >>
> >> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
> >>
> >> "Peter from holland" <> wrote
> >> in
> >> message news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
> >> > Hello,
> >> >
> >> > We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows
> >> > Update.
> >> > On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange
> >> > names
> >> > on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
> >> > I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and
> >> > the
> >> > upgrades procede well there too.
> >> > Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?
> >> >
> >> > Greetings from a cold Holland,
> >> > --
> >> > Peter Vreeswijk,
> >> > SFW.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

Normally, the files would be placed on the System partition - unless you've
specified otherwise (usually by a registry tweak).

That looks entirely normal to me - you could try tracking back using
whatever version of wininit.ini it is that Win2K Server uses and see what it
says (I'm no real expert on server systems, as you may have guessed!)



--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Peter from holland" <> wrote in
message news:FFFA6E48-83BE-4935-9411-...
> Hello Noel,
>
> Thanks for the reply. We use Sophos as AV-tool but I do not think this is
> the problem.
> We detected that the sepcific server was not rebooted for a long time.
> After
> reboot of this server the files were disappeared from the disk! I assume
> now
> this is a normal situation ? Until you reboot the files are places on the
> most free disk on the server...
>
> Greetings Peter.
>
> "Noel Paton" wrote:
>
>> By definition, they have to be on the hard disk before they can be
>> installed - the question becomes, therefore, why the installer didn't
>> remove
>> the file (assuming that the install proceeded well).
>>
>> Such problems are often caused by Anti-Virus issues, or other programs
>> running in the background during the install/download - you wouldn't by
>> any
>> chance be running Norton software of any kind?????
>>
>>
>> --
>> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
>>
>> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
>> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
>> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>>
>> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>>
>> "Peter from holland" <> wrote
>> in
>> message news:F5586CB6-D7FD-416A-820D-...
>> > I'm sorry Noel, but we had checked his out already. The view setting is
>> > not
>> > the problem. Any other suggestions? Is it normal that these downloads
>> > are
>> > placed on the harddisk?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "Noel Paton" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Do you have View settings the same on all three? - the files may be
>> >> Hidden
>> >> but visible on the one, and Hidden (without the View option set) on
>> >> the
>> >> others.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)
>> >>
>> >> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
>> >> http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>> >>
>> >> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to
>> >> NG's
>> >>
>> >> "Peter from holland" <>
>> >> wrote
>> >> in
>> >> message news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
>> >> > Hello,
>> >> >
>> >> > We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows
>> >> > Update.
>> >> > On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange
>> >> > names
>> >> > on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
>> >> > I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and
>> >> > the
>> >> > upgrades procede well there too.
>> >> > Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?
>> >> >
>> >> > Greetings from a cold Holland,
>> >> > --
>> >> > Peter Vreeswijk,
>> >> > SFW.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>

"Peter from holland" <> wrote in message
news:C1FD3953-630B-4B6D-807F-...
> Hello,
>
> We have 3 Windows 2000 Servers that we upgrade using default Windows Update.
> On 1 of these servers the downloaded updates are placed with strange names
> on one of the disks. The names are like :12drigfk43kdcdee484dc etc.
> I can not find these strange directories on the other 2 servers, and the
> upgrades procede well there too.
> Can anyone tell me what goes wrong here?


Looks like they could be old WUv4 download files.

Do they have Modification date and times which match anything else?

Oh. This is on W2K so no V5. In that case they could be current
download files and you could also get some clues with timestamp
from corresponding entries in the Windows Update.log. ;o

You should be able to get more clues by browsing them with Notepad.
Simplest thing to do is just drag them to an open Notepad window.

See others' posts for tips about cleaning up after WU downloads.
Another keyword phrase would be "disk space".


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---