How to change Windows 10 Updates download folder location about:reader?url=https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-windo...

thewindowsclub.com

How to change Windows 10 Updates

download folder location
AshishMohta@TWC
3-4 minutos

Running out of storage space is nothing new. Most of us have

access to the internet and keep downloading stuff. Then there are
games which can occupy a lot of storage space. The biggest
problem arrives when you run of storage space on your Windows
Installation drive which is usually the C drive, and the updates stop
downloading. Windows OS doesn’t offer you an option to change
the download location of the updates. In this post, we will learn to
change Windows 10 Updates download location.

Change Windows 10 Updates download location

Before you begin, you should know that you will need to have
administrator privileges to complete this. If you have a regular
account, it’s a good idea to get in touch who had set up your PC
and take his help.

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How to change Windows 10 Updates download folder location about:reader?url=https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-windo...

The default location of Windows Update is C:\Windows

\SoftwareDistribution. The SoftwareDistribution folder is where
everything gets downloaded and later installed.

Prepare a new directory for the system to download the

Windows Update

Create a target directory in a drive other than C drive. It can be

named as WindowsUpdateDownload for easy reference. Let’s
assume that the path is D:\WindowsUpdateDownload

Next, use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to launch the Task Manager and switch to

Services tab, and then right-click on wuauserv, and stop it.

Now rename C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution to C:\Windows

\SoftwareDistribution.old

Create Symlink

To create a symlink, in the start menu, search for CMD or command

prompt. Right-click on it, and run it as administrator. Then type the
below-mentioned command then hit Enter:

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How to change Windows 10 Updates download folder location about:reader?url=https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-windo...

mklink /j c:\windows\softwaredistribution
d:\WindowsUpdateDownload

This will make Windows Update start the downloading files from
zero to this new location.

In case it doesn’t work, you can try to boot Windows 10 in Safe

Mode to get this done.

Restart Windows Update Service

After this, you need to start the Windows Update Service. You can
either use the Task Manager to start it like we did above or execute
the following command in CMD:

net start wuauserv

Check if Windows Update is working:

Go to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update > Check
for Update. If it starts downloading an update or does not throw any
error, you are all set.

Here is an interesting fact, after downloading the Windows Update,

the OS unpacks it in the drive which has the freest space available
and installs from there. Windows will clear the content of this
directory from time to time.

We recommend you to use a storage space which usually remains

empty. While you can choose an SD card (NTFS format) or an
external drive, we recommend not to unless it always stays
connected to the PC.

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How to change Windows 10 Updates download folder location about:reader?url=https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-windo...

Ashish is a veteran Windows, and Xbox user who excels in writing

tips, tricks, and features on it to improve your day to day experience
with your devices.

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