Well, having found that the WU website still regarded them as having already been downloaded and were still awaiting install, I clearly didn't then action the WU website to install any of them. That would have destroyed the whole point of the exercise, after all.

Do appreciate that when you enter the WU website and you pick Custom install, the WU server performs a scan on the PC, to find out what's pending and what else potentially needs downloading. It does this every time you opt for Custom install, so it did it when I first returned to WU website.

I then thought that maybe my machine needed a reboot for the mechanism to fully work, so I rebooted Windows and then went back to the WU website, to see if anything changed. Nothing changed. It did a scan but, again, it told me that those updates were still on my PC and ready to install.

I can't understand how it's worked for you but not for me. Again, I wonder whether the Firewall and/or antivirus may have been playing a part.

In the meantime, I've restored my partition to how it was before I attempted anything. It rather looks like I'm stuck with those confounded downloads and will ultimately have to leave a good many of them there for good, in that Download folder.

In reply to a post by meditator:

I can't understand how it's worked for you but not for me.

Cuz you didn't attempt to install them, and fail, while they were absent from PC but WU site thought they were on PC. You could try it out with an innocuous one if you don't believe me.

Not sure I follow your logic. Perhaps what you're saying is that WU actually looked in the logs on my PC to see the status of the downloaded updates, rather than in the Download folder, and so thought that they were still there. Right?

Okay, so if I now try to install an innocuous one and it fails, what does WU then do? Does it just log a failed install and (importantly) clear the pending status at the website, or does it then wipe out the pending status at the website, so that on the next scan it presents the 'lost' update as a potential new download at the website? One could believe that as long as WU always finds out-of-date logs, it will always offer these already-downloaded-but-deleted files.

If I try this, I'll have to start from scratch again.

I'm not saying anything about how WU site "thinks" that the updates are already d/loaded; just that it "thinks" they are for whatever reason I don't care.

In reply to a post by meditator:

Okay, so if I now try to install an innocuous one and it fails, what does WU then do?

Yes, it logs a failed install and on its next scan for new updates it presents the same updates ready for install but not yet d/loaded, which is exactly the state you are after. I thought I said all that in my previous post.

I doubt WU refers to its logs on PC for the status of updates. It's more likely to keep a record on WU site under your own "account" as it does for all your other stuff like your history which includes records of update failures which do not appear on PC.
EDIT: What I have so far not mentioned about these logs on PC is that they decapitated over time (mine go back to only Nov 2010) yet the WU site keeps a history back to year dot.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 30-Mar-12 17:11:38)

I've only just read your latest response, XRaySpex. Sorry if I've seemed a bit pedantic. Between my last response and yours, I repeated everything I did before but also took your additional advice to install a test update from the WU website. It worked!

I then did the same for the remainder of the unvetted updates. So, finally I've ended up with them all on the WU website. That's marvellous. I'm really chuffed about that. I owe you a very big thankyou!

Over the next few days I'll be reviewing all those updates on the WU website, plus a smattering of others there. But some moments ago I thought I'd just pick one for downloading-and-installing, just to check that it'd actually install. It did.

At this point, I'd have thought that there'd be nothing in the Download folder (since the single genuine download-and-install I'd just performed had completed). However, when I looked in Download, there was one folder and about a dozen 'files', all of them alphanumerically-encrypted as usual. I didn't expect anything like that. At the very most, I'd have expected just a single folder that would perhaps then eventually get deleted by Windows on a reboot. Do you understand what's going on there?

You're welcome! I'm glad you've got back to the state you wanted upon my advice

In reply to a post by meditator:

I didn't expect anything like that. At the very most, I'd have expected just a single folder that would perhaps then eventually get deleted by Windows on a reboot. Do you understand what's going on there?

Yes! As I previously indicated the Download folder is used for all WU updates, whether by Auto Update or from WU site, whether just d/loaded or fully installed. That's where the updates are held always while WU does its stuff. They are never auto deleted within a reasonable period if at all; tho' it's possible that WU sets an upper limit on space consumed, but I've never waited to find out.

Once you have installed all the updates residing in it, and done any restarts necessary, you are absolutely safe to completely empty it; that's what I always do. Even if you made a mistake and there was still an incomplete install left, WU would recover as you have just seen.

Imagine hat would happen if you had done all the XP updates to date and for some reason you had to install the same OS afresh from a Win XP CD or the Recovery Partition. WU would realise that all the previous updates would need to be done again.

I still recommend that you do set Auto Update to D/Load but not Install. I think you will find it clearer, cleaner, quicker and more controllable. You will still be able to review each update and decide which ones to exclude.

This is an arcane subject but I have been playing with it for years. I've always found it wasteful to be building up the Download folder unnecessarily.

In reply to a post by meditator:

BTW, what about Windows Registry in this context? Surely, the Registry gets settings added to it during these updates, doesn't it?

Registry records all the fully installed updates. Search it for a known installed KB # and you will find 3 or 4 keys (Updates, Uninstall, ARPCache and HotFix).

Registry does not record any uninstalled update, even if downloaded and pending. Search it for a known as yet uninstalled KB # and you will find nowt.

In reply to a post by meditator:

if you open any of the subfolders of those encrypted contents in Download, you'll find not only the files spuninst.exe and update.exe but also a plethora of inf and dll files.

These are just the (compressed) install files preparatory to activating them.

I commented on the existence of the files spuninst.exe and update.exe (and others) in the Download folder and you say that these are the install files prior to activation. Yes, I agree, but what I was wary about (before the revelation) was that, in deleting the entire contents of Download, those files also would get removed. I presume that WU cleverly reinstalls them during a later download.

I mentioned having consulted some other forums on the Web prior to this but hadn't been convinced of the advice offered. Some of the contributors in those forums were saying that the contents of the Software Distribution folder as a whole would continue to increase (unnecessarily) with time. Indeed, it does look as though that's the case, the main problem area being the Download folder. Many contributors were already quoting sizes of 1.5GB and more. Others, however, were saying that, after 10 days, the contents of the Download folder would automatically zero. (I doubted that; I saw no evidence of that happening on my machine). Further, they were advising to delete the whole of the Software Distribution folder!!! Understandably, there were sequels published in which those who'd tried it had subsequently found their WinXP unreliable, so much so that they had to completely reinstall WinXP.

Edited by deleted (Sat 31-Mar-12 13:09:18)

Yes, only empty the Download folder. Anything further would be risky and unnecessary. My whole Software Distribution folder is only 116 MB after 6 years.

The Download folder is never zero for long; WU always sticks about 8 short text files there which are various s/w Licence Terms. I've never seen it reduce within the month between updates.

Another point to consider is that support for XP ends April 2014. So presumably the volume of updates will dwindle by then.

Noted.

In summary, it looks like my problem's been solved. So, once again, 'Thank you very much indeed, XRaySpex.' Hopefully, our conversation will also prove useful to others. It seems to have attracted a considerable audience.