Distribuzione software windows

For download links, see our Downloads page. When you install Visual Studio, you can optionally select the. NET desktop development and Universal Windows Platform development options for access to other project types and app platforms for building desktop Windows apps.

If you want to build your desktop app into an MSIX package and test or debug the packaged app on your development computer, you'll need to enable Developer Mode on your computer. For scripts you can use to set up your development computer and install other features or packages, check out this GitHub project.

If you're new to building desktop apps using the Win32 API, the following tutorials and articles will help get you started. You can also browse the desktop app samples. If you have an existing desktop Win32 app, there are many features in the Universal Windows Platform UWP that you can use to deliver the best possible experience on Windows Most of these UWP features are available as modular components that you can adopt in your desktop app at your own pace without having to rewrite your entire application.

You can enhance your existing desktop app by choosing which parts of Windows 10 and UWP to adopt. For more information, see Modernize your desktop apps. These computers then use it to connect to a management point during the OS deployment process.

When you configure all your management points in the site for HTTP, select the option to Create self-signed certificate. There are no specific requirements for the certificate subject or subject alternative name SAN. If necessary, use the same certificate for multiple distribution points. For more information about the certificate requirements, see PKI certificate requirements.

For an example deployment of this certificate, see Deploying the client certificate for distribution points. Specify the drive settings for the distribution point. Configure up to two disk drives for the content library and two disk drives for the package share. Configuration Manager can use other drives when the first two reach the configured drive space reserve. The Drive Settings page configures the priority for the disk drives and the amount of free disk space that remains on each disk drive.

Drive space reserve MB : This value determines the amount of free space on a drive before Configuration Manager chooses a different drive and continues the copy process to that drive. Content files can span multiple drives.

Content locations : Specify the locations for the content library and package share on this distribution point. By default, all content locations are set to Automatic.

Configuration Manager copies content to the primary content location until the amount of free space reaches the value specified for Drive space reserve MB. When you select Automatic , Configuration Manager sets the primary content locations to the disk drive with the most disk space at installation. It sets the secondary locations to the disk drive with the second-most free disk space.

When the primary and secondary locations reach the drive space reserve, Configuration Manager selects another available drive with the most free disk space to continue the copy process. For more information, see The content library. Without these rules, clients will receive error 0xF4 in DataTransferService. When you Enable this distribution point to pull content from other distribution points , it becomes a pull-distribution point.

You change the behavior of how the distribution point gets the content that you distribute to it. For more information, see Use a pull-distribution point. For each pull-distribution point that you configure, specify one or more source distribution points from which it gets the content:. Choose Add , and then select one or more of the available distribution points to be sources.

Use the arrow buttons to adjust the priority. When the pull-distribution point attempts to transfer content, the priority is the order in which it contacts the source distribution points. It first contacts distribution points with the lowest value. Specify whether to enable PXE on the distribution point. Select the option to Enable PXE support for clients , and then configure the following settings:. Configuration Manager automatically configures the default ports on Windows firewall.

If you use a different firewall, manually configure the ports. By default, DHCP listens on the same port. Use this setting to enable and disable the service without removing the PXE functionality from the distribution point.

Enable unknown computer support : Specify whether to enable support for computers that Configuration Manager doesn't manage. For more information, see Prepare for unknown computer deployments.

User device affinity : Specify how you want the distribution point to associate users with the destination computer for PXE deployments. Choose one of the following options:. Allow user device affinity with auto-approval : Choose this setting to automatically associate users with the destination computer without waiting for approval. Allow user device affinity pending administrator approval : Choose this setting to wait for approval from an administrative user before users are associated with the destination computer.

Do not allow user device affinity : Choose this setting to specify that users aren't associated with the destination computer. This setting is the default. For more information about user device affinity, see Link users and devices with user device affinity.

Network interfaces : Specify that the distribution point responds to PXE requests from all network interfaces or from specific network interfaces. If the distribution point responds to specific network interfaces, then provide the MAC address for each network interface. When changing the network interface, restart the WDS service to make sure it properly saves the configuration.

Specify the PXE server response delay seconds : When you use multiple PXE servers, specify how long this PXE-enabled distribution point should wait before it responds to computer requests. Specify whether to enable multicast on the distribution point. Multicast deployments conserve network bandwidth by simultaneously sending data to multiple Configuration Manager clients.

Without multicast, the server sends a copy of the data to each client over a separate connection. For more information about using multicast for OS deployment, see Use multicast to deploy Windows over the network. Select the option to Enable multicast to simultaneously send data to multiple clients , and then configure the following settings:. Multicast Connection Account : Specify the account to use when you configure Configuration Manager database connections for multicast.

For more information, see the Multicast connection account. Multicast address settings : Specify the IP addresses for sending data to the destination computers. Depending on the network environment, you can specify a range of IP addresses from The IP addresses that you configure must be accessible by the destination computers that request the OS image. Verify that routers and firewalls allow for multicast traffic between the destination computer and the distribution point.

UDP port range for multicast : Specify the range of UDP ports that are used to send data to the destination computers. Verify that routers and firewalls allow for multicast traffic between the destination computer and the site server.

Maximum clients : Specify the maximum number of destination computers that can download the OS image from this distribution point. Enable scheduled multicast : Specify how Configuration Manager controls when to start deploying operating systems to destination computers. Configure the following options:. Session start delay minutes : Specify the number of minutes that Configuration Manager waits before it responds to the first deployment request.

Minimum session size clients : Specify how many requests must be received before Configuration Manager starts to deploy the operating system. To enable and configure multicast on the Multicast tab of the distribution point properties, the distribution point must use Windows Deployment Service. These options are available only when you're editing the properties of a previously installed distribution point.

To add this distribution point as a member to an existing a distribution point group, choose Add. To remove this distribution point from a distribution point group, select the group in the list, and then choose Remove. Removing the distribution point from a distribution point group doesn't remove any content from the distribution point. Manage the content that you distributed to the distribution point. Select from the list of deployment packages, and then select one of the following actions:.

Validate : Start the process to validate the integrity of the content files for the software. To view the results of the content validation process, in the Monitoring workspace, expand Distribution Status , and then choose the Content Status node. For more information, see Validate content. Redistribute : Copies all of the content files for the selected software to the distribution point, and overwrites the existing files. You typically use this action to repair content files.

For more information, see Redistribute content. Remove : Removes the content files for the software from the distribution point. For more information, see Remove content. Set a schedule to validate the integrity of content files on the distribution point. When you enable content validation on a schedule, Configuration Manager starts the process at the scheduled time. You can also configure the content validation priority. By default, the priority is set to Lowest.

Increasing the priority might increase the processor and disk utilization on the server during the validation process, but it should complete faster. It shows the content for each software type, for example, application, software update package, and boot image.

Although you specify the content validation schedule by using the local time for the computer, the Configuration Manager console shows the schedule in UTC. Manage the boundary groups to which you assign this distribution point. Add the distribution point to at least one boundary group. During content deployment, clients must be in a boundary group associated with a distribution point to use that distribution point as a source location for content. Configure boundary group relationships that define when and to which boundary groups a client can fall back to find content.

No, that's not the same issue. The WinSXS folder is a permanent archive and is designed to be that large on a system with years of patches applied. It's why the disk space requirements for the OS are what they are. ITPros should learn the architecture and operation of the Operating System before becoming a critic. The fact that you're still running a Vista x64 system in speaks much more to the point than I think you may imagine.

And how about to delete only particular folder under "SoftwareDistribution", Datastore? I'm trying to fix wuauclt. If the performance improves, then perhaps, as the MS Answers thread from suggests - it was a defective data store -- however, given that time frame mid and on XP systems, I'm much more inclined to think it was the Office issue. Around that time frame, a number of systems with Office and 8 years of updates applied, and to a lesser extent even today, some Office systems that are approaching 5 years of updates applied, had performance issues because of the number of update packages in the MSI Installer folder.

For those systems the remediation was to uninstall Office or Office and then reinstall Office with the latest service pack, and then apply the remainder of the required Office patches. But not withstanding that possible scenario, the SD folder is merely a cache of what's on the WSUS server relevant to that particular client, so performance issues are almost always an effect of what's on the WSUS server.

You can search this forum for the keyword 'timeout' and find dozens of discussions of this condition. Your observations seem to make a lot of sense, though I don't pretend to fully understand especially the part about WSUS. I have what I hope are two simple follow-up questions, one related to wuauclt my problem appears to be intense harddrive activity connected with wuauclt and one related to the possible Office reinstall fix. Re wuauclt, you mention in a different post the need to know what version is running.

How do I find that out and what minimum version do I want? Does the fact that it says SP3 mean that my problem would likely not be solved by an Office reinstall? It's logged at service startup in the WindowsUpdate. It can also be determined by checking the file version of the wuaueng.

Not at all. In fact, that you are still running Office makes this a high probability condition. The mere fact that Office is still installed on a machine suggests that the Office installation has been in place for several years, inasmuch as most systems built after shipped with Office However, I will grant that some organizations have not upgraded, or are unable to upgrade, and are still using Office because it's all they have.

What's the relevant point is how Office has been updated. Thanks, Lawrence, for the direct and to the point reply. I will follow-up on all the observations you made. This thread was fun to read. Just wiped 8 GiB worth of junk from there. And surely permissions do not work on any other drive. Others have already summed up your "contributions" nicely above, and since my personal experience with your "advise" coming from the WSUS language packs thread - pretty much exactly mirrors what others have observed on this one - nothing more to add here, sir.

Have a nice day. Found this site when looking for folders i can empty in google. I found it quite interesting to follow you. But noone could say how it will affect the system. After the discussion about WinSXS the idea came up to look in the registry if anything does refer to any of the content in there Im just a regmanipulating nerd. Since i am kid i love to check and manipulate all the files with systeminformation in it, to tune up system manually, free space, as it was in old times with ms dos freeing space in the kb base memory Well, let's hope you're not a financial advisor.

I had to read it again to make sure you really said "condescending" in one breath and "switch to Mac" in the next. Garvin The views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of SolarWinds.

The Windows folder takes up 7. You need to recognize that your personal experience does not reflect the personal experience of everyone else. Thank you for the information that Download content over 10 days old can safely be deleted regardless of whether it is aesthetically pleasing ; I will proceed to do so.

I have a few servers running Windows Server and they are all experiencing greatly diminished disk space in the system partition. I checked the SoftwareDistribution folder on one server and it's topping 2. The Download subfolder contains files dating back to when the server was new. Are you certain this folder is automatically maintained? The system partition is down to 1. Needless to say, but I will be manually cleaning up the Download folder.

The design is for the folder to be automatically maintained. However, it's not unheard of for the datastore to get out of sync with the content cache. As noted previously, anything older than 10 days can be deleted. Following that you should monitor the folder to see if subsequent files get deleted as they should.

If they don't, the datastore may have inconsistencies. An option in this case is to rebuild the datastore. Rename the SoftwareDistribution folder. Copy the old ReportingEvents. Not really sure where you stopped reading, since you didn't quote the message you're actually responding to But never make the mistake of confusing "arrogance" with accuracy, or the right to aggressively defend one's beliefs in those facts.

True, perhaps you don't like the confidence with which I chose to make my points. I accept that. As for "without any explanation" My take was that I explained the basic points several times over. If you feel there's something lacking in any of the above responses, I'm most happy to expand on the subject. I'm blown away by the arrogance of your "answers.

To speak in such absolutes without any explanation as to why makes me want to argue with you just because of your arrogance. I have come across this thread a few times or a similar one with Lawrence stating that it is just wrong to mess with that folder and can usually only get about posts down.

As a consultant, I see a number of servers and I need to check my memory each time because I have seen so much. I have had a couple of servers with a 12 GB C: drive.

A lot of these files could be up to 4 years old. I have not had access to these servers previously, and I am looking to replace these servers as soon as possible, but when the C: drive drops to a couple hundred MB, the server is in danger of crashing due to space issues.

These have been servers that for the most part, no one was doing updates on a regular basis. It is not until pretty low in the exchange that you mention that it is possible that there may be a reason to move or delete the files. It is not the most helpful of responses. I understand that you want to stress the fact that it should not be done, and I can appreciate that. But if you could stress that and then explain early in, that there may be some rare situations that it could be used, it could make for a better read.

I have come across this thread a few times or a similar one with Lawrence stating that it is just wrong to mess with that folder. Then monitor the client to see if it continues to properly self-maintain the folder thereafter. One other note Of course, it's also worth noting that any server with only a 12GB system partition was already in trouble the day the operating system was installed onto it. In that case, you must also focus on other space consuming resources, because you still need another 2GB of free space beyond that.

People don't arbitrarily decide to go delete random folders from their systems, they're looking for answers to this question for a specific reason. Per Mr. Garvin's own posting, if the SoftwareDistribution folder has grown large and contains old content, then by definition it's NOT a properly functioning system, so all the sturm und drang over whether it's a best practice for a properly working system is irrelevant.

I think the question here is the proper methodology to diagnose and remediate that not-working system. There's no harm in compressing the folder So I have read this post from top to bottom and agree with most things that were said. With that said though, you always talk about an update agent being corrupt or the datastore being corrupt and not really giving any troubleshooting steps to fix either of them.

I work for a small company working on servers that are way beyond there retiring age but have to because we just can't spend the money every other year to replace them. I have gone through about 6 of my servers now and everyone of them have the downloads folder with updates going back several years. So I have been deleting the ones that are several years old and leaving the most current one.

I get updates all the time and rarely do have ones that are failing. So I am not sure why the files are getting so big. These servers were all built with 10GB max as the OS drive because that was all that was recommended at the time. With the select few that i have virtualized, i have been able to give extra space to the OS partition.

The ones that I have not done is because the are mission critical and need to be up at all times. I also understand that this is for IT Pros, but to talk to other professionals as if they were below you gets you little to no respect. I almost started skipping the post that you made because of the comments that you made and the lack of humility that you have.

Show a little respect for some IT pros that are looking for answers, instead of just being told NO. There are doctors that might be able to help take that claw out. And if you still feel strongly about being c ondescending for those asking questions.

Find a new line of work were no one asks you questions!! Fair enough, Brad, but to be honest, there really aren't any "troubleshooting steps" per se.

There are a couple of symptoms that will appear in a WindowsUpdate. There's not a lot of information available about how the WUA actually works internally, or how it should work.

Most of what we know is based on several years of empirical observations. One observation that applies is that once the datastore and download cache get out of sync, the housekeeping routines don't delete anything. Deleting the files older than 10 days usually will restore normal functionality of that housekeeping task.

If it doesn't, and space is that critical, you might also find it beneficial to rebuild the entire datastore. I had already done your 4 straightforward steps - except 4b 'restoring the log file'. I did a simple Copy of that log file kb to the Desktop which appeared to work, but all of my attempts to restore it with a simple Paste described above refuse to work. If so, will the log file I had already copied with a simple Copy to the Desktop still work with your 2nd command?

If it freaks out, it could be that the WUA has the file locked. Stop the WindowsUpdate service, copy the logfile back, and restart the service.

What an interesting read. It took only three years of discussion for an actual answer with actual instructions to be posted. For the great length of this thread, instead of helpful information, there are accusations of you should know better of course, if everyone knew better, these forums would be superfluous , such as :.

Such a reference would have been useful, but you don't actually provide one. Later in the thread, you contradict yourself and indicate that such a primer does not actually exist:. Back in , when these systems were installed, it wasn't unreasonable to consider that to be more than sufficient for an OS, with room to grow. Mostly I am talking about systems belonging to small businesses with no WSUS, just automatic updates direct from MS and reboots once every blue moon or so.

Under these conditions, in my experience a Software Distribution that self-polices itself is a rarity. Having read through the majority of this thread, it is still a mystery to me how to determine if the datastore and the downloads folder are out of sync, or where the magic number of older than 10 days comes from.

Other than a self appointed expert who admits he doesn't have a lot of information about how WUA actually works says so. Irrespective of anything said in the debate above, empirical testing certainly reveals that there are times when the only viable solution for the layman IT Administrator, will be the removal or re-naming of the SoftwareDistribution folder.

With that said, scheduling the removal of the folder does seem pretty extreme. We run Win 7 VDI desktops over here with very tight disk space requirements, and we've never seen a problem that suggests we should consider that. We now look at this step as a viable and reasonable solution when specific problems such as the one described by that post occur from time to time.

Which in most environments would hopefully be quite irregular, rather than the norm. I have resolved the issue through more normal means but I am nonetheless curious why clearing SD folder did not resolve the issue as it would normally inside Windows. It went a bit crazy downloading 11 copies of the same patch wacserver-x-none. It really shouldn't be beyond the Microsoft engineers to copy the unix guys with a real or virtual temp partition that can be wiped at the whim of the IT maintainers.

Is it NOW okay to clean up the mess? If not, then when? If the answer is never, then I can see why MS isn't doing so well anymore Not always best practice is to put head under the sand, leaving bad project decisions arrive to behave like a malware May be this folder is usefull Space is never taken in account inside Windows That's nothing.

These CU's are now 1GB in size. I've found SoftwareDistribution folders over 6GB in size because updates are just stuck in there. Try 11GB. It's been there for more than 6 months! I'm deleting right now. I don't need to "revert" windows update more than 4 updates. Because if something happens that I need more than that, I'll throw windows out of the window! I have patience, but just like my disk drive space, it has limits.

Yet that's exactly what you were doing in writing your post. However, I did find value in Jedi's post and thought it was appropriate and well stated. Nothing like being a hypocrite while attacking others who identify those posting condescending answers Office Office Exchange Server.

Not an IT pro? Windows Server TechCenter. Sign in. United States English. Ask a question. Quick access. Search related threads. Remove From My Forums. Answered by:. Archived Forums. Sign in to vote. I usually address this by: Stopping the Automatic Updates service. Restarting the Automatic Updates service. Thanks in advance for your input. Monday, August 22, PM. I am not aware of a 'best practice' way of reducing the size of the folder The 'best practice' is to never touch the folder.

Any continued issues is evidence of a more serious client health issue. Changed "30 days" to "10 days". Tuesday, August 23, AM. Saturday, June 2, PM.

If you found this post helpful, please give it a "Helpful" vote. If it answered your question, remember to mark it as an "Answer".

Any questions? Tuesday, August 23, PM. The current size of the SoftwareDistribution folder is MB. So here are my questions: 1. Thanks, -Rob. However, recovering a few hundred megabytes of space from the WUAgent is like using an eyedropper to fill a bucket.

It is evidence that some content has been abandoned. Evidence that a current fault exists would be confirmed by content that is between days old.

If the July Patch Tuesday content is still there, or if the August Patch Tuesday content was installed before the 13th and is still there, that would suggest that the WUAgent is not maintaining the current content. Delete the content older than 10 days and monitor the folder. Other than being absolutely unnecessary? Hard to say.

If you NEVER need to refer to that Update History, then the downsides are nil; however, if you destroy information you might need at a later time to troubleshoot some other issue, you can't use what you don't have. I typically remove mine days after update installation, as by that point, either the update is working in which case the installation log and uninstallation folder has no real value , or it's already failed.

Not Declined update, it is retained in the DataStore. If an installed update gets uninstalled, and that update is not in the DataStore, how would the WUAgent know that the update was, once again, needed? It's really a moot point, though, as you cannot control this. The WUAgent caches update metadata for all relevant updates.

That is one of the primary purposes of the DataStore, along with the installation history for those updates. If you destroy the DataStore, the cache for hundreds, if not thousands of updates must be rebuilt; the installation history cannot be rebuilt. Thank you Rich. This is exactly the information I was looking for as I have an XP system, in service since November The SoftwareDistribution directory is 1.

While I do have plenty of free space, I generally dislike bloat when it can be trimmed.