safe to delete XP DLLCACHE folder?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Prissmas
  • Start date Start date
P

Prissmas

hi folks,

this folder is taking a lot of space up on a limited HD.
DLLCACHE.

can I nuke it?

thanks
 
Prissmas said:
hi folks,

this folder is taking a lot of space up on a limited HD.
DLLCACHE.

can I nuke it?

thanks
Click to expand...

I don't think you can and I don't think you should. Delete your .tmp and
..dmp files, move the paging file to a different partition or get a larger
disk. They cost surprisingly little.
 
You can safely delete the files in the folder by opening a command
prompt and typing:

sfc.exe /purgecache

However, I do recommend against doing so.
 
I've done this quite a few times with no problem. Why do you recommend not
to do it?

Frank
 
FrankV;3370686 said:
I've done this quite a few times with no problem. Why do you recommen
not
to do it?

Frank

"waresoft" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message

You can safely delete the files in the folder by opening a command
prompt and typing:

sfc.exe /purgecache

However, I do recommend against doing so.
Click to expand...

I recommend against doing so because this is your cache of safe syste
files. Unless you repopulate the cache using sfc.exe /scannow yo
won't have that.

Without it you are compromising your system stability. It can't gra
the good files from the cache to replace bad system files fro
installations of poorly written software or uninstallers that remov
those necessary system files
 
waresoft said:
You can safely delete the files in the folder by opening a command
prompt and typing:

sfc.exe /purgecache

However, I do recommend against doing so.
Click to expand...

/Purgecache will purge the folder and then immediately scan for
protected files and repopulate the cache, you will be asked to supply
the source files. If you want to control the size of the cache you can
use the /Cachesize=x command, but there too one should be careful to not
overly restrict the size of the folder.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747
Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker
(Sfc.exe)

John
 
'John John - MVP[_2_ said:
;3370705']waresoft wrote:-
You can safely delete the files in the folder by opening a command
prompt and typing:

sfc.exe /purgecache

However, I do recommend against doing so.-

/Purgecache will purge the folder and then immediately scan for
protected files and repopulate the cache, you will be asked to supply
the source files. If you want to control the size of the cache you ca

use the /Cachesize=x command, but there too one should be careful t
not
overly restrict the size of the folder.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747
Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker
(Sfc.exe)

John
Click to expand...

It looks like I stand corrected. However in the end I still recommen
not deleting the files in the dllcache folder for the reasons I state
above
 
/Purgecache will purge the folder and then immediately scan for
protected files and repopulate the cache, you will be asked to supply
the source files.  If you want to control the size of the cache you can
use the /Cachesize=x command, but there too one should be careful to not
overly restrict the size of the folder.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747
Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker
(Sfc.exe)

John
Click to expand...

I experimented, made a copy of my dllcache folder (about 370K), ran
sfc /purgecache which emptied the dllcache folder (nothing else
happened), then I deleted a Windows Protected File - taskmgr.exe and
it was replaced (from you know where) and a copy was also put in
dllcache so then there was just the one file in there. /purgecache
did not magically refill the folder it just emptied.

Then I ran sfc /scannow and the dllcache was repopulated without
incident, WFP still works.

Does anyone else get different results?

XP tries to keep your system happy, but f you keep tinkering trying to
do things to fix a problem like needing more disk space in some
"unnatural" way, you might regret it later.
 
Jose said:
I experimented, made a copy of my dllcache folder (about 370K), ran
sfc /purgecache which emptied the dllcache folder (nothing else
happened), then I deleted a Windows Protected File - taskmgr.exe and
it was replaced (from you know where) and a copy was also put in
dllcache so then there was just the one file in there. /purgecache
did not magically refill the folder it just emptied.
Click to expand...

Indeed... it runs like you say on Windows XP. The information is a bit
dated, Windows 2000 asks for the Windows CD and rebuilds the cache,
Windows XP doesn't do this. But like you say, deleting the dll cache
might cause regrets later, and if SFC does nag for the Windows CD half
the folks won't even have one to give it, that is if they even had one
to begin with...

John
 
Back
Top