WSUS using 200GB for just Win 7 and Office 2010

[CommodoreS]

WSUS updates are using 200GB here.

 

I recently removed a lot of unneeded older software (older versions of Office and Windows XP) and ran the cleanup wizard but it did not seem to remove much.

 

I have it set up for all classifications except "feature packs" and "upgrades" and only have "Windows 7" and "Office 2010" selected as products, but 200GB seems awfully large just for these. I do not really want to have to uninstall and reinstall this to check and wondered if this size was normal or it has not removed old updates and if there is another way to remove them please.

[Steve21]

Sounds excessive haha.

 

Our Win7 + Office 2013 + Silverlight etc etc is 40Gb~

Our Win8 + Office 2013 + Silverlight etc etc is 36Gb~

 

What about tools etc? Language Packs etc? Did you take them all out?

 

Steve

[pantscat]

Is that the content folder? or the database?

[Michael]

If you haven't specified just English, WSUS will download all updates in all languages by default. This may explain the 200GB.

[Arthur]

You could give this cleanup script a try...

 

https://github.com/DeploymentBunny/Files/tree/master/Tools/Invoke-WSUSMaint

[3s-gtech]

Seems a little large. Our updates (Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Office 2013) come in at 175GB all in (total use on the dedicated drive, so DB and files). I strictly maintain this - no 32 bit Windows updates as we have no clients, no Itanium updates, etc. Regularly cleaned and checked, and I only approve 'Needed' updates.

[CommodoreS]

The WSUSContent folder is over 200GB and only English Language is selected. It just does not seem to be removing updates for Windows XP or older versions of Office. I have already also tried running several powershell scripts and the same size.

 

As I said before - all classifications except "feature packs" and "upgrades" are selected. Does Tools use a large chunk up then?

[3s-gtech]

Have you used the built in cleanup tools in WSUS too? They're usually effective - mine removed another 10GB today and it's not that long since I last ran it. You may have to run each one at a time otherwise they time out.

[CommodoreS]

Yes, the built in tools did remove some stuff (found a website which says what order to run it in to stop timeouts), but am wondering if deselecting products whether the cleanup tool will also remove updates for the deselected products. 200GB still seems far too large though for just Win 7 and Office 2010 English and nowt else.

 

I guess I could try removing Office 2010 and seeing if that removes any more and then re-add it to see.

[CommodoreS]

Well thats interesting - As mentioned above I just took the tick out the box of Office 2010 and ran the cleanup wizard again and the size is still showing exactly the same at 200GB. This means if you remove a product and then run the wizard it will not remove updates for the product you have removed and will keep them there. This would explain why the updates folder is still so large. So does anyone know a way around this - deleting the updates in WSUS for removed products without a complete uninstall and reinstall?

[Steve21]

There's a few commands built in that might help, but obviously check what one you want https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc720466(v=ws.10).aspx

 

Generally you could (haven't tried it recently) stop the service, delete all the content folder, and then "reset" so it pulls down the new updates (and only the ones you need)

 

Example: What to do when your WSUSContent folder grows too large - GBorger's Configuration Manager Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

Note: You may want to execute the procedure below during off hours as your WSUS server will be downloading quite a bit of data.

 

1) Correct any settings above or disapprove any unneeded updates.

 

2) Close any open WSUS consoles.

 

3) Go to Administrative Tools – Services and STOP the Update Services service.

 

4) In Windows Explorer browse to the WSUSContent folder (typically D:\WSUS\WSUSContent or C:\WSUS\WSUSContent)

 

5) Delete ALL the files and folders in the WSUSContent folder.

 

6) Go to Administrative Tools – Services and START the Update Services service.

 

7) Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder: C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools.

 

8) Run the command WSUSUtil.exe RESET

 

-This command tells WSUS to check each update in the database, and verify that the content is present in the WSUSContent folder. As it finds that the content is not present in the folder, it executes a BITS job to download the content from Microsoft. This process takes quite a bit of time and runs in the background.

 

Obviously takes a while as needs to download the "Needed" updates again

 

Steve

[DMcCoy]

Not so useful for an old install, but probably what happened in the beginning. Check to see how many updates are declined and approved.

 

FYI for new WSUS installs:

 

When you first install WSUS and synchronise the updates, it will download the complete list and mark all updates for download.

 

If you run the cleanup *before* approval and the files download, it will decline the superseded updates, but *only* if the updates have been in the WSUS DB for more than 30 days.

 

To get around this with a new install, you can synchronise, but not approve any updates, then run a powershell script to decline the updates early. (PowerShell Script to decline all Superseded Updates in WSUS - Sudheesh Blog on System Center....... - Site Home - TechNet Blogs)

 

After these updates are declined, you can turn on auto approval. Windows + Office 2013 will be around 30GB after this.

Edited April 12, 2016 by DMcCoy