Can I delete the the folder C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\?

Question

There is a new folder full of installers located at C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\. I believe this is from visual studio 2012 RC.

Does anyone know if I can delete these GB of data without consequences. Are they are temporary files? It's a beta product so I'm not sure there is much information out there about this folder.

Answer 1

I noticed this folder after I installed Visual Studio 2012, in my case everything in it contained to the Visual Studio 2012 installation, I manually removed it and everything seems to be working including Visual Studio.

Answer 2

I've found the same folder on my laptop after installing VS2012. I tried renaming that folder to '__Package Cache'. When I then tried to uninstall VS2012 the uninstall process failed to start.

More information is available here.

Answer 3

You CAN SAFELY move this and other folders like it to another partition by creating a directory junction to it.

Junctions are recognized at the file systemlevel as an alias entry in the FSTAB. Therefore, it's transparent to all programs, including the OS itself. In other words, it is NOT seen as a file that simply points to another location (like a shortcut) and therefore always works without incident.

1. You would move the folder(s) in question to its new location

2. Create the junction

   • OPTION1 (natively): Just issue the built-in Windows Vista / 7 / 8 command and the cmd prompt: mklink /J oldpath newpath

     NOTE: If you make the newpath absolute, you'll be able to move link without breaking the pointer to the newpath. If you make the newpath relative, you'll be able prevent breaking the link, as long as you move BOTH the link and target TOGETHER and maintain their relative paths.

   • Option2 (use a tool): Another GREAT alternative is a free handy utility I've been using for years called "Link Shell Extension". LSE is free and you can find it here (or Google for it): http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

     LSE allows you to create symlinks, hardlinks, junctions, smartcopies, smartclones, smart mirrors, smart moves, splices, multiple sources, and bunch of other stuff I found to confusing to read, frankly. But, it's a brilliant free product that creates a windows explorer context menu that allows you right-click on your LINK-TARGET folder then drag it to where you'd like to create the actual link. You can of course rename the link to anything you'd like.

Answer 4

No. If you delete this folder, you won’t be able to uninstall (and possibly update) Visual Studio.

Answer 5

Its usually better not to mess up with deleting these files manually, and instead leave this task to either windows disk-cleanup, or other disk cleaning tools. The one I personally use and can recommend you is the ccleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner).

CCleaner can help you automatically find obsolete files in a program and deletes them for you.

Answer 6

All the software's installer is saving in this folder. It's failed when you try to uninstall a
software after delete the folder. Sorry for my poor English.