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Working on a vendor built system, we've realized that OS partition (C:) they created was rather small (38 GB). The object is to update Windows 2008 R2 to SP1. Several sources state that 8 GB is needed during the install process which includes extracted temporary files. I managed to clear up to 4.6 GB of space on the partition, but still is not cutting it.

Another partition exists on the volume that has sufficient space on the same system, but experience has shown me that these installers like to exctract to C:\temp (or some other variant). My questions are:

  • Does the service pack installer use environments variables to extract temporary files (%TEMP%)?
  • Is 4.6 GB enough space for a post SP1 install if the temporary files are routable?
  • Are there any installer switches other than what's shown on TechNet that could assist in this issue?

As a side, I have tried other options like shrinking the bigger, application partition (D:), but that only alots space AFTER that partition which keeps the OS partition from being able to take advantage of the freed up space on the volume. Also, I am not currently at the station to try this, but it would be nice to know if this worth trying before hand. Thanks!

Chad Harrison
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    It's not a true fix, but you can remove the `C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution` folder before install if that garners you the space you need. Better to expand the C partition to a decent size like 120GB or greater if possible (possibly following the comments reply here:http://blogs.technet.com/b/mghazai/archive/2009/02/24/extend-system-boot-volume-on-windows-server-2008-windows-vista-win7-beta.aspx or using a 3rd party partition tool) – TheCleaner Aug 28 '13 at 16:19
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    You can use the junction resource kit utility to move some of your directories to another location. Not a great fix but has gotten me out of a bind in the past. – TheFiddlerWins Aug 28 '13 at 16:21
  • @TheCleaner Thx! I forgot that could be done. Every little bit helps. – Chad Harrison Aug 28 '13 at 16:30
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    You may be able to resize the partitions by using a third-party partitioning tool such as GParted ( http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ ). These tools will allow moving the beginning of the second partition so you can expand the first one contiguously. – Jonathan J Aug 28 '13 at 20:17

1 Answers1

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Two things:

  1. I believe the SP installer will extract the files to a volume that has room for them, so if you have another volume with sufficient free space the installer should extract the files there.

  2. You can manually extract the SP files to another volume and then install the SP from there.

joeqwerty
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