is it safe to delete these folders??

_{Sunday, September 25, 2011 9:22 AM}

i've just uninstalled my SQL 2008 and i found these folders in the old folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server:

• 100
• 80
• MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS
• MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER

they spend much free space in my disk so I wanna delete them...but all I wonder is "SAFETY"??

i'm using VS2008 & VS2010 and used VS2005 before

i've tried deleting them and get problems with "running process..."??

can anyone tell me if i should delete them or anything include subfolders, files? cuz i must save my hard drive

all your help is appreciated...

thanks

P/S 1: i wish MS would had a tool for uninstalling SQL 2008 completely...just like the VS2010 Uninstall Utility...

P/S 2: i wonder the matter if i uninstall the "microsoft visual studio 2008 shell integrated mode enu"...i think my win7 updated but i wonder what it's used for...if not necessary, maybe uninstall it at all??

_{Sunday, September 25, 2011 9:11 PM ✅Answered}

Hello,

Don't worry about your english , it is good ( if you understand french , go to the french forums of MSDN and you will understand because i prefer to post on us forums, the posters have most of time a better english than mine and they try to write in an understandable english with less errors than i am doing). All i wanted is to know the size of the folders.

May i ask you to have a look at  folders like C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log?

You should find inside this folder , sub-folders with names like 20101010_200420  (french format for date )which represents the datetime of an install of a SQL Server install in us format 10/10/2010 08:04:20 PM ( October 10th of 2010 ), you will discover files which are not always dropped when the uninstall is finish ( i think i have seen the reasons on a SQL Server Forum but i can't remember where exactly ( in 2007 or 2008 it is far... ).

You may drop every folder with a name representing a datetime. I think that you will gain some free space. If you prefer to be cautious , suppress only the files with a txt or log extension. These files are useful to try to understand why an install has failed ( and often the MS employees are asking for them to give explanations and solutions to a failed install ).

I have done a calculus on my computer, you should gain at least 60% of the used space.

Don't hesitate to post for more help or explanations ( it is always a pleasure to try to help people who are as polite as you )

Have a nice day

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_{Tuesday, September 27, 2011 2:58 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Hi zoro11,

**>> MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS folder **
The MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS folder is default data folder to store database files for SQL Server Express instance. All the data files, log files, default backup folder, BIN folder, and so on are over to this folder.

>> folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Update Cache...
There is some information available that repair or update will use this folder. 

All of them belong to SQL Server 2008, if you don’t need to use SQL Server anymore, you can delete them at all.

Regards, Amber zhang

_{Sunday, September 25, 2011 5:48 PM}

Hello,

Please, could you explain what you call with "they spend much free space in my disk" ? I have cleaned my both SQL Server instances from all useless databases , the Microsoft SQL Server folder needs only 5 GB  , which is nearly nothing.

Please, could you provide the size of the space used by SQL Server after the uninstall ?

For both folders named MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS and MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER , they are related to the install of SQL Server Express ( with the default name SQLEXPRESS for the instance name ) and for the 2nd one to the install of a not-Express SQL Server ( maybe Developer or Evaluation edition ).

You should find a sub-folder 100\Setup Bootstrap\Log.In this sub-folder, you should find a folder for each try of install/uninstall of a SQL Server instance . These folders may be huge if the install has not been done in a siilent mode ( if you have only short logs, they are useless for specialists who would want to help you in case of errors during the install ). You should find at least  folders with names representing the datetime of the install , a classical install for SQL Server Express : 30 MB, for SQL Server Developer : 100 MB. So every time, you are trying to install a SQL Server instance, you will create a new folder with these sizes.You may empty them if you are sure that you will not need to install a new time SQL Server 2008.

You should discover a folder caller Upgrade Cache  with folders corresponding to the SP/CU or KB separately installs ( for the SP 300 MB for the Developer and 150 MB for the Express ). It is used ( i think ) for a possible uninstall and not purged when the uninstall is ended ( it is not an error from Microsoft )

You should have a look at the MSSQL\Data folders of the 2 last folders you gave. If you find files with the extensions .ldf,.mdf and .ndf, you have uninstalled your SQL Server instances without having deleted ( or detached ) your databases. It is a classical error with people using SQL Server Express editions : nobody has explained that there are cautions rules to respect even for SQL Server Express these rules are automatically applied by a DBA but how to reproach something to a beginner to which nobody has explained what to do and what not to do ? ( A remark : when you delete a database with SSMSE, the files are automatically dropped : you don't have to empty the dustbin )

You may delete these files with the .mdf,ldf,.ndf extensions;They are now useless as the databases corresponding to these files have surely not be backuped.If some backups have been done , they should stay in a folder called Backup.If you have no use with these backups and corresponding databases, delete them.

Don't hesitate to post again for more help or explanations

Have a nice day

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_{Sunday, September 25, 2011 6:28 PM}

oh i'm teribly sorry for my English...i was so confused with the sizes of those folders

• 100: 523MB
• 80: 7.58MB
• MSSQL10.SQLEXPRES: 160MB
• MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER: 583KB (very small)

all i mean is that they take ~700MB, quite large after uninstalling SQL 2008...can u tell me what to do with them, to save as much as possible?

_{Monday, September 26, 2011 8:09 AM}

ya thanks for your useful help

so can u talk 'bout the MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS and the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Update Cache... i wonder what're used for, do they belong to SQL2008 or else??or VS2010?

maybe i will no need the SQL server for a while cuz i can do assignments with MS Access & Xml...

thank u so!

_{Tuesday, September 27, 2011 4:18 AM}

2 men..

thank u very much indeed!

_{Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:24 AM}

Hello amber zhang,

Thanks for the information about the folder Setup Bootstrap\Update Cache.It is the 1st time that i get some information about it.

Have a nice day

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