...it on this board :-shy .I just tried installing Service Pack 3 onto my Windows 2000 Pro system. The installer launched just fine, but when it came to the point where it would contact some M$ server to download the required files there was no response. Therefore, after waiting about ten minutes, I aborted the installation. I rebooted my computer just to be sure and tried again, with the same result. However, after the second try I noticed that there were two folders on my D: partition which had not been there before. Both had cryptic names, such as 2e10fe305d7965aae16244f436649d96, and appeared to have the same content. I don't know what the files they contain might be good for, but they sure as he11 look like back-upped Windows files from the two aborted SP3 installations. Both folders are about 6 MB in size.My question is, can I delete these two folders without having to fear for my system? I mean, after those failed SP download attempts Windows rebooted flawlessly, but I'm kind of afraid of shooting up my system :( .Any opinions will be greatly appreciated! :D

Hi Dominik,Make sure you turn off any software firewalls or real time virus scanners. I also have win2k and must turnoff the above or live updates from MS just hang. I do not know what the new files might be..... sorry.BobP :)

Bob is correct, you need to kill anything that will come between the MS server and your computer to do the upgrade. One program that will wreak havoc on autoinstallers and such is Norton's personal security program. The firewall it incorporates, along with java disabling options etc will cause some 'interesting' problems. Last week I was unable to download ANYTHING from the Avsim file library. The library and the descriptions and everything else showed up as normal, but there were no 'Download' buttons. I trashcanned the norton utility and all was normal again. MikeOcala, Florida

Well, I got all those updates downloaded with the firewall temporarily disabled, but the mysterious folders mentioned in my initial message are still there. Any idea whether it would be safe to delete them?

Sure you can delete these temporary folders without problem, I would suggest to download first the complete SP3 package (about 130Mb) and then do the installation separately, it's much safer and works 100% for me all the time, also avoid many downloads if you've more than one machine to upgrade. And of course you have the file on your machine if you need to reinstall Win2K.Patrick (EBBE)

130 megs...sorry, can't do that until I get DSL :-( . Might be some time in October, but when I do, I will certainly download the full package and burn it to CD.I already got SP3 installed anyway...so I will now take the plunge and delete the temp folders in the hope I won't kill my machine by doing so...