Increasing System State backup performance

Problem

Some Microsoft server Operating Systems have shown that the Windows Update process will leave an excessive number of files after completion.  This large number of files and directories, coupled with the method used for building the System State file list for backup, may cause the System State backups to perform poorly in Backup Exec.  These files comprise the downloaded file packages that were used in applying the updates and Microsoft has confirmed that the files are not necessary for server protection/restore.   The steps below will relocate and rename a major download file location folder so that the backup file list can be built and backed up much more efficiently.

Solution

WORKAROUND:

These workarounds have been approved by Microsoft for this issue. Rename the two folders DataStore and Download which are inside the SoftwareDistribution folder or rename the complete SoftwareDistribution folder. 

Stop the below services from an administrator command line:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver

Note: The following message stopping the service may be recived if the service does not exist or already stopped: "service is not started. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521".

Method 1:

Rename C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore  to  DataStoreOffline
Rename C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download  to  DownloadOffline
Move  the  SoftwareDistributionOffline and DownloadOffline folders to C:\TEMP or to another drive/folder location outside of C:\Windows directory.

Method 2:

Rename C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution to SoftwareDistributionOffline 
Move  the  SoftwareDistributionOffline  folder to C:\TEMP or to another drive/folder location outside of C:\Windows directory.

Start the below services from an administrator command line:

net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
 

Perform a System State or Server Backup.

These are two of the solutions mentioned in the Microsoft Article Windows Update - additional resources to clean up/re-create the SoftwareDistribution folder, which will increase the performance. If the above method does not resolve the issue, please contact Microsoft Support.

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