I face this issue very often when the update crash in the middle due to connectivity issues and i cannot delete it from the phone or by connecting it through USB.
Even if you try to re-update the new update won't rewrite/delete the existing downloaded files but creates new.
What to do ? How to delete the failed download files that's eating up the phone storage ?
This post tries to answer these questions..
Follow these steps on your own risk, playing with registry is not good - that's what Microsoft always says
- Download and install Interop Tools
Goto Xda developer forum and download and install a suitable verson of Interop tools. This app will unlock your phone registry setting and will expose the system folders when connected to USB
- Unlock the file system
Open the application click the hamburger menu --> unlock --> Interop unlock there will be a button for Full Filesystem Access just enable it
- Delete the files in folder
After you connect your phone with USB you will be presented with two root folder Phone and sd card (if you have one). Go to the folder Phone\Data\ProgramData\SOFTWAREDISTRIBUTION\Download select all and delete as individual deleting will cause problems
Small Note:
At times you will not be able to delete files from the Phone directory saying "Cannot delete xxx: It is being used by another person or program." to resolve this download and install Unlocker you can find it in MajorGeeks.com as well in Github or from emptyloop.com
