Move WSUS to another Hard Drive is a timely, yet fun little project

First things first, let’s add another hard drive (if it’s virtualized, what you will want to do is add a Fixed disk for this, because you are using it as a database) For my scenario WSUS is for Several Hundred servers, so i will add a 300GB Fixed disk (you can add whatever size necessary for your environment)

boot up the VM/Server and make sure the Disk Mounts (if not go into server manager, format, etc)

Once created, make a new folder on the disk named “WSUS-Storage”

Before proceeding, to make life easier, go ahead and run a WSUS cleanup on your server to remove all old updates (less updates to move,the less time it will take)

from there open a handy command prompt on WSUS Server

from there change folders

cd c:/Program Files/Update Services/Tools

from there issue the following command:

wsusutil movecontent D:/WSUS-Storage D:/Move.log

wait a few minutes as your data is being moved to the new drive, make some coffee, go for a run, etc, this may take a little bit.

( right now i have 30Gb worth of storage, so it is taking some time, and I’m expecting the DB/Files to grow in the near future)

Give or take 2 hours later, you should be prompted with the following:

Content Move has successfully finished.

From there view the log to make sure all change successfully

from there what i did was browsed to C:/WSUS

in there i deleted the UpdateServicesPackages, and WsusContent (this is what’s copied to the D:/)

from there the database must be moved, if sql server 2005 managment studio is not yet installed, download and install it, we must move the WSUS internal database

Once Downloaded/Installed open the Managment console

• Server name: \.pipemssql$microsoft##sseesqlquery
• Server Type:  Database Engine
• Authentication: Windows Authentication
• options -> network protocol:  Named Pipes (if applicable)

Expand Databases and right-click on SUSDB and select Tasks > Detach… from the context menu.

Select the “Drop Connection” checkbox and click OK.

Open explorer and move the C:WSUSSUSDB folder to the <new drive>:WSUS directory.

To reattach the database, right-click on Database and select Attach… from the context menu.

On the Attach Databases page select the Add button.

Browse to the new location of the SUSDB.mdf database and select OK twice to complete the move.

from there, reboot, and then once logged back in, run the WSUS Cleanup wizard

After that you’re Done! Enjoy Free Space on your C:/