I've never had a problem deleting the contents of this folder, but I just realized that the disk cleanup wizard, even if I set it to delete Windows Update files, doesn't touch it. Which makes me think ...

Go through the following solutions to fix the 0x8024001D Windows Update or Microsoft Store error. Rename the Software Distribution folder Reset the Windows Update ...

There may be times when your Windows Update may give you problems on your Windows 11/10 computer. You may even see Pending Windows Updates which refuse to install for ...

Won't even need to stop the service, as long as you don't plan on removing those updates, then there is no harm in deleting the SoftwareUpdates folder.