Moving the SMSPKGC$ share to a different drive

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The day may come when you find that you need to move the package share (SMSPKGC$) to a different drive - say from the C: drive to the D: drive, and you don't want to have to recreate any existing packages or advertisements.  Should that day come, Rob Morris wrote up some steps you can follow to get that done:

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  1. Stop SMS_Executive and SMS_SITE_COMPONENT services
  2. Open Computer Management
  3. Go to the existing SMSPKGC$ folder, which in our example is on the C drive
  4. Document the existing share and security permissions: Share = Everyone (Full) / Security (not inherited) = Administrators (Full Control), Users (Read & Execute), Guests (Read & Execute)
  5. Document the permissions of package folders and files: Administrators (Full) / Users (SiteServer\Users) - Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read
  6. Right-click the package share (SMSPKGC$) and select Stop Sharing
  7. Copy the SMSPKGC$ folder to the new drive, which in our example is the D drive
  8. Recreate the permissions as they existed in steps 4 and 5 above
  9. Rename C:\SMSPKGC$ to C:\SMSPKGC$-OLD
  10. Highlight D:\SMSPKGC$, right-click and select Sharing and Security.
  11. Select Share this folder - Keep share name (SMSPKGC$)
  12. Select Permissions and give "Everyone" Full Control of the share.
  13. Go to the Security Tab and verify that the permissions are the same as what was recorded in step 4.
  14. Go to the new package folder and verify that the permissions on the folder and files are the same as what was recorded in step 5
  15. Restart the SMS_Executive and SMS_SITE_COMPONENT services

That's it!

Note that the permissions outlined above were the permissions in my test environment, so those in your environment may be different. It is also recommended that the D: have more free disk space than C: at all times. Another option would be to place the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file on the C: drive to prevent SMS from placing any components on that drive in the future. 

References:

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Thanks Rob!

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer