VDF Files in Temp folder

[gkurr]

I am a new user of Veeam Backup (using it for a month). I am running it on a Windows Server 2012 machine. I noticed in my TEMP folder in the Windows folder there are thousands of *.vdf files (noted as Veeam Update Definition Files). Can I get rid of the these files? Perhaps they are the result of a failed backup...

[HannesK]

Hello,
and welcome to the forums.

Which temp folder is it? In general, everything that is from Veeam in a temp folder can be deleted. While that might be Veeam files, I would not bet on that. Otherwise, there would be more forum questions around that

Best regards,
Hannes

[gkurr]

C:\Windows\Temp.

They have file names like:

93484227.vdf
95247468.vdf
7340817.vdf

[gkurr]

Now that I look at this I have a feeling that despite the fact that the description is "Veeam Update Definition Files" that is probably not what they are. I'm thinking this has nothing to do with Veeam.

[HannesK]

Hello,
veeam VDF files can be opened with any text editor. It's an XML file. That should clarify that.

I don't see any vdf files in my environment. So I tend to agree, that it's not Veeam related.

Best regards,
Hannes

[troubleshootin]

Sorry to bump this positively ancient thread, but I encountered this same issue on one of our user's machines and managed to determine the cause after extensive troubleshooting. Figured I'd sign up and post what I found out so anyone else who encounters this strange issue will have an easier time fixing it.

TL;DR: It was not Veeam-related at all, despite the .VDF file extension. In reality the files were put there by an HP Printer driver, which also uses the VDF file extension. My user didn't have that printer anymore, so I just uninstalled the driver that was causing the issue and they were good to go.

Similar to OP, the Windows temp folder was absolutely FULL of .VDF files. There were literally hundreds of thousands of them, a few hundred gigabytes in total. I deleted them all but the folder began filling up again. I initially thought it was Veeam due to the file extension association, but uninstalling Veeam did nothing to stop the files from appearing. I checked which processes had open file handlers and it turned out to be a printer-related one (the print spooler or something similar).

I also tried to see what the contents of the .VDF files were--as mentioned above by HannesK, Veeam VDF files are really just XML files that can be opened in any text editor. The VDF files I had were not though, which was another clue that they were from another piece of software. They ended up being SQLite Databases instead, and I opened one and found information pertaining to HP Printers inside. I was able to determine that a specific HP Printer driver used the same VDF file extension as Veeam. After uninstalling the driver and removing it from Windows Print Management the issue stopped. Veeam was entirely unrelated to the problem.

All in all, it was a wild goose chase. Hope this helps prevent anyone encountering the same issue from having to go through as much trouble!