How to reduce the size of your winsxs folder on windows 7 or 8

In this tutorial, I ‘ll show to you how to reduce the size of the WinSXS folder in Windows 10/8 & 7 OS. The WinSxS folder (C:\Windows\WinSxS), is the location of the Component Store which used for Windows customization and updating.

For that reason, the WinSxS folder is an very important system folder and cannot be deleted, because it is used by Windows for several reasons. (e.g. when installing a Windows Update, when enabling or disabling a Windows feature, when uninstalling a problematic update, etc.)

Over time, the WinSxS folder may become big in size and this is happening because after installing an updated component, Windows still keeps the old version of the component for safety reasons and doesn’t remove it. At least that was happening on Windows 7 & Vista OS.

Starting with Windows 8 (and then in Windows 10), Microsoft has added a scheduled task to automatically remove the old version of the updated component, after 30 days have passed since – the updated component – was installed.

In this tutorial, I ‘ll show to you how to delete the contents of the WinSXS folder in Windows 10/8 & 7 OS.

How to Clean UP the WinSXS Folder.

Method 1. Cleanup WinSXS folder with the Task Scheduler (Windows 10, 8)

Method 2. Cleanup WinSXS folder with the DISM tool (Windows 10, 8)

Method 3. Cleanup WinSXS folder with DISK CLEANUP tool (Windows 10, 8 & 7)

Method 1. How to Clean WinSXS folder by using the Task Scheduler in Windows 10, 8 & 8.1)

As I said above, in Windows 10 and in Windows 8 the WinSXS folder is scheduled to be cleaned automatically after 30 days of the installation of any Windows component. If you want to start the WinSXS cleanup process manually in Windows 10/8:

1. At the search box, type: task scheduler
2. Open Task scheduler

3. In Task Scheduler navigate from the left pane to:

• Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing

4. Then right click at the StartComponentCleanup task on the right pane and choose Run.

5. The cleanup process takes time until complete. So, wait and continue your work.

Method 2. How to Clean WinSXS folder by using the DISM tool in Windows 10, 8 & 8.1

The second method to reduce the size of the WinSXS folder is to clean the old versions of the Windows components by using the DISM command line tool. To do that:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator. To do that:

a. In the Search box type: cmd (or command prompt).
b. Right click on the command prompt (result) and select Run as Administrator.

2. Inside the command prompt window, give the following command

• DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

3. When the process is completed, restart your computer.

Method 3. How to Clean WinSXS folder by using the DISK CLEANUP in Windows 10/8/7.

1. In Windows Explorer right click at “Local Disk disk (C:)” and select Properties.
2. Click the Disk Cleanup button.

3. At “Disk Cleanup” window, click Clean up system files.

4. Check the Windows Update Cleanup checkbox and click OK. *

* Note for Windows 7 users : If you don’t see the ‘Windows Update Cleanup’ option, then download and install the update KB2852386 from the link below:

5. When the Disk Cleanup operation finishes, reboot your computer to reconfigure Windows updates and complete the cleanup.

That’s it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

A great way to save lots of space

In Windows 7 and Windows 8/10, there is a new folder under C:\Windows called WinSxS, which basically stores dll and component files. It also stores older versions of all dll and component files and can grow to be quite large. In addition to that, a lot of space is taken up by the backup folder, which gets really big after you install a Service Pack, like SP 1 for Windows 7.

Here’s the size of my WinSxS folder on Windows 7:

And here’s the size of the WinSxS folder on Windows 8/10:

That’s a lot of space, especially for fresh installs of both operating systems! Once you install more Windows updates or any service pack, it’ll shoot up a few more GBs. Unfortunately, this is a super core set of files for Windows, so you never want to try to delete anything yourself. You can, however, save a little space.

The first thing you can do is reduce the size of the backup folder by running the following command (Start, type CMD):

If any service pack backup files were found, it will automatically clean them up. In my case, I didn’t install SP1, so there was nothing to remove and hence I didn’t save any space. You can do that on Windows 7 with SP1 and on Windows Vista SP1, you can do the same thing using a different tool. Basically, it removes all the older files, but makes the service pack unremovable.

The file is called VSP1CLN.EXE for Windows Vista SP1 and it’s called COMPCLN.EXE for Windows Vista SP2. You can run these by clicking on Start and then typing in Run. When the Run dialog appears, just type in the commands.

There is also another way to remove the backup files for SP1 in Windows 7 and make it permanent. Simply open up the Disk Cleanup utility, click on Clean Up System Files and then check the Service Pack Backup Files box. Also, be sure to check Windows Update Cleanup and Previous Windows installations if those options are present. The latter one will reduce the size of the entire Windows folder significantly.

So again to reiterate, in Vista you have to use VSP1CLN and COMPCLN and for Windows 7 you use the DISM command. Using any of these will make the service pack permanent. Other people have mentioned compressing the backup folder inside the WinSxS folder, but that’s probably not a good idea. Doing anything else will reduce the reliability of your system.

You can also run two other commands that will clear out older or out-dated components. Basically, once you run these commands, you won’t be able to uninstall any installed updates or service packs, so keep that in mind.

Remove Windows Features

In Windows 8/10, there are some nice new features added to the DISM command. You can now remove packages that you no longer want need or want. You can use the commands like below or you can simply use the Add and remove Windows features option, which gives you a nice GUI. This is the command:

So how do you know what features you can disable? Well, you can run the following command to see all the available features:

Now that you have the list, you can disable a feature like SimpleTCP shown below:

Pretty neat eh!? So that can save you a lot of space in Windows 8/10 if you plan on not using a lot of advanced features that are built-in by default. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

This topic is about the different ways to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder on a running Windows 10, or later, installation.

Don’t delete the WinSxS folder, you can instead reduce the size of the WinSxS folder using tools built into Windows. For more information about the WinSxS folder, see Manage the Component Store.

The operating system automatically reduces the size of the WinSxS folder by using methods similar to the ones described in this topic. Windows also uses internal processes to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder, such as uninstalling and deleting packages with components that have been replaced by other components with newer versions. Previous versions of some components are kept on the system for a period of time, allowing you to rollback if necessary. After a period of time, these older components are automatically removed from the installation.

You can also reduce the size of a Windows image using some of the same techniques, as discussed in Reduce the Size of the Component Store in an Offline Windows Image.

To learn about finding the size of your WinSxS folder, see Determine the actual size of the WinSxS folder.

Deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder may severely damage your system so that your PC might not boot and make it impossible to update.

В You have a number of ways to start the cleanup of the component store, which use a combination of package deletion and component compression to clean up the WinSxS folder:

Task Scheduler

The StartComponentCleanup task automatically cleans up components when the system isn’t in use. When run automatically, the task will wait at least 30 days after an updated component has been installed before uninstalling the previous versions of the component.

If you choose to run this task, the task will have a 1 hour timeout and may not completely clean up all files.

Run the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler to clean up and compress components

If Task Scheduler is not open, start the Task Scheduler. For more information, see Start Task Scheduler.

Expand the console tree and navigate to Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup.

Under Selected Item, click Run

The StartComponentCleanup task can also be started from the command line.

Dism.exe

The /Cleanup-Image parameter of Dism.exe provides advanced users more options to further reduce the size of the WinSxS folder. For more information, see DISM Operating System Package Servicing Command-Line Options.

Use the /StartComponentCleanup parameter

Using the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of WindowsВ 10 or later gives you similar results to running the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler, except previous versions of updated components will be immediately deleted (without a 30 day grace period) and you will not have a 1-hour timeout limitation.

From an elevated command prompt, run:

Use the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter

Using the /ResetBase parameter together with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of DISM.exe on a running version of WindowsВ 10 or later removes all superseded versions of every component in the component store.

From an elevated command prompt, run:

All existing update packages can’t be uninstalled after this command is completed, but this won’t block the uninstallation of future update packages.

Use the /SPSuperseded parameter

To reduce the amount of space used by a Service Pack, use the /SPSuperseded parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of Windows to remove any backup components needed for uninstallation of the service pack. A service pack is a collection of cumulative updates for a particular release of Windows.

From an elevated command prompt, run:

The service pack cannot be uninstalled after this command is completed. В

Disk Cleanup

You can use Disk Cleanup to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drives, which can help your PC run faster. It can delete temporary files and system files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove a variety of other items that you might no longer need. The option to cleanup updates helps reduce the size of the component store.

#1 green_orange

I have had my windows 7 64-bit installation for a while now, and I have a problem, that is the winsxs folder is taking up alot of space in my system partition

Here is a picture:

Detailed info:

I tried to solve the problem (some time ago) by deleting the folder but I was afraid of messing my system, so I cut the folder to some other directory and restarted.

Got a BSOD when windows loaded

Fortuantely, I was able to boot into a live linux distro through USB and return the folder to its place. My Windows was up and running again

Now I googled a bit to find that Microsoft issued an update that adds “Windows UPdates cleanup” to the “disk cleanup” tool.

Tried to install that x64 update. It told me that I already had it installed. (cuz i’m regularly using Windows updates ).

But still, I wasn’t getting “Windows Updates cleanup” in the “disk cleanup” tool

I tried something today.. I check for updates in “Windows Update”, and I found a bunch of em, so I downloaded and installed them all. After I restarted the PC, I started “disk cleanup” tool on the C:/ drive. I was surprised to find “Windows Updates Cleanup” in the list It was about 260 MB (I think it is for the bunch of the updates before the restart).

Now I’m confused and don’t know what to do to regain some space taken by the “winsxs folder”.

By Melanie Pinola published 23 April 16

Windows uses a system folder called WinSxS to store files that are needed for your Windows installation, as well as backups or updates to those files. It’s a space hog, however, taking up several gigabytes of space and growing with each Windows Update you perform. Use the steps below to clean up unnecessary files in that WinSxS folder and reclaim valuable hard drive space.

You can’t just delete everything in the WinSxS folder, because some of those files are needed for Windows to run and update reliably. However, with Windows 7 and above you can use the built-in Disk Cleanup tool to delete older versions of Windows updates you no longer need. With Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you can use the Command Prompt to clean up the WinSxS folder as well.

Use Disk Cleanup to Delete Old Updates From the SxS Folder

1. Open the Disk Cleanup tool. You can do this by typing “disk cleanup” in the taskbar and clicking “Disk Cleanup”

2. Click the “Cleanup system files” button.

3. Check the box next to “Windows Update Cleanup.”

4. Click OK.

Note that if you don’t see the Windows Update Cleanup option in Disk Cleanup, that means there aren’t any files that can be safely deleted.

Use the Command Prompt to Clean Up the SxS Folder

If you want a more thorough view of how much space the SxS folder is taking up and the option to clean up unneeded files, use the Command Prompt.

1. Launch the command prompt with admin priviledges. You can do this by right-clicking on the Windows icon in the taskbar and click “Command Prompt (Admin).”

2. Enter the command: Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

It could take a few minutes for the DISM tool to analyze the folder. When it’s done, you’ll see size details of the components in the WinSxS folder and, at the bottom, a recommendation to clean it up or not.

3. If recommended, clean up the folder using this command in the Command Prompt: Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

There’s another command you can use to uninstall Windows updates and service packs, which saves more space, but we don’t recommend you do that, because you won’t be able to uninstall any current service updates or service packs after performing this. The command is Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

The cleanup might take some time, depending on your system and how much you’re deleting, but that extra space will be worth it.

The component store (WinSxS folder) contains components that make-up Windows and allow you operate your system. These components are kept in this folder in case you need to rollback changes or repair corrupted files.

Files in this folder might appear to be stored in more than one place in the operating system, but there’s usually only one copy of the file and the rest of the copies are actually hard links. Some tools, such as the File Explorer, determine the size of directories without taking into account that the contained files might be hard linked, which might lead you to think that the WinSxS folder takes up more disk space than it really does.

DISM includes functionality that can determine how much disk space the WinSxS folder really uses.

Some important system files are located only in the WinSxS folder. Deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder might severely damage your system, so that your PC might not boot, and make it impossible to update.

• For more information about the component store, see Manage the Component Store.
• For information on how to delete files in the WinSxS folder, see Clean Up the WinSxS Folder.

Determine the true the size of the component store

DISM includes functionality that can determine the actual size of the WinSxS folder.

Analyze the component store

Open a Command prompt as administrator and use DISM with the /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentstore options:

Here’s the information that’s available in the output:

Find the size

Based on the output from when you ran Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore , you can determine the overhead of the WinSxS folder by taking the sum of the backups and disabled features size with the cache and temporary data size.

In this example, the WinSxS folder appears to be 4.98 GB, but the actual overhead (the sum of the size of backups and disabled features and the size of cache and temporary data) is 507.18 MB.

If cleanup is recommended then follow steps in Clean Up the WinSxS Folder.

Table of Contents

Can I delete WinSxS folder Windows 8?

Y ou can’t just delete everything in the WinSxS folder, because some of those files are needed for Windows to run and update reliably. With Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, you can use the Command Prompt to clean up the WinSxS folder as well.

How do I reduce the size of WinSxS in Windows 8?

Reduce WinSXS Folder Size in Windows 8/8.1

1. Uninstall components before the 30 day window is up: DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup.
2. Remove files to uninstall service packs: DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /SPSuperseded.
3. Removes old versions of all components:

What happens if I delete WinSxS?

Deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder may severely damage your system so that your PC might not boot and make it impossible to update.

Can I delete Windows SXS?

By cleaning up the WinSxS folder, you can get rid of unneeded files. However, it’s important that you do not manually delete any content from the WinSxS folder. You should always use Windows tools to delete these files. If major updates have been installed recently, you should avoid deleting these files altogether.

Why is WinSXS so big?

Why the WinSXS Folder Gets too Big The WinSXS folder contains every operating system file. When Windows installs updates, it drops the new Windows component in the WinSXS folder and keeps the old component in the WinSXS folder. This means that every Windows Update you install increases the size of your WinSXS folder.

What does dism online cleanup image Restorehealth do?

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth” is a Dism command that runs a scan for corruption and repairs problems that it finds with the operating system you are logged into.

How do I stop WinSXS from growing?

How to reduce size of WinSxS folder using Storage sense

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Storage.
4. Under the “Local Disk” section, click the Temporary files item.
5. Clear the default selection.
6. Check the Windows Update Cleanup option.
7. Click the Remove files option.

How do I clean up WinSXS?

To clean up the WinSxS folder with Storage sense, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Storage.
4. Under the “Local Disk” section, click the Temporary files item.
5. Clear the default selection.
6. Check the Windows Update Cleanup option.
7. Click the Remove files option.

What is SXS folder?

WinSxS is a Windows system folder that stores files necessary to recover your system. System updates can be downloaded onto your system then stored in your WinSxS folder. Your WinSxS folder is valuable, and it must be evaluated and cleaned up regularly.

How do I clean up my SXS folder?

Can AppData be deleted?

Yes, you can because some of those old files can become corrupt. So if you delete the entire folder nothing bad will happen. All of the ones that you need, the programs will create new ones.

How do I clean up WinSxS?

How to delete WinSxS folder in Windows 10/8/7?

You can’t directly delete WinSxS folder to free up disk space because some of the WinSxS files are important for Windows to run and update. However, you do have some feasible ways to perform the WinSxS folder cleanup on Windows 10/8/7 to reduce the size of WinSxS folder, so as to free up more disk space for your computer hard drive.

How do I get the current size of the WinSxS folder?

The easiest way to get the current size of the WinSxS folder on Windows is to open the properties of the %windir%\\WinSxS folder in File Explorer (or use a PowerShell script ). But keep in mind that most file managers (including File Explorer) show a slightly larger WinSxS folder size than it takes on disk.

Is WinSxS still available in Windows 10?

It is present in Windows 10, as well. In Windows 10/8.1/8, open Disk Cleanup Tool and use the Windows Update Cleanup option to clean the WinSxS. For Windows 7, Microsoft released an update that added the Windows Update Cleanup option to the Disk Cleanup tool.

What is the difference between Windows native Assembly Cache and WinSxS?

These are actually, different versions of the same files which are being stored; as different programs may require different versions. Winsxs, which stands for ‘Windows Side By Side’, is Windows native assembly cache. Libraries that are being by multiple applications are stored there.

What is the WinSxS folder in Windows? What does it do?

WinSxS stands for Windows Side-By-Side. The WinSxS folder in Windows stores backups copies of Windows System files. The files stored in this folder are used by the third party programs as well as by Windows for the proper functioning of various programs and Windows.

How Software use WinSxS

The WinSxS folder stores different copies of Windows DLL files for compatibility purposes. Different programs may require different versions of Windows DLL files to run. If a program is compatible with only the older version of a specific DLL file then the absence of that version of DLL file will cause that program to crash.

How Windows uses WinSxS

The WinSxS folder serves as a backup location for Windows system files. Apart from the third-party programs, the files stored in the WinSxS folder are used by Windows as well for various repair and recovery tasks. For example, the System File Checker (SFC) tool in Windows scans and checks all of the protected Windows System files for errors, and replaces the corrupt files with the cached copy of Windows files located in the WinSxS directory.

WinSxS location – C:\Windows\WinSxS

How to Reduce the Size of the WinSxS folder in Windows?

You should never delete anything from the Windows directory, and WinSxS is not an exception. Deleting this folder can render your system unbootable. The safe way to delete files from the WinSxS folder is by using the Disk Cleanup tool. Here’s how to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder.

Step 1: Type disk cleanup in the Windows Search to open the Disk Cleanup utility.

Step 2: In the Disk Cleanup window, click on the OK button to start the disk cleaning operation.

Step 3: In the cleanup results window, click on the Clean up system files button.

Step 4: Disk Cleanup starts again, this time it scans for System files as well.

Step 5: It may take a couple of minutes this time.

Step 6: Under the Files to delete: section, tick the Windows Update Cleanup checkbox.

Step 7: Click OK to clean up system files safely.

If you came to this post is a sign that you are overwhelmed by the size of the folder “winsxs” in your installation directory for Windows. This folder is really great, but it has an explanation for this. Article in EnglishThe Secret Of Windows 7 WinSxS Folder the author explains why this folder is very large and, in the course of time, always increases more.

Summarizing, a pasta “winsxs” is an abbreviation for Windows Side By Side, translating something like that is Windows Lado-a-Lado, which is a great name for that function. This folder stores multiple versions of multiple files, just to maintain compatibility between different programs.

Imagine an X program, that depends on a specific version of a DLL and another program Y, it depends on the same DLL, only in a newer version. Answering the two programs? Simple, storing the two versions of the same DLL. That’s how this folder works and that is why it grows in size with time.

But there is a way to reduce the size of winsxs folder. I got this tip in another post, also in English, TitleHow to cleanup the winsxs folder on Windows 7 (SP1)/ Windows 2008 / Windows 2008 R2 (SP1).

First of all, Start the command prompt as administrator. Go to start menu -> in the search bar, digite CMD -> Right click on the result “cmd.exe” -> and then click “Run as Administrator”.

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At the prompt screen, type the following command and press “enter”:

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

Wait for a while because it takes. The screen below should appear when it is finished.

After this step has been completed, also run the commands below:

• Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*
• Icacls %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\* /GRANT administrators:F
• Del /q %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*

Soon, now you can see that the size of the winsxs folder was reduced.

In my case, as you may notice in the pictures below, my folder had a reduction 33,6%, falling from 12.5 GB to 8.3 GB, a gain of 4.2 GB of disk space!! Wow!

Before

After

Published by Jeroen Tielen on July 18, 2011

In this blogpost I will describe how to reduce the WinSxS folder in the Windows folder after installing SP1. All superseded files are removed. And you cannot uninstall SP1 anymore. To know what the WinSxS folder is, read this blogpost of Joseph Conway.

First off all, how big is my WinSxS folder? Right click on it says around 9GB.

But it contains hardlinks, so how big is it for real?? Download ctTrueSize. Run: ctts C:\Windows\WinSxS

9,35GB – 1,04GB = 8,30GB

So what’s the deal with that size?? Nothing Just fun to know. Oke run an elevated command prompt. And within that the following command: DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded

Now how big is the WinSxS folder?? Around 6GB

And without the hardlinks??

6,25GB – 133MB = 6,12GB

Before 8,30GB – After 6,12GB = 2,18GB Reduced.

With a normal HDD is not that important, but all free space extra is welcome on my SSD

By Vladan SEGET | Last Updated: July 3, 2014

With the time and new patches installed to Windows installations, the Windows WinSxS folder present since W7, W2008, W8 and in W8.1 gets more and more “fat” and takes valuable space. I’ve previously reported on easy way to shrink that winsxs folder in Windows 7 by installing a patch which adds a new function to the default Windows cleaning wizard and allows to select Windows unused patches left behind taking valuable space. The details can be found in this post. Today I’ll show 3 Ways To Shrink WinSXS Folder.

Some of the commands works in W8.1 but not W8.0. Same for 2012R2 (W2012). Let’s start with the easy way by going through the cleaning assistant (is also present if you add “Desktop Experience” feature on 2008R2 and W2012, W2012R2) then through one tweak and finish with some CLI commands.

01. The Disk Cleanup Wizard

Well, if you’re running W 7 SP1 (or W8.x) with the patch I talked in my previous post, then it’s no brainer. It’s an effective way to select the unnecessary patches and clean all bunch of other stuff from within the guest OS. It’s also useful to do that just before you Image the system or just before you transform the VM into the template.

The wizard’s screen:

An update for 2008R2 systems listed in KB article KB2852386, allows using the same wizard in 2008R2, but you need to add “Desktop experience” feature. You can download the update for Windows 2008 R2 from here.

On a Windows Server 2012 R2 the same punition – after you install Desktop Experience feature only.

Note that there is also another method which avoids installing the desktop experience feature to your windows system, but it’s unsupported by Microsoft. It consists of copying in the appropriate Disk Cleanup/CleanMgr files into the appropriate location can be done, but at your own risk.

02. Some ClI commands with DISM.exe

First, determine the size of the component store (winsxs) on Windows Server 2012 R2:

Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Running this command analyzes the component store to shows the size and gives an advice if cleanup is recommended.

If yes, then execute this command:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

What it does? It removes previous versions of the files updated by Windows Updates.

03.Use the “ResetBase” parameter of Dism.exe

Using the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of DISM.exe on a running version of Windows 8.1 removes all superseded versions of every component in the component store.

From an elevated command prompt, type the following:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

But this will makes impossible to uninstall any existing updates and service packs! (so caution). Make sure that you don’t need to uninstall any patches past this point… This command works on W8.1 and W2012R2 only.

You can see only slight improvements on my laptop as I executed this command already in the past….

If you have previously installed a Service Pack to your system, then you can use another command which cleans up the backup files created before installing this SP.

dism /online /cleanup-image /SPSuperseded

Additional ways of cleaning the default C: drive in general:

• Move the paging file to another volume on the system.
• Disable hibernation on the system (saves some Gb of space depending on how much RAM the system has).
• Use the dedicated dump file option to capture memory dump files on another volume on the system.
• Offload user profile and program file directories to another volume on the system.
• Delete all but last restore point OR, completely disable system restore points.

You can also uninstall some software > add an additional hard drive > format and add a drive letter > reinstall the software on that drive.

The problem with “fat” WinSxS folder is that especially on systems with 1st or 2nd generation SSD drives which provided less capacity than today’s modern SSDs which offers at least 256Gb. So getting some space back is always good -:). Hope it helps.

This is just a log of things that I learned and thought were important enough to write down :)!

SSDs are pretty common these days, which means that there is a limited amount of space for the OS. I was running on about 1.29GB free on my C: drive when I started searching to find out what was taking up all the space. It turns out the C:\Windows\winsxs folder is HUGE!! After running this script I now have 6.04GB free and I don’t see any speed implications :D!

My father actually passed on some info he found online about how to fix up the winsxs folder and I made it into a script that you can run on Windows 7 if you need too!

So here’s the script, I can’t guarantee that it will work AND I can’t guarantee that it won’t break your computer – so don’t hold me responsible if it does :D!! I would make a backup of the OS first then run this if I were you (who ever you are!) ;)!!

If the link is broken then paste this into a text file and rename it to [whatever name you want].bat and run it :)!

@echo off
echo This batch file will clean and compress the winsxs folder
echo Created by Kerren

C:
cd C:\Windows\Winsxs
Net stop trustedinstaller
echo If trustedinstaller FAILED to end then restart your computer, DO NOT CONTINUE!
PAUSE
Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*
Del /q %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\*
Icacls %windir%\winsxs\ManifestCache\* /GRANT administrators:F
dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

:getConfirmation
set /p confirmSP1=Do you have service pack 1 [y/n]?:
if %confirmSP1%==n goto :noSP1
echo vsp1cln is not implemented in this script yet, please enter it in cmd yourself if it exists!
goto :SP1

:noSP1
echo Skipping vsp1cln

:SP1
echo The Winsxs folder will now be compressed.
PAUSE

sc stop msiserver
sc stop TrustedInstaller
sc config msiserver start= disabled
sc config TrustedInstaller start= disabled
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /save “%WINDIR%\WinSxS.acl” /t
takeown /f “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /r
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /grant “%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%”:(F) /t
compact /s:”%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /c /a /i *
icacls “%WINDIR%\WinSxS” /setowner “NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller” /t
icacls “%WINDIR%” /restore “%WINDIR%\WinSxS.acl”
sc config msiserver start= demand
sc config TrustedInstaller start= demand

echo The system will now restart, please save all documents before continuing!
PAUSE
shutdown -r -t 01

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Reduce the size of the WinSxS folder with vsp1cln.exe and compcln.exe

Reduce the size of the WinSxS folder with vsp1cln.exe and compcln.exe

Deleting files from the Windows Side-by-side (WinSxS) folder is a bad idea. But, you can shrink the WinSxS folder with vsp1cln.exe and compcln.exe.

In last week’s TR Dojo Challenge question, I asked TechRepublic members how do you safely reduce the size of the WinSxS folder. Before we get to the solution, let’s get a little background on the Windows Side-by-side (WinSxS) folder.

Understanding Windows Side-by-side assemblies and the WinSxS folder

In an effort to combat the dynamically linked library (DLL) problems that plagued Windows 9x, Microsoft introduced the concept of Side-by-side (SxS) assemblies in Windows XP. DLL hell, as these problems were often referred to, occurred when multiple applications (let’s say App. 1 and App. 2) relied on a single .DLL file. If App. 1 updated the .DLL file to a new version, but App. 2 still needed the old version, App. 2 might no longer work.

.LOCAL isolation and WinSxS in Windows XP

Prior to Windows XP (but also supported by XP), developers could use a process called .LOCAL isolation to prevent DLL conflicts. In a nut shell, .LOCAL isolation meant that applications would first look in the application directory for all the associated .DLL, .OCX, and .EXE files. If Windows didn’t find the required file in the application directory, it would look for the file in other locations, such as the System32 directory. .LOCAL isolation could reduce DLL conflicts, but wasn’t without drawbacks. First, installing multiple copies of the same shared .DLL file wastes disk space. Second, if a security vulnerability was discovered in a specific .DLL file, you would need to update every copy of that file, instead of just a single shared file. Windows Side-by-side was designed to address these problems.

When Windows XP was released, many developers were still supporting applications that had to run on previous Windows versions. It took several years, and the proliferation of Windows XP, for most developers to embrace the new methodology. On Windows XP machines, the WinSxS folder is only created if the user installs an application that uses it.

WinSxS in Windows Vista and beyond

With the release of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and now Windows 7, Microsoft significantly expanded the role of the WinSxS folder. Unfortunately, Microsoft seems to provide two different descriptions of the WinSxS folder.

In a September 17, 2008 post on Microsoft’s Ask the Core Team TechNet blog, Joseph Conway, Senior Support Escalation Engineer, described the WinSxS folder thusly:

“All of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder – in fact we call this location the component store. Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. The WinSxS folder is the only location that the component is found on the system, all other instances of the files that you see on the system are “projected” by hard linking from the component store. Let me repeat that last point – there is only one instance (or full data copy) of each version of each file in the OS, and that instance is located in the WinSxS folder. “

Yet in a November 29, 2008 post on Microsoft’s MSDN blog, Michael Beck gave the following definition:

“In practice, nearly every file in the WinSxS directory is a “hard link” to the physical files elsewhere on the system-meaning that the files are not actually in this directory. For instance in the WinSxS there might be a file called advapi32.dll that takes up >700K however what’s being reported is a hard link to the actual file that lives in the Windows\System32, and it will be counted twice (or more) when simply looking at the individual directories from Windows Explorer.”

Taking his explanation a step further, Beck explains that because of this hard linking, Windows Explorer may misreport the actual size of the WinSxS folder. According to Beck:

“The Windows SxS directory represents the “installation and servicing state” of all system components. But in reality it doesn’t actually consume as much disk space as it appears when using the built-in tools (DIR and Explorer) to measure disk space used. “

These descriptions seem to contradict each other. Conway asserts that the WinSxS folder is THE storage location for the files that Explorer reports it contains, which are then projected onto other locations. Beck seems to describe the WinSxS folder as containing mostly links (which Explorer treats as files) to physical files that actually exist in other directories. Luckily, this dichotomy has no impact on our efforts to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder.

Reducing the size of WinSxS

Regardless of whether the WinSxS directory is the physical repository for the actual component files or a collection of hard links to files stored across the drive, manually deleting files from this folder is a bad idea. Doing so could prevent applications from running and make the system unstable. So how do we reduce the size of the WinSxS folder–either as perceived by Explore or in actuality? There are three ways:

1. Uninstall applications (possible)
2. Use the vsp1cln.exe tool after installing Windows Vista SP1
3. Use the compcln.exe tool after installing Windows Vista SP2

Uninstalling applications

Of the three methods I describe, I am least certain that this one will work. According to posts on Microsoft forums and around the Web, Windows Vista and later versions contain a “self scavenging” feature that will delete files from the WinSxS folder as they are replaced by newer versions or are no longer used. However, I have read just as many reports of the WinSxS folder remaining the same size even after users uninstalled applications or components. You’ll just have to take your chances with this method.

Use vsp1cln.exe to clean up after Windows Vista SP1

One method that does seem to work is removing the redundant files left over after installing Windows Vista SP1. Thankfully, Microsoft provides the Windows Vista SP1 Files Removal Tool (vsp1cln.exe), which does just that. The tool is automatically installed as part of the SP1 upgrade, and you can find it at \%windir%\system32\vsp1cln.exe. I describe how to use the vsp1cln.exe in the TR Dojo video, “Remove all remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 installation files”. Just make sure you’re sticking with SP1 before running the tool, as you can’t remove SP1 afterwards.

Use compcln.exe to clean up after Windows SP2

Just like cleaning up after SP1, you can use the Service Pack Clean-up tool (compcln.exe) to remove the files left over after installed Windows Vista SP2. Compcln.exe is an improved version of the earlier vsp1cln.exe tool. It is installed as part of the SP2 upgrade, and you’ll find it at \%windir%\system32\compcln.exe. As with vsp1cln.exe, running compcln.exe will prevent you from removing SP2.

And the TechRepublic swag goes to…

This week’s coffee mugs and laptop stickers to richardqt, who was first to mentioned vsp1cln.exe, and GreatZen, who provided an excellent description of the WinSxS folder, links to several relevant articles, and mentioned compcln.exe. Thanks to everyone who submitted an answer. If you don’t see your answer here, be sure to give this week’s question, “How do you prevent Windows from rebooting after an automatic update?” a try.

You can also sign up to receive the latest from the TR Dojo through one or more of the following methods:

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1. WinSxS Cleanup
2. Automate cleanup

If you are like me and started your time with Windows back in the olden days (you know, before XP) you have probably noticed Windows now has a tendency to bloat badly over time. Further examination within the Windows directory will lead you to take a look at the WinSxS folder under C:\Windows, also known as the component store directory.

As an example as I write this article this directory on my test VM is currently at 17.1 GB, which is a bit much. Even worse, trying to manually just dump this directory will severely break your Windows installation. Well after a new patch released with the October batch, KB2852386, we now have a method to clean up unused updates in this directory and help to bring Windows back down to its fighting weight.

WinSXS folder size

Remember in XP when if you wanted to roll back a Windows Update you got prompted for the CD and then you had to find it or burn a new one or just give up? These days you don’t get asked for that anymore and WinSxS is why. What this directory does, among other things, is store all Windows updates ever installed on the computer even when they are superseded by others. When you need to do a rollback, Windows uses this as the source to pull the installers from, thus no CD needed. So that is what the WinSxS directory does for you.

WinSxS Cleanup ^

Now that you know what WinSxS is, how do we go about cleaning it up. First off you need to get the proper update installed. If you are doing this on a one off basis you can download the patch either directly here or run Windows Update making sure to look for KB2852386. In the enterprise this can be pushed via WSUS or other update mechanisms.

Once installed (no reboot needed) you have to run the Disk Cleanup utility. If you have UAC turned on and you did not choose to run the utility as an administrator you will need to click the “Clean up system files” button to have the utility to scan for this type of data, which will probably take a while to run.

Once the scan has run you will find a couple of new options, including Windows Update Cleanup and Service Pack Backup Files. As you can see from the screenshot from my test system, 17.1 GB, 6.32 can be cleaned up. Once you select all that needs cleaned up and hit ok, the utility will take care of getting rid of the clutter. You will notice that the next time you reboot Windows will act like it is processing new Windows updates and then cleaning up afterwards.

Automate cleanup ^

This is great and all, but I really don’t feel like repeating this process 100 times, let alone 1000+ as some of you might have to in your enterprise. Microsoft does provide a methodology automate the process of doing this cleanup for the enterprise, even if it is a bit clunky at present time. For detail on the process I’m going to point you to a great TechNet blog on this subject, but in essence the process goes like this:

• Run the command line version of Disk Cleanup from a test computer using a random number. For this example I will use 39. cleanmgr.exe /sageset:39
• This will launch a new Disk Cleanup window where you can make your selections of what to clean up.
• Once done, this will generate a new StateFlags0039 value within the plugin keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches in the registry. You can now export this values and distribute them via Group Policy or login script to the computers in your network.
• Now through whatever method of doing so like (for example Group Policy based Scheduled Tasks) you can now run cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:39 throughout your enterprise.

Note that on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 computers the StartComponentCleanup scheduled task will automatically clean up the WinSxS folder.

Summary

This page is about how to cleanup Winsxs directory and free up hard disk space on Windows server 2008/2012/2016 sbs 2011.

Updated on Spet 11, 2021

by Andrew Wright

Winsxs folder – what does it do

The windows server 2008 SBS and its latest versions i.e. 2012 and 2016 features an operating system with a WinSxS file to deal with the core functions of OS. The system files contained in the WinSxS are linked as per the default windows directory structure. These files in the windows directory can be further linked from different locations. Gradually, the WinSxS folder starts to consume more and more space in the system partition and c-drive becomes full .

Is it safe to delete Winsxs folder?

Well, here I present different ways for cleaning the winsxs folder that may help in extending the c-drive space. Note that it is not recommended to delete the WinSxS folder itself, and don’t ever think about doing it manually. Deleting so may cause the operating system crash or BSOD (Blue screen of death) error.

Winsxs Cleanup for 2008/2012/2016 SBS 2003/2008/2011

Disk cleanup is not enabled in Windows Server, you need to get it activated at first with the following steps.

Video – how to enable disk cleanup on Windows Server OS.

This above video also includes a tutorial for winsxs cleanup server 2008/2012 without desktop experience.

Follow the steps to start the WinSxS Cleanup Wizard

#1, First, add the Desktop Experience Feature to the server

For this, go to the Server Manager and click on “Add Features”

#2, Select the Desktop Experience Feature and install it.

#3, Then search for the Disk Cleanup utility in Windows search column

#4, Click on the Disk Cleanup Utility and select the WinSxS drive(C drive)

#5, Run the Disk Cleanup and re-scan the drive by selecting “Select System Files”

After the rescan, you will see the two options Windows Update Cleanup and Serve Pack Backup Files.

Clean these files and the Disk Cleanup will safely remove the WinSxS files from the computer

Video – how to clean up winsxs using disk cleanup or cmd

You may use Disk cleanup to remove winsxs folder or temp files or Windows update files on Server 2008/2012/2016, or you may also use the following cmd to clean winsxs folder.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Note that after cleaning the WinSxS using the Disk Cleanup, you will not be able to turn back to an older server version. Moreover, this method also includes a risk of data loss. Cleaning winsxs may save up to 10GB disk space at most, if you want to add more disk space to c drive, Partition Resizer is able to help add as much space as the disk has from another volume.

For example, you may add 100GB from another volume to c drive with Partition Resizer without losing data or reinstalling OS.

Better Solution : To combat these problems, try using a third-party software Partition Resizer to defrag disk or resize partition Windows server such as 2008.

Safe Disk Management Software: IM-Magic Partition Resizer Server Edition

Why should you use a third-party disk management software? Well, the answer to this question is because these dedicate software provides high-grade data security and are easier to use – IM-Magic Partition Resizer being one of them.

Resize partitions with IM-Magic Partition Resizer

IM-Magic Partition Server Edition is one of the best disk management utilities that help to manage, shrink, extend, create, copy, delete, and most of all clean up the WinSxS folder C drive by defragment.

Defragment on C drive would with Partition Resizer would help remove temp files and winsxs files if you right click c drive -> Defragment

There is no need to take hours of backup because IM-Magic has got you covered in every possible way. It is a Windows Server 2019 supported disk management software ensuing 100% data security during all disk operations. Make sure to use the Server Edition of IM-Magic to avail advanced options to manage your partitions effectively.

Video: How to Allocate Disk Space with Partition Resizer

[Guide] Steps to extend volume without data loss

This step by step guide will show you the right way to extend any volume using В IM-Magic Partition Resizer Unlimited edition.

Step-1 В Download install, and launch the program.

Step-2В Right click the large volume to produce unallocated free space.

Steps to resize your disk partition

Step-3В Then right click c and drag the border to acquire the free space.

Steps to resize your disk partition

Step-4В Apply the changes.

Q: Server 2008 r2 cleanup windows update files

A: Winsxs cleanup server 2008/2012/2016 may count on Disk Cleanup utility if you enable it in service manager that could remove Windows update files at the same time if you click c drive to clean up.

Q: dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded server 2008 r2

A: When cmd reported errors, you may need to enable Disk Cleanup in service manager. Or if powershell cmd could not help cleanup disk for Server 2008, you may use IM-Magic Partition Resizer to defrag disk with its right click option “Defragment”.

Published by Ian Matthews on November 26, 2018 November 26, 2018

If you have worked on Windows for more than a few years you will know that C:\Windows\WinSXS takes up an ever increasing amount of disk space and that you should not delete anything from it. Microsoft says:

One commonly asked question is, “Can I delete the WinSxS folder to regain some disk space?” The short answer is no. You can, however, reduce the size of the WinSxS folder using tools built into Windows. For more information about the WinSxS folder, see Manage the Component Store. Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 automatically reduce the size of the WinSxS folder…
SOURCE

So how do you clean up previous versions of Windows like Server 2012 or Windows 8? The answer is with a DISM (which stands for Deployment Image Servicing and Management) command in an elevated PowerShell Window:

dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

/Online tells DISM tells it to work on the running operating system (as opposed to an offline .WIM file)

/Cleanup-Image allows DISM to use other commands, in this case /StartComponentCleanup

/StartComponentCleanup deletes old updates that have been superseded by newer updates

After the DISM has run the system must be rebooted for the surplus files to be removed. In other-words, you won’t notice a change until you reboot.

There are several other good references if you still have questions:

Yes, the WinSxs (“C: \Windows\winsxs”) is a mystery, an enigmatic phenomenon :)!

Content / Tips / Solutions:

1. The WinSxs folder is actually not as big as it claims to be!
2. Brief explanation of “hard links”!
3. Why is it getting bigger (the WinSxs folder)?
4. Delete it yourself in the WinSxs folder and ensure order!
5. Why was this introduced in Windows 7 and Vista?
6. Why was that different in Win XP and Server 2000?

It seems as if WinSxs would consume the hard disk space, but this was already the case with Vista, not only in Windows 10, 8.1, 7, . here is a brief definition of the term to understand the size of WinSxS and how Windows assigns and handles the files!

1.) The WinSxs folder is actually not as big as it claims to be!

In any case, it is the case that the WinSxs folder is actually not as big as it specifies or as it is displayed by Explorer.

There are a lot of “hard links” stored in the WinSxs folder that refer to the real files. In MS-Explorer, of course, these appear as real files, sometimes over 10 “hard links” are created for a single file.

What does that mean exactly:
If the file concerned (10 “hard links”) has a size of “1 MB”, 11 MB appear in Explorer. You yourself + the 10 “hard links”, ie 11 * 1MB.

2.) Brief explanation of “hard links”!

One speaks of “hard links” if several entries refer to the same file descriptor, in clear text: to the real entry on the hard disk (file record).

You can think of this as a shortcut, only that it is also registered as a file in the normal file system, although it is not there as such, but only represents a reference to it.

For this reason, the term “hard links”.

4.) Why is it getting bigger (the WinSxs folder)?

And every time you install and uninstall new software, you can find that your winsxs gets bigger and bigger because Windows 10, 8.1, . or MS-Server creates multiple copies, or “hard links”, for example to save the DLL files to avoid compatibility problems in the applications.

However, this also happens if you have installed and uninstalled the same software. As an example: You install OFFICE, uninstall it and install the same again. The result: WinSxs gets bigger and bigger, or even more “hard links” in WinSxs!

5.) Delete it yourself in the WinSxs folder and ensure order!

You should never do that!

You can see the real drive usage – consumption! For example, if you right-click on the drive and select properties (. see Image-1) , you can clean the drive by clicking on “Clean” or by deleting the restore points via the “Other options” tab.

This means that older Windows PC backup images or complete restore points can be cleaned up and space is saved on the hard disk.

5.) Why was that introduced in Windows 7 and Vista?

Well, it should be for compatibility and security. Not just to confuse us, although once you understand it you are still confused.

6.) Why was that different in Win XP and Server?

XP could be installed on FAT-32, under “FAT-32” no hard links are possible, so the “hard links” were not used by Windows XP, or only in rare cases.

You can free up additional space by removing all but the last restore point.

Clean the Windows WinSxs folder indirectly: (. see Image-2 Point 1 to 5)

(Image-2) Clean the SYSTEM Disk C!

In some editions of Windows, the disk may contain shadow copies of files and older Windows complete PC backup images in recovery points. This information will also be deleted.

This article covers methods to Clean Up and Compress WinSxS Folder on Windows Server/Windows 10.

WinSxS folder in Windows is the reasons of its constant growth and ways to clean up it.

The C:\Windows\WinSxS directory is the repository of Windows components. This directory contains DLLs, binary and XML files necessary for installation and operation of various Windows roles or features.

When installing the Windows updates (usually this happens every month), the new version of the updated component is installed on the system, while the old one is saved to the WinSxS folder (it is necessary to provide compatibility and make it possible to rollback to the previous versions of the components when you uninstall the Windows update).

To clean up the WinSxS folder on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016/2019:

1. Optimize the component store and remove old versions of Windows component files left after installing Windows updates;

2. Features on Demand – allows you to remove unused Windows components from the disk;

3. Enable NTFS compression on the WinSxS folder – a way to reduce the size of the WinSxS directory using the built-in compression of the NTFS file system.

How to Check the Actual Size of WinSxS Folder on Windows 10?

The easiest way to get the current size of the WinSxS folder on Windows is to open the properties of the %windir%\WinSxS folder in File Explorer (or use a PowerShell script).

You can find out the real size of the WinSxS folder on disk using the du tool from Sysinternals:

. up a LOT of space. I just want to delete everything in it but my better judgement is telling me not to.

It is taking about 32GB on Windows 7 system.

The Edge is Real: Harness its Force

disk cleanup and dism

dism /online /cleanup-image

11 Replies

disk cleanup and dism

dism /online /cleanup-image

Don’t do it manually, you’ll end up with bigger issues than you have now

WinSXS is also another space hoarder.

See my link above.

THX, going to try it on my own PC first.

windows disk cleaner cleanmgr.exe

Delete some restore points that should be all

I ran the system cleaner but have not done CC Cleaner.

If you ran dism you probably wont need the others if it’s purely windows files

I will try, just haven’t had a chance to get to that system yet.

WinSXS is also another space hoarder.

Read up on WinSXS and you’ll understand why you can’t touch that folder. It’s actually a good thing too, and amazingly smart when you think about it.

As for the other, the mentioned apps and processes should help you.

The only thing is , this is not from an image this is a fresh roll of a Windows 7. Does that make a difference? Sorry, I haven’t used DISM before. Thanks again.

This topic has been locked by an administrator and is no longer open for commenting.

To continue this discussion, please ask a new question.

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If you have been frustrated like many other IT professionals at the ever growing size of the WinSXS folder and having absolutely no choice but to not touch it, then you will be delighted to know that Microsoft have finally released an update that allows you to clear this folder and free up huge amounts of space on a local disk.

My personal machine currently has 17,553 items and 10.3GB of used space in the WinSXS folder and although I have a big enough disk, I’d still like my space back! So, I installed this new update and it works a treat and is very simple to use.

So, I thought I’d share this information with my visitors and also give a brief overview of the process. Firstly, you’ll want the links to actually download the updates from Microsoft:

Downloads

Be aware that this is also available through Windows Updates so you may want to keep an eye out for it.

Once you have the update installed, if you go into Computer and right click on your disk and select Properties, you’ll be greeted with this familiar sight:

If you now click the Disk Cleanup button, you may see something not so familiar…

You now have the option to do a Windows Update Cleanup and it will also tell you the amount of space that you can save by doing this. On my machine, this is approximately 10% of the total size of the WinSXS folder. So, tick the box and click OK to start the process:

Something that you should note though, when you reboot, it may take a while as it goes through a whole clean up process, so if you are in a rush, don’t run this just yet!

Once your reboot is complete, you should find you have freed up the space stated!

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I finally found some good information for cleaning up the WinSXS folder on new instances of Windows. I found the following site extremely helpful:

Consequently, I was able to get 7GB of data cleaned up from the WinSXS folder on the first Server 2008R2 machine I followed this process on.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Make sure the server has Server 2008R2 SP1 or newer.

2. Download and install the Disk Cleanup Wizard Add-on () for your version of Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2. I believe it is now built into newer versions of the OS, but haven’t had a chance to verify yet. If you are using Server 2008, you will also need to add the Desktop Experience Feature and all required components (this WILL require a reboot to take effect).

3. After the add-on and features have been fully installed (and the system rebooted if necessary), search for Disk Cleanup under System Tools.

4. Open the Disk Cleanup and select the drive with the WinSXS folder (typically the C drive or system drive).

5. Let the Disk Cleanup run. I’ve seen some images where Windows Update Cleanup is right on the main Disk Cleanup tab. Others have you click on the Clean Up System Files button on the bottom-left of the Disk Cleanup window and have it re-scan.

6. Once either option is selected, you should see the options to cleanup Service Pack Backup Files and Windows Update Cleanup like listed below. These two options will “safely” remove items from the WinSXS folder and free up space. Remember that once these items have been removed, you will be unable to revert back to an older service pack state and/or possibly remove updates from the system that are causing problems. Also, make sure you have a good backup. If you are unsure how this will affect your system, skip this as a possible cleanup option.

#1 FlyingHorse

I recently noticed that there are over 73,000 files in this folder and would like to know if I can safely delete them? As far as I can tell they are all dated around 25 November 2013. I’m running Windows 8.1 Pro with MC x64. If anyone has any insight I sure would like to know.

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#2 dls62

You should avoid manually deleting any files contained in the C:\Windows\WinSxS folder or any of its subfolders. This is Microsoft’s warning ‘Deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder may severely damage your system so that your PC might not boot and make it impossible to update.’

The Temp\PendingRenames subfolder is used by Windows Update to store files temporarily when the existing files are in use by the system and is normally cleared when files are updated during a system restart, but occasionally they do not get deleted and remain in the folder. Sometimes running Windows Disk Cleanup (see below) will trigger Windows to complete the task.

Tap on the Windows-key if you are not on the start screen.

Type Disk Cleanup and select “Free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files“.

Click on the button “Clean up system files“. The application restarts and additional cleanup options are available.

Look for the entries “Previous Windows installation(s)” – if you have upgraded from a previous version – and “Windows Update Cleanup“. Select these and any others you want to clean. It is safe to select all available options.

Note: If you select the above two options you will no longer be able to restore a previous version of Windows or a previous update.

After running Disk Cleanup perform a system restart and then repeat the procedure, restarting again.

Edited by dls62, 03 December 2013 – 11:07 AM.

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) helps remove malicious software from your computers that are running Windows 10 Technical Preview, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows XP.

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool does not replace an antivirus product. It is strictly a post-infection removal tool. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you install and use an up-to-date antivirus product. If you like, Windows 10 already has Windows Defender included for antivirus.

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool differs from an antivirus product in three key ways:

•The tool removes malicious software from an already-infected computer. Antivirus products block malicious software from running on a computer. It is significantly more desirable to block malicious software from running on a computer than to remove it after infection.
•The tool removes only specific prevalent malicious software. Specific prevalent malicious software is a small subset of all the malicious software that exists today.
•The tool focuses on the detection and removal of active malicious software. Active malicious software is malicious software that is currently running on the computer. The tool cannot remove malicious software that is not running. However, an antivirus product can perform this task.

This tutorial will show you how to open and use the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) to scan and remove specific prevalent malicious software in Windows.

Shutdown Event Tracker is a tool that prompts users to record a reason why they restart or shut down the computer. This information is available for review in the event log. If a computer running Windows is connected to a domain that uses monitoring tools, you can collect this information as part of network reporting.

When Shutdown Event Tracker is enabled, users cannot shut down or restart the computer without providing a reason. If the computer is shut down or restarted unexpectedly, either as a result of power interruption or hardware failure, the user is prompted to enter a reason in Shutdown Event Tracker when the computer is started again.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Shutdown Event Tracker for when users restart or shut down Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows Server 2003 and above.

One commonly asked question is can I delete the WinSxS folder to regain some disk space? The short answer is no. (see warning box below) However, there are ways to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder.

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 automatically reduces the size of the WinSxS by using methods similar to the ones described in this tutorial, however these methods also include internal processes, such as uninstalling and deleting packages with components that have been replaced by other components with newer versions. Previous versions of some components are kept on the system for a period of time, allowing you to rollback if necessary. After a period of time, these components are removed from the installation.

This tutorial will show you a number of ways to start the cleanup of the component store (WinSxS folder) to free up a large amount of disk space in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Why is the WinSxS folder so big? The short answer to this commonly asked question is that the component store (WinSxS folder) contains all the components that make-up Windows to allow you operate your system. These components are kept to rollback any problematic change or to repair a file that becomes corrupted.

The WinSxS folder isn’t as large as it may appear at first glance because size calculations can include Windows binaries located elsewhere which makes the WinSxS folder seem larger than it really is.

This tutorial will help show you how to determine the actual size of the component store (WinSxS folder) and if you should clean it up in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Most of the time, regular users do not scavenge the system drive. Still, sometimes, in an attempt to clean a computer and reclaim storage, users visit the drive C: and start removing apps and folders with various degrees of success. Thus, a user can find the hidden AppData folder. What is the AppData folder in Windows 10 (and 11)? How to open the AppData folder in Windows? Can you remove the AppData folder? This article will answer all your questions.

Microsoft introduced the AppData folder in Windows 7 in 2009. Since then, it is an integral part of the operating system. The AppData folder lives in a profile folder for each Windows user. Apps on your computer save various user-specific files and settings. For example, Minecraft, one of the most popular games in the world, stores worlds and saves in the AppData folder.

It is worth mentioning that apps with global settings (settings that apply to each user on a single computer) keep their files the C:\ProgramData folder.

How to Open the AppData Folder in Windows 10/11?

Windows hides the AppData folder by default. Also, hidden files and folders are not visible by default (hence the name). Here is how you can find the AppData folder on Windows 10 and 11.

Open AppData Folder on Windows 10

1. Open File Explorer and click the View tab.
2. Place a checkmark next to the Hidden items option.
3. Now go to the C:\Users\Your username folder and open the hidden AppData folder (it has a transparent icon).

Open AppData folder on Windows 11

1. To open the AppData folder in Windows 11, open File Explorer and click View >Show >Hidden Items. That makes hidden files and folders visible.
2. Go to the C:\Users\Your username folder.

There is another way to open the AppData folder in Windows 10 and 11. You can press Win + R and enter %USERPROFILE%\AppData. Alternatively, paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData into the address bar in File Explorer. Note that that action does not require enabling hidden files and folders as the command gets you directly to the needed directory.

What is AppData folder?

The AppData folder on Windows 10 and 11 has three additional folders: Local, LocalLow, and Roaming. Here is what do they do:

• Local. This folder stores device-specific settings and temporary files. There is a separate environment variable %LOCALAPPDATA% for this folder that you can use in your batch files and scripts.
• LocalLow. Here Windows stores mainly buffer data generated by various apps (Internet Explorer, Java, Adobe, etc.). It is also used by low-level access systems, for example, for temporary files of your browser when working in protected mode. This directory also cannot be moved to another computer.
• Roaming. You can transfer files in this folder to another computer. The Roaming folder stores browser data, bookmarks, etc. This directory allows users to always work with a familiar environment on any server in the Remote Desktop Services farm when using roaming profiles or User Profile Disks. The environment variable for this directory is %APPDATA%.

How to Clean AppData Folder?

The AppData directory over time accumulates quite a lot of files and other garbage, which takes a lot of disk space. You can clean the AppData\Local\Temp directory without any harm to Windows.

The AppData folder becomes larger with each new app you install. The more programs and games on your computer, the larger the size of the AppData folder. Windows itself doesn’t control the size of this folder, which means its growth is totally uncontrolled and is not limited.

More importantly, uninstalling a program or game usually does not remove files in the AppData folder. As a result, the AppData folder becomes filled with files and folders you no longer need or use.

Important. Do not Shift + Delete the app folder. Such a barbaric method will harm other apps on your computer. There is a dedicated tool for cleaning the AppData folder in Windows.

A standard disk cleanup utility in Windows 10 and 11 is what you need to clean the AppData folder.

1. Press Win + I and go to System >Storage.
2. Click your system drive, then select Temporary files.
3. On the next screen, select Temporary Internet Files and Temporary Files.
4. Click the Remove Files button and wait for Windows to delete all unnecessary files.

To save space on the system drive, you can also move the Roaming folder to another partition or drive. That will help you if the AppData cleanup did not solve the problem.

1. Open the AppData folder on the system drive and right-click the Roaming folder.
2. Click the Location tab and specify a new location for the folder.
3. Click the Move button.

In a similar fashion, you can specify a new location for the Temp folder. That will help you clean the AppData folder on Windows 10 and 11.

1. Create a new Temp folder on a non-system drive. For example, on a drive D.
2. Press Win + R and enter the sysdm.cpl.
3. In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab.
4. Click the Environment Variables button.
5. Select TEMP and click the Edit button.
6. Specify the path to the previously created folder on another drive.
7. Repeat the same for the TMP variable.

As an option, launch Command Prompt with elevated privileges and execute the following command to create an AppData directory junction (symbolic link):

Replace X with appropriate drive letter. Next, sign in with a new profile with administrative privileges and move the folder to the new location.

I recently helped out someone who was running extremely low on disk space on their system drive, due to a bloated Windows\winsxs directory. This directory is where Windows keeps backup files for various things such as Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. These files allow you to uninstall Service Pack 1, in case you ever actually wanted to do that.

The system in question was using about 15.5GB of disk space in that directory. After a bit of research, I discovered the DISM.exe command. When you install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the setup program backs up any files that are replaced by the service pack. You can remove these backup files to save space with the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool. If you do this, you will not be able to uninstall Service Pack 1 any longer , but you will get back a decent amount of disk space (typically, anywhere from around 2 to 7 GB).

You need to open a command prompt with elevated privileges (by right-clicking and selecting “Run as Administrator”). Once you have a command prompt open, simply type this command (shown in Figure 1):

DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /spsuperseded

Depending on the speed of your disk subsystem and the components you have installed, it may take around five to ten minutes for the command to complete. Once it is done, you should have some more free space available on your system drive. After running this command (which you can only do once), I would also manually defragment the system drive.

This command will only work if you have Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (or Windows 7 Service Pack 1) installed. If you are running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7, you really should have Service Pack 1 installed by now. Microsoft has actually started pushing Service Pack 1 down to Windows 7 systems as an Important Update, using Windows Update on March 19, 2013.

Not many of you may know this, nor has this been blogged anywhere – yet; but Windows 11/10/8.1/8 lets you safely clean up the WinSxS folder. In fact, you can even automate WinSxS folder cleanup using the Task Scheduler. The WinSxS folder, which stands for ‘Windows Side By Side’, is a Windows native assembly cache with Libraries which are being by multiple applications being stored there. It is the location for storing Windows Component Store files.

Some common questions which Windows users asked were – Is there a way to clean up the WinSxS folder so as to reduce its size? Can I delete the WinSxS folder? Or move WinSxS folder to another drive. The short answer, as we had seen in the earlier post was: No.

WinSxS folder cleanup

In Windows 11/10/8.1/8, however, things have become easier. Windows will automatically reduce the size of the WinSxS. These methods include internal processes, such as uninstalling and deleting packages with components that have been replaced by other newer components. Previous versions are then kept for a period, after which they are automatically removed.

We saw that Windows 8.1 introduced a new command-line option for DISM.exe, /AnalyzeComponentStore. Running this command, will analyze the WinSxS folder and tell you whether a Component Store Cleanup is recommended or not.

Windows 11/10/8 offers a number of ways to cleanup of the WinSxS folder which includes the Windows Component Store. It may compress certain files, or it may delete some packages. Let us see how you can clean up the WinSxS folder in these latest versions of the Windows operating system. There are three ways how you can do it.

1] Using StartComponentCleanup

The StartComponentCleanup task was created in Windows 8 to regularly clean up components automatically when the system is not in use. This task is set to run automatically when triggered by the operating system. When run automatically, the task will wait at least 30 days after an updated component has been installed before uninstalling the previous versions of the component.

To run it, open Task Scheduler and navigate to the following task:

In the right pane, under Selected Items, you will see Run. Click on it to start the StartComponentCleanup task.

This will start a process called TiWorker.exe or Windows Modules Installer Worker. You will not see any confirmation dialog box that the process has been started, but you will be able to see it in the Task Manager – and feel a lot of hot air coming out of your laptop’s vent! By default, in Windows 10/8, if this task runs for more than 1 hour, it will terminate automatically. To end this process, you can click on End. You will, in this case, see Windows asking you for confirmation: Do you want to end all instances of this task. Click Yes.

You may run it manually, or you may schedule it to run, say every month using the StartComponentCleanup command, to clean up and compress the components. You may automate the process by setting up a Trigger for the task to run using the Task Scheduler.

Alternatively, you can also run the StartComponentCleanup task using an elevated Command Prompt, using the following command:

If you are successful, you will see a SUCCESS message returned.

2] Using Deployment Image Servicing and Management

Using DISM you can configure and update Windows features, packages, drivers and so on. The /Cleanup-Image parameter of Dism.exe, will provide you with advanced options to reduce the size of the WinSxS folder, writes TechNet.

A) Using the /StartComponentCleanup parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of Windows 8.1 gives you similar results to running the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler.

Open an elevated command prompt, type the following and hit Enter:

B) If you use the /ResetBase switch with the /StartComponentCleanup parameter, you will be able to remove all superseded versions of every component in the component store.

From the elevated command prompt, type the following and hit Enter:

C) If you want to reduce the amount of space used by a Service Pack, use the /SPSuperseded parameter of Dism.exe on a running version of Windows 8.1 to remove any backup components needed for the uninstallation of the service pack.

From the elevated command prompt, type the following and hit Enter:

Do note that if you carry out this command, you will not be able to uninstall existing service packs and updates.

3] Disk Cleanup Tool

Home users should stick to using the Disk Cleanup Tool. Open the Disk Cleanup Utility and click on the Clean System Files button. You will see the option for Windows Update Cleanup. Check this option. This will help reduce the size of the component store.

Do note that deleting files from the WinSxS folder or deleting the entire WinSxS folder may damage your system and make it unbootable. You may not also be able to install, uninstall or update Windows components, so exercise utmost precautions. For regular Windows users, you may create a system restore point first and then try Method 1 or Method 3 mentioned above. Method 2 is for advanced users.

Date: September 17, 2021 Tags: Features, Tips

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Anand Khanse is the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, a 10-year Microsoft MVP (2006-16) & a Windows Insider MVP. Please read the entire post & the comments first, create a System Restore Point before making any changes to your system & be careful about any 3rd-party offers while installing freeware.

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A Korean friend has a laptop with Windows 7 and a HDD of 60GB, with only a few MB of space left. Upon inquiry, she only uses 8GB, plus some mandatory Korean software (a few GB), and the problem resides with Windows itself as it is taking 40 of her 60 GB!

As a Korean she is stuck with Windows, but is there anything I can do to bring Windows back to its senses? I don’t want to gain a few GB at this point, I am looking for a solution which would bring back some sanity to this system.

Winsxs takes up 17GB, and Installer 14 GB. System32 is reasonable with 3GB.

Edit: I’d like to stress she is not a power user. It’s a mid range laptop that she uses ONLY FOR BROWSING. She never installed any software aside from the minimum needed in Korea to access websites and pay (which is why Koreans are stuck with using Windows). No games, nothing. I’d like to cut down on the Winsxs and Installer folders especially, but it seems Windows won’t allow that. What do?

2 Answers 2

Run the Disk Cleanup (also delete system files here).

You can safely delete the content of the following folders (close all programms before doing): C:\Windows\Temp\ C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp ; Note: The Disk letter (in this case C) can be different. Replace “username” with yours. After that reboot.

If you don’t need the hibernate function for that laptop, you can turn it off. This will will give you the amount of memory the laptop has, in disk space:

1. open a command prompt (cmd) with administrative privileges
2. type in the following command: powercfg -H off

If you have a second partition, you can change the location of the page file. Default it’s on the system disk. Press Windows-Key + R, type control sysdm.cpl and hit enter. Click on tab “Advanced” and then again “Advanced” at “Performance”. In the new window again “Advanced” and then click on “Change. “. You could also change the size of the pagefile if you want – however it’s not recommended to do that.

remove programs you don’t need anymore.

So I think, this is it what you can do within windows directly without a risk, damaging your OS. To get more space you have to delete data you don’t need. To find huge amount of used space, the Tool Treesize Free, mentioned above is a good go.

As an addition to the already present answer here, I’d like to expand on the “remove programs you don’t need anymore” part. Removing programs (i.e. uninstalling them) is often not enough – they might be sloppy and leave some files around. Mostly that’s not a problem if the files are a few kilobytes in size, but some applications leave around huge amounts of data. One way to get rid of this is to actually look for it and delete it. Look in C:/Program Data for example, and you might find a folder with the name of a program you uninstalled, that still takes up space!

However, just looking around is inefficient, so I would recomment installing WinDirStat to analyze the disk and get a nice summary of what is taking up the most space, in descending order. That way you can take a look at the “biggest offenders” at once, and see if you can do something about them.

Caution: be careful when deleting program files. Only delete folders from a program you know you have uninstalled, if there’s something that you don’t know what it is, it’s better to leave it, because it might be important.

So fo example, let’s say you uninstalled Opera. If you see a folder somewhere called Opera with a lot of files inside, you can probably delete that. If you however see something cryptic like “mscbx22” (just made that up), don’t delete it if you don’t know what it is.

By Alisa | Follow | Last Updated April 29, 2021

Summary :

How to compress a folder in Windows 10 to reduce its size? This post introduces 6 ways with detailed guides. To recover deleted or lost files and folders on your Windows computer or external drives, MiniTool Power Data Recovery is easy and free.

Compressed folders and files can be transferred more quickly. Besides, they take smaller space in your Windows hard drive. Wonder how to compress a folder in Windows 10? Check the 6 ways below.

Way 1. Compress Folders and Files with Send to

1. Right-click the folder you want to compress and select Send to.
2. Then select Compressed (zipped) folder, and it will create a zipped folder with the same name as your folder and save it in the same location. You can rename the compressed folder to identify it.

How to unzip and zip files in Windows 10 computer for free? This post lists some ways to zip, unzip (rar) files, and compress large files to small size.

Way 2. How to Compress a Folder in File Explorer

1. Locate the folders or files in File Explorer.
2. Select the folders/files. Click Share tab at the Ribbon menu and click Zip button to compress the folders and files into a zip file with reduced size.

How to easily corrupt a file like Word, Text, Excel, PDF, MP3 file, etc. so it won’t open? Here are 3 free file corrupters to let you corrupt a file online.

Way 3. How to Compress Folders/Files with WinZip

1. Open WinZip.
2. Find and select the folder you want to compress in Files, and click Add to Zip.
3. In Actions, click Save as and select the destination path to save the zip file.

How to force delete a file/folder Windows 10? If you can’t delete file/folder in Windows 10, check how to force delete files/folders that won’t delete with cmd.

Way 4. How to Zip a Folder in Windows 10 with 7-Zip

1. Open 7-Zip.
2. Select the folders and files you want to compress. Click Add button at the toolbar.
3. In the pop-up Add to Archive window, select zip as the archive format. Click OK to compress the folders and files to a zip file.

Way 5. How to Compress a Folder in Windows 10 with WinRAR

1. Locate the folder you want to compress in File Explorer.
2. Right-click the folder and click Add to Archive.
3. Select Zip under the Archive Format and click OK to create a zip file for the folder.

This post teaches you how to show/view folder size in Windows 10 File Explorer if Windows folder size is not showing. 4 ways are included.

Way 6. Compress Folder with Top Online File Compressors

You can also upload your folder to the website of online free file compressors, and compress the folder online. Then download the compressed folder to your computer.

Top online file/folder compressing services include ezyZip, Compress2GO, Online-Convert Online Archive Converter, etc.

Learn how to open a file/folder in Command Prompt (cmd) on Windows 10. Step-by-step guide is included.

How to Compress a Folder on Mac

1. Locate the folder in Finder.
2. Right-click the folder and select Compress (folder name) to compress the folder to a smaller size on Mac.

Conclusion

For how to compress a folder or compress files in Windows 10 to reduce the size, you can use one of the 6 ways above.

To recover mistakenly deleted files/folders or lost files from Windows 10 computer, you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a clean and free data recovery program for Windows 10. It allows you to recover any deleted or lost files/folders from Windows computer, USB flash drive, external hard drive, memory card, SSD, etc. in simple steps.

Just select the drive or device to scan, find and select wanted files and save the recovered files to a new location.

Free pen drive data recovery. Easy 3 steps to recover data/files from pen drive for free (incl. corrupted, formatted, not recognized, not showing pen drive).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Alisa is a professional English editor with 4-year experience. She loves writing and focuses on sharing detailed solutions and thoughts for computer problems, data recovery & backup, digital gadgets, tech news, etc. Through her articles, users can always easily get related problems solved and find what they want. In spare time, she likes basketball, badminton, tennis, cycling, running, and singing. She is very funny and energetic in life, and always brings friends lots of laughs.

This question is about what things I can do to reduce the size that Windows 8 uses.

Background example:
At present, and with only one program installed (MS Access 2007), I have used about 15GB of my hard disk space. I have little space (it’s a 17GB partition of a SSD).

I would like solutions along the lines of:

• Remove files that are not really needed (e.g. drivers not actually needed by my system)
• Help files that are not really needed (i.e. documentation)
• pagefile.sys (assuming I would have 4GB ram and no real need for swapping)
• hiberfil.sys (used for hibernate and sleep. I need that, though I would regain about 4GB of space by removing it)

Ideally, I would like to delete mostly files that I would most likely not need, but I have no good idea where to start there.

Since my hardware will not change, I would be willing to delete all the drivers that Windows 8 has for hardware I do not have.

Update

A large part of disk space in Windows 8 (and 7) is used up for the “Window backward compatibilty dlls-hell.” I’m referring to a feature named “Windows Side by Side” (in folder C:\Windows\winsxs ), described at Why does the /winsxs folder grow so large, and can it be made smaller?. By keeping several versions (even when not needed often) of the thousands of DLLs that come with software. well this causes at least some 4-5GB of disk usage.

Are you using Windows 10 for a long time without reformatting? If yes, you might have seen that the size of the folder C:\Windows\Installer is almost filled while you haven’t saved anything in this folder.

In fact, during normal operations, many unnecessary files get created in this folder. For this reason, you have to go with the Windows installer folder cleanup process. This will keep your computer system as fast as expected.

So, what are the cleaning processes? Let’s find out from below.

How to Delete Unnecessary Files of Windows Installer Folder?

Don’t assume that we are going to delete all files of the windows installer folder. It is because this folder contains important files for the accurate functioning of your computer system. If you delete them, you can’t work with your computer.

The below steps will allow you to do windows installer folder cleanup.

Solution 01: Symbolic Link Creation in order to save space in the Windows Installer folder

Step 01: Unhide the folder of the windows installer

By default, the windows installer folder remains hidden. Even if you enable the “show hidden files and folders”.

The folders in this file need to unhide. For this, follow the below directions.

1. Go to the View option available on the top menu.
2. Click on Options, next select the Change folder and search options.
3. Hover your cursor to the View tab and click on it.
4. Unmark the “hide protected operating system files (recommended)” option.
5. Enable the “Show hidden files, folders and drives” option

Step 02: Installer Folder Copying to Another Folder

Now, the Windows directory will have to installer folder in it. Choose another drive where you have to copy the whole windows installer folder.

For instance, you want to copy the installer from the “C” drive to the “D” drive. Simply copy the folder from C drive and Paste it to D drive.

The copying and pasting process may take longer depending on the installer folder size.

Tips: It would be best if you keep a copy of the installer folder to another drive or pen drive to avoid any unwanted situation.

Step 03: Symlink creating using CMD

Once you are done with the copying process, then follow below

1. Move to Cortana or Start Menu. Select Command Prompt or CMD and next run it as administrator.
2. You have to enter the below command in the elevated command prompt. Don’t miss any of the words of the command because it will be considered as a new command and the system will break.

rmdir /s /q C:\Windows\Installer

Important note: The folder path needs to be replaced in the above command if the folder of Windows is at a separate path.

C:\Windows\Installer directory and the folder will get deleted entirely with the above command.

1. After the completion of the first command, put the 2nd command following the above process. A symlink will get created from C:\Windows\Installerto D:\Important\Windows\Installer.

Great work! Windows installer folder shortcut is created now. And your compute C drive disk space is free too.

With the above solution, D drive will be the new location for any new request for windows installer folder files.

How to Fix Windows Installer Package Problem

Solution 02: Cleaning up the Disk

• Go to the File Explorer and click the right button putting the cursor on the Local Disk (C:) and select Properties. At the bottom right, you will find an option named Disk Cleanup, click it.

• You will be redirected to the next screen. As the system scan is finished, click Clean up system files. System scan will again happen with this command.

• Now, look at the Files to Delete option. There is an option with the name Previous Windows installation(s), mark it, and click the OK button.

Solution 03: Settings of the Windows

• Go to the Start Menu and select Windows Settings clicking on its icon.
• Then select System > Storage

• Now you will have to select the disk that required clean up. Since this tutorial is on cleaning the C drive, you have to select it.
• Your computer system will show you the used space of the C drive of the Temporary files. Click it.
• Next, a checkbox will appear. Mark the Downloadable files and Temporary Files. At the bottom left, an option named Remove Files. Select it.

Solution 04: CMD of Command Prompt

• In this step, you have to open the Run box. Use shortcut keys Windows + R and type %temp% in the empty box. Then hit Enter.

• You will be redirected to the Temp Folder where temporary files are located. Temporary Windows 10 installer files need to be selected to delete it.

Final Thought

The above processes of Windows Installer Folder Cleanup are effective in freeing up space. All these processes are so simple. The cleanup process is necessary to make your computer system fast. Follow it to speed up your computer system.