Reduce/remove winsxs & winRE.wim BEFORE instalation

videobruce · 08 Dec 2013

There are plenty of discussions of reducing the winsxs folderafter the fact, but I couldn't find anything for before as in using RT7 Lite and Winreducer to trim the installation media to reduce the bloat.

The specific folder is Windows\winsxs\Backup. Can I assume this is a duplication of the winsxs folder or something else? A single file; "winRE.wim" is another offender.

Are these safe to delete with installed media containing sp1?

FWIW, the posted example reduced the media down to around 750MB after using those two and four more programs (mostly to work with those two). Though, that is too slim for me.

whs · 08 Dec 2013

The specific folder is Windows\winsxs\Backup

This is the mirror with which the OS repairs certain files with e.g. SFC /SCANNOW.

I would really recommend not to play with winsxs - unless you like to brick your system. And winsxs is not a real folder anyhow, it is a kind of directory of system files.