10+GB winsxs folder cleanup?

djmauro · 26 Oct 2013

So 10 gb seems kind of alot - and i havent actually kept my pc up to date (dont wanna think what it will end up if i install all the updates). It is SP1

the dism command line approach (dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded /hidesp) didnt even make a dent - it run, reports nothing found and successful.

Still 10+GB.

The disk cleanup.. doesnt help.
KB2852386 is installed - but the disk cleanup doesnt show the "windows update cleanup" option.
it is full administrator account with UAC disabled - so this cant be the problem.

Ztruker · 26 Oct 2013

Leave it alone. Mine is 11GB.

Layback Bear · 26 Oct 2013

Ztruker in my opinion is 100% correct.

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.

LMiller7 · 26 Oct 2013

Things are not as they seem.
See my reply #2 to this same issue.
Large Windows and winsxs folders taking up too much space

Layback Bear · 26 Oct 2013

I use this and things worked for me.

Windows Updates - Remove Outdated Updates in Windows 7

djmauro · 27 Oct 2013

not going to manually delete yeah.
The linking part.. .well even if its true it still takes up total space in the end(as far as OS sees it).

And the Windows update cleanup wont show up for me - like i said in the first post. Even after installign the required KB.

The size isnt that important for normal hdd-s. But with the SSD-s with their quite small size (unless you have tons of money to buy larger SSD-s) it really is too much.

Barman58 · 27 Oct 2013

The links do exist and point to items in your Program files folder tree, (and/or (x86) folder tree), and Windows folders, these items are comprised of old versions of DLL and other support files, which although they are superseded and should not be required for running current applications - are required for some applications which are written in such a way as to directly access program code rather than the correct way.

removing all the links in the WINSXS folder would only save you a few MB - removing the actual files in their actual locations would of course clear the space shown as used in the WINSXS folder - but would also stop any applications that require them from operating.

The system directs all calls to auxiliary DLL and support Files to the WINSXS folder, so actually saves space over the outdated method used in obsolete operating systems such as XP, which would have multiple copies of each in multiple folders

whs · 27 Oct 2013

I understand the space problem on small SSDs because I am running 5 systems with 60GB SSDs. For Windows I never needed more disk space and in fact most of my SSDs are half empty. Only 1 system from where I run 3 virtual partitions (Windows 8.1, Linux Mint and Linux Zorin) has a 128GB SSD.

Mucking around with winsxs is a bad idea. It is a sure way to bring your system down. And a winsxs of 10GB is quite normal - mine are at least that size. Instead, I suggest to get rid of the hiberfile. The command is

powercfg -h off.

You can also reduce the pagefile to 1 or 2GBs. With 8GB of RAM that would save you 14GB on the SSD and even with 4GB of RAM you still save at least 6GB of space.

djmauro · 27 Oct 2013

Its the way the windows seem to consider the links still as "used space" when it comes to total used/free on hdd - even tho its not actually used.

Page file is dropepdto 4gb fixed anyways already... might go smaller.

Barman58 · 27 Oct 2013

Turning the page file off completely may actually result in a reduction in efficiency for some applications which are written and tuned to expect it's presence on a system. Although it's true that with todays RAM installation on systems the page file may not be strictly required - a Page file set to some minimum value may actually improve performance even when located on a slower secondary drive