Can Windows boot up and recover if Pagefile.sys is missing ?

alan10 · 14 Oct 2011

Agreed, we are good

alan10 · 05 Dec 2011

CONCLUSION :-

I ensured the latest Macrium image was validated so I could do crazy things to the system and revert to perfection.

I did many crazy tests, including moving pagefile.sys to HDD E:\ and removing Hiberfil.sys
The only downside was a warning from the APC battery Backup that I might lose data in the event of a prolonged mains failure and subsequent exhaustion of the Battery.

After installing and testing the operation of other software that could leave unwelcome residues upon removal,
I reverted back to perfection and chose to reconsider the big *.sys files.

My 25 GB C:\ had 8.5 GB of Free Space, and 16.5 GB Used Space.

An early Christmas present of 4 GB of RAM caused concern.
Same brand and same specification as existing memory, but very "picky" about which slot to use for one device.

Eventually it booted and started up,
but immediately I launched Windows Explorer I saw a big RED bar across C:\.
The *.sys files had each grabbed another 4 GB of HDD to match the extra RAM,
and I was down to only 0.5 GB of free space,
probably not enough to install a Patch Tuesday update and expect a reboot

Hiberfile.sys is now long gone, and Pagefile.sys is now on E:\
and my world is a good place to be in with 15.5 GB of Free Space and 9.5 GB of Used Space.

Regards
Alan

rustberger · 05 Dec 2011

If you want to save another 3 to 4 GB of space, Then you could reduce the size of the winsxs folder.
Reduce Windows 7 WinSxS Folder Size - IIS Hacks | Server and System Administration

alan10 · 05 Dec 2011

Many thanks for that.

On XP I copied Windows\$hf_mig$ to a non-system partition,
and replaced the original with a Reparse Point to minimize the size of a Partition Image backup file.

I was very disappointed when I found that winsxs includes all the functions of %hf_mig$ as part of its remit.
I do not mind losing the ability to UN-install hot-fixes etc should my relocated $hf_mig$ get lost,
but I am sure my Windows 7 Start-up would be greatly delayed if every executable had to be accessed via a reparse point to a relocated winsxs,
and loss of a non-sytem partition that holds winsxs would probably prevent Windows from Starting.

I admit to being confused by reading opinions from different experts -
some insist that winsxs takes almost no REAL space because it is only reparse points to both system32 and SysWow64,
and others say the opposite - that only winsxs holds real files and the others are reparse points.

My view is - my head hurts and I don't want to think about it any more

Removing a redundant 5 GB from my winsxs will halve time by Macrium to compare my 9 GB of current used space with the previous incremental image.

Unfortunately it only seems to be available on payment of 9.95 Euro.
Download
I do not fancy the idea of Torrents or p-to-p file sharing,
and I really prefer everything free.

Just found a new source
Is rapidshare.com safe and legit ?
https://rapidshare.com/#!download|410tl4|2787427207|WinsxsLite1.87.zip|20|R~97131C3D35CAB88907F46B276F9E0A06|0|0

Regards
Alan