CheckSUR Logs and Component Store Bloat

[Jody Thornton]

Hi Folks:

I vLited my Vista installation back in Feb 2014. I integrated IE9 and all updates to that point. SP2 was already part of the source. And I've removed such goodies as Indexing, Remote Assistance, System Restore, Simple TCP, Terminal Services and lord know what else. It runs great and really lean. And no event log errors.

Now I recently had to fix up a bunch of .NET and Windows Update issues. So I'm back to running well again. As a final step I ran The System Readiness Tool. When I look at the CheckSUR.log that it creates, I find references to files in the Component Store that appear orphaned, or else the payload/file is missing (and most of it looks like it's from the junk I removed with vLite)

So here's my question: would it be fair to say that if a line in CheckSUR.log reads as:

Checking Package Watchlist
(f) CSI Payload File Missing 0x00000000 mshwkorr.dll amd64_microsoft-windows-t..reinkrecognition.ko_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6001.18000_none_600bc58be4a7864a

... that I could delete either the WinSxS folder that corrresponds with it, or the registry entry that matches it, without doing damage to the system?

 

[SIW2]

You won't know unless you try. You will have made an image before trying, I am sure.

You could give winsxslite a go.

 

[Jody Thornton]

You could give winsxslite a go.

Man I wish. I checked that out a year ago, but it's not for x64 builds.
I was just wondering if anyone had a definitive answer. Sometimes I like trial and error, but sometimes I just like to get the green light...lol

 

[SIW2]

Works fine on x64 for me. Check your PM.

 

[Jody Thornton]

I only ever was able to find 1.87. It's running now while I'm at work, so I'll keep you posted.

 

[Jody Thornton]

OK well here's an update as to how it went.

First off, it removed a whopping 8 GB form the Component Store. I had 28.6 GB free to start, and 37.1 GB free afterwards. Now, it's not without issue. I have problem running certain apps like Kingsoft Office, or my Power Search utility, because winmm.dll is "missing", and then netapi32.dll errors out as "missing" too. I was about to pull out my Vista DVD and restore them, but both the x64 and x86 libraries were in System32 and SysWow64 (hmmmmmm). I tried registering them with regsrvr32 and but that doesn't work.

There are 8 additional hardlinks that need to be restored during a restart. But that can't run until I get winmm.dll and net32api.dll repaired. So I'm running repeated SFC scans and rebooting. (SFC exceeds the number of corrupt files it can fix each time. So I'm repeating the rpocess. Meanwhile at least browsing and email work, so I'm good there.

The process continues....

 

[SIW2]

I don't recall having those issues, maybe it is just a few programs which would be affected.

Are you sure the dlls are there? Might be links. Check in the registry and see what the winmm.dll and netapi32.dll entries are pointing.

C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-netapi32_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6002.18005_none_8f1f941efeb1a97e
C:\Windows\winsxs\Manifests\x86_microsoft-windows-netapi32_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6002.18005_none_8f1f941efeb1a97e.manifest


Easiest way to search is to use the excellent freebie regscanner. RegScanner: Alternative to RegEdit find/search/scan of Windows

 

[Jody Thornton]

When I get home, I'll search it out. What you're saying is the files that I see in System32 and SysWow64 could be just hardlinks? I'll check to see if any registry key gives me a hint.

 

[Jody Thornton]

Yeah I was searching on this Win7 machine at work, but nothing comes up for those in the registry. Oh well.

 

[SIW2]

In the components hive.

Check your vista hd and see if those are in winsxs, also check the dlls inside are present, they may have been renamed/removed.

 

[Jody Thornton]

It was taking a great deal of time to resolve. I was in a safe position to reinstall Vista, so I did. Pretty much back to normal now. And I managed to fix a few things from the old installation.

I wonder if (even when used properly) if WinSXS Lite breaks uninstallers or Windows Update. It really did save a lot of space though. Darn! LOL

 

[SIW2]

Not sure what the problem was. Worked ok for me.

Maybe using vlite and then wlite causes conflict.

Possibly language file problem. Might work by skipping the language removal part of wlite.

 

[Jody Thornton]

Yeah perhaps having removed components with vLite may have added to the situation. Oh well, I can still recover a small amount by deleting ManifestCache, and I suppose media files. Nonetheless, I'm back up and running noew, and it's working well so I'll stick with it.

Cheers,
Jody

 

[Jody Thornton]

Hey SIW2:

On the final phase (when I had to reboot to apply the permissions back) were you able to run subinacl.exe? My understanding is that is only for an x86 system. Is that correct?