Help with winsxs

[Ramzy]

I know that this folder contains multiple copies of the same DLL's in order to help with compatibility... And i know that this folder has a tenancy to get fairly large over time, however mine is just starting to get too big.

I see people complaining that the folder is 1GB, 2.5GB, 3.5GB... But look at mine:

My Vista partition is only 20GB because i use my OTHER partitions to store games and large data... However no matter how good i am at keeping my data sorted, this folder has a mind of its own, and is already using up half my partition... And every single day it's getting larger, and larger.

I can last a LONG time without having to format because i keep my computer clean, defragged, and running without viruses... But the winsxs folder is presenting me with a problem that gets worse, day by day.

What the hell can i do??

 

[Jim R]

Welcome to VISTA bloat ware. Mine is about the same size.

 

[acdcfan]

Welcome to Vista
Mine is 22.5Gb

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Ramzy, welcome to Vista forums!

Have a look at this thread for an explanation; at the link below.

http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/192562-free-space-dramatic-decrease.html#post886168

Keep us informed!












Later Ted

 

[Barman58]

Hi all just some information on the WinSXS directory

If you are working on a fixed size system drive / partition

This folder can be moved whilst keeping a working system

it is however not for the casual user it involves some scary modifications to the system

Only consider this if you have no other alternative (drives are cheap these days)

for those interested check out this ...

How to move the WinSXS folder in Vista. | a Single Point of Contact

As I say not a simple one click solution and if you do decide it is needed for your system then be careful and read the instructions fully before you start.

I have performed some tests on non critical folders and the technique does work but again be careful :D

 

[Ramzy]

Well, i've got about 1.5TB of hard drive space, but like i said, for years my Windows partition has always been 20GB, simply because i have never exceeded that size (after reducing paging file and turning off system restore)

I'll have a look at moving the winsxs folder, thanks.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Ramze.

If you're still watching this; I just got some info about this from dmex in this article.

While it’s true that WinSxS does consume some disk space by simply existing, and there are a number of metadata files, folders, manifests, and catalogs in it, it’s significantly smaller than reported. The actual amount of storage consumed varies, but on a typical system it is about 400MB. While that is not small, we think the robustness provided for servicing is a reasonable tradeoff.

So why does the shell report hard links the way it does? Hard links work to optimize disk footprint for duplicate files all over the system. Application developers can use this functionality to optimize the disk consumption of their applications as well. It’s critical that any path expected by an application appear as a physical file in the file system to support the appropriate loading of the actual file. In this case, the shell is just another application reporting on the files it sees. As a result of this confusion and a desire to reduce disk footprint, many folks have endeavored to just delete this directory to save space.

There have been several blogs and even some “underground” tools that tell you it’s ok to delete the WinSxS directory, and it’s certainly true that after installation, you can remove it from the system and it will appear that the system boots and runs fine. But as described above, this is a very bad practice, as you’re removing the ability to reliably service, all operating system components and the ability to update or configure optional components on your system. Windows Vista only supports the WinSxS directory on the physical drive in its originally installed location. The risks far outweigh the gains removing it or relocating it from the system, given the data described above.

Read more at the source.


Later Ted

 

[Barman58]

Thank you Ted and Dmex,

certainly changes my view of winsxs

The strange thing is that the method that I quoted to move the folder uses exactly the same function that makes the folder seem so large in the first place - Hard Links

The bottom line is then that if you have a fixed drive or partition that is near to full then moving the WINSXS folder will not recover the space you need.

will have to look into the possibility of using the technique to move other space hogs