Reducing the size of the winsxs folder. WinSxS: what is this folder, can it be deleted or cleaned

Temporary files inevitably accumulate in the operating system, which generally do not affect its stability and performance. The vast majority of them are located in two Temp folders, which over time can begin to weigh several gigabytes. Therefore, users who want to clear HDD, the question arises, is it possible to delete these folders?

Various applications and the operating system itself create temporary files for correct operation software and internal processes. Most of them are stored in Temp folders, which are located at specific addresses. Such folders are not cleaned on their own, so almost all files that end up there remain, despite the fact that they may never be useful again.

Over time, quite a lot of them can accumulate, and the size on the hard drive will decrease, as it will be occupied by these files as well. When faced with the need to free up space on an HDD or SSD, users begin to wonder whether it is possible to delete a folder with temporary files.

You cannot delete Temp folders that are system folders! This may interfere with the performance of programs and Windows. However, you can clear them to free up hard drive space.

Method 1: CCleaner

Simplify the process Windows cleaning possible using third party software. Applications themselves find and clean both temporary folders at once. A program known to many allows you to special effort Free up space on your hard drive, including by clearing Temp folders.

Instead of CCleaner, you can use similar software installed on your PC and equipped with an uninstall function temporary files. If you don't trust third-party software or simply don't want to install uninstall apps, you can use the other methods.

Method 2: Disk Cleanup

Windows has a built-in disk cleanup utility. Among the components and places that it cleans are temporary files.

Method 3: Manual removal

You can always clear the contents of temporary folders manually. To do this, just go to their location, select all the files and delete them as usual.

In one of our articles we already told where the 2 Temp folders are located in modern versions Windows. From 7 and above the path is the same for them.

Once again we want to draw your attention - do not delete entire folders! Go into them and clear the contents, leaving the folders themselves empty.

We looked at the main ways to clean up Temp folders in Windows. For users optimizing their PC software, it will be more convenient to use Methods 1 and 2. For all those who do not use similar utilities, but simply wants to free up space on the drive, Method 3 will do. It makes no sense to constantly delete these files, since most often they weigh little and do not take up PC resources. It is enough to do this only when the space on the system disk is running out due to Temp.

Cleaning the WinSxS folder in Windows 7 correctly

Folder WinSxS Annoys computer users with its size. Attempts to delete its contents usually ended in computer instability or complete system crash. Now safe way Shrinking the WinSxS folder in Windows 7 has appeared.

Typically, the volume hard drive allows you to ignore a folder of several gigabytes. But for perfectionists or owners of relatively small SSD drives, you might still want to make room. The WinSxS folder is located in C:\Windows\winsxs. This is a service folder operating system Windows storage service previously installed versions system components. Thanks to its presence, it is possible to roll back to a more old version updates if necessary.

Why is the WinSxS folder so large and constantly growing in size?
Where does the gigantic size of this folder come from? The fact is that the vast majority of the contents of the WinSxS folder are “hard links” (A file can have several hard links: in this case, it will appear on the disk simultaneously in different directories and/or under different names. The number of hard links of the file is kept at the same level file system in meta information. Files with zero references cease to exist for the system and, over time, will be physically overwritten), and Explorer and many file managers this is not taken into account. The actual weight of this folder is much less than what is written in its properties. Therefore, an attempt to delete part of the contents of the WinSxS folder manually or using programs will almost certainly lead to errors in the operation of the operating system or to a complete loss of functionality.

Following from the purpose of this folder, it has one more property: it is constantly growing in size. Since when updating the system in WinSxS, old versions of the updated files are saved, so that you can roll back to the old version in case of problems. This significantly increases the reliability and fault tolerance of the entire system, but additional hard disk space is required. Accordingly, the size of this folder is different for everyone. It depends on when the system was installed and how often system components were updated. The longer the operating system is installed and the more regular updates occur, the larger size WinSxS folders.

How to empty the WinSxS folder in Windows 7

Using this method prerequisite is the presence of SP1 installed on the system. On October 8, 2013, Microsoft released the recommended update KB2852386, which adds the ability to clean up this folder. You can install it using Windows Update or download the package using Internet Explorer from the Microsoft website. If you are wondering how much space will actually be freed up, you need to compare the free space on the entire system drive before and after cleaning. To do this, click right click mouse by system disk in Explorer and select “Properties” from the menu. We remember how much free space is on the disk.

Now you can perform the procedure to clean the WinSxS folder. To do this, you need to run the Disk Cleanup utility with administrative rights. There are two ways to do this. Click the “Disk Cleanup” button in the above screenshot, and then in the window that appears, the “Clean up system files” button.

The second method is to use the command line running as administrator. Run the cleanmgr command in it. In the window that appears, select the system drive and click “OK”.

Uncheck all the checkboxes except the “Clean up Windows updates” item and click the “OK” button. The WinSxS folder will be cleaned; after completion, you need to reboot the computer. When the system boots, you can call up the disk properties again and see how much free space there is. The difference in readings before and after cleaning allows you to find out how much space has actually been freed up on your computer’s hard drive.

Naturally, the WinSxS folder will remain, and only old versions of files will be deleted. Moreover, all versions except the penultimate one are deleted. This leads to the conclusion that you shouldn’t expect miracles, for some people there may be nothing to delete at all, for others several hundred megabytes will be deleted, but if the system was installed a long time ago and was frequently updated, then most likely you can count on several gigabytes. By the way, in Windows 8, the ability to clean the WinSxS folder from old versions of updates has existed for a long time.

An optional Disk Cleanup Wizard allows users to remove outdated Windows updates on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 --

For all supported 64-bit versions of Windows 7
(downloads: 2421)

For all supported (x32) 86-bit versions of Windows 7
(downloads: 515)

Reducing folder sizes WinVista & Win7 WinSxS (10/14/09):

When updating the operating system Windows systems, installation and modification of programs, a lot of information is saved “in reserve”. As it accumulates, it takes up a lot of disk space, also slowing down the computer. To optimize the OS, you need to periodically clean up system folders and files. But this should be done carefully; careless actions can disrupt the performance of the system. We will tell you how to properly clean Windows of debris.

Windows 7 system folders that require cleaning

Windows 7 creates complex structure folders stored on all computer drives and necessary for its services and the operation of user programs. Usually, Deleting system folders entirely is unacceptable. However, some of the files stored in them have already lost their relevance. To search and delete such files, use special means, included in the OS, or developed in addition to its capabilities. The following describes the actions that need to be performed when cleaning, mainly in relation to home basic Windows versions 7. However, in other versions, the differences consist mainly in the translation of the names of sections and system tools into Russian.

Typically, Explorer hides system folders. To see them, select “Control Panel” from the Start menu and then “Folder Options”. If you can't see the All Control Panel Items tab, change your viewing method from Categories to Large Icons or Small Icons.

On the “View” tab, in the list of additional options, check the very last item “Show hidden files, folders and drives”.

When cleaning, pay attention to the volume of folders. There is no point in wasting time cleaning small folders. To understand which folders take up the most space, download WinDirStat. Please note that this program sometimes distorts the size of folders by counting files that have hard links from several times. different folders. This is due to the peculiarity of the file NTFS systems, in which the contents of folders are determined by links that do not necessarily point to a unique file.

Do not rush to delete information if in doubt. And be sure to provide a rollback option: before changing anything, make sure archiving is enabled. To do this, in the “Control Panel” select “System and its maintenance” (“System and Security”) or immediately “Backup and Restore”.

If archiving is not configured, click “Configure backup» and then follow the system instructions.

Unnecessary information, which it is advisable to periodically delete, is stored primarily in the following folders and files:

Temp;
Temporary internet files;
Winsxs;
System volume information;
appdata;
System32;
Pagefile.sys;
Assembly;
Installer;
Driverstore;
Download;

Windows 7 has general remedy cleaning most folders. To launch it, open command line on behalf of the administrator. This can be done by right-clicking on free space desktop while held Shift key and selecting “Open command window” from the menu that opens. Then type cleanmgr, press Enter, select the C: drive and wait for the cleanup tool to determine what can be deleted on it.

Pay attention to two numbers: at the top it says how much space the program can free on the selected disk (in the example, 0.99 GB), and under the window listing storage locations - how much it will free up with the choice made (903 MB). After looking through the proposals, first of all, select those places where there is the most garbage. Then press the "Clean up system files" button.

Repeat the cleaning on all computer drives.

How to clean your computer from unnecessary files and junk

Although universal remedy cleaning described above is very convenient and quite safe, sometimes it is not enough.

Temp folders

The OS creates several Temp folders. The general is located in Windows folder, personal ones are located in the user profile in AppData->Local. If several profiles have been created on your computer, to clean each one you will have to log into the OS under the corresponding name. To avoid searching your profile for a long time, press Win+R and type %temp% in the line that opens. Don't forget that Temp folders themselves cannot be deleted!

Temp contains working files used when executing and updating programs. After the work is completed, the files are no longer needed, but are often not deleted. They can be removed manually by simply selecting all the files in the folder using the Ctrl+A buttons, right-clicking on any of them and selecting “Delete”.

It is possible that some files will not be deleted; the system will say that they are already in use. Check the "Run... for all objects" box and click "Skip".

Do this for the c:\Windows\temp folder and each personal folder.

Temporary internet files

Information from web pages is saved here to speed up your Internet experience. When you enter a site that you have already visited, the browser does not read everything that is there, but only the changes that have occurred since the previous visit. This is useful, so usually the temporary Internet files folders are not cleaned. Moreover, you can set the “Used disk space” parameter for them. If exceeded given size old information will be deleted automatically.

If you still need to clear these files, open the “Network and Internet” section in the Control Panel.

Select Internet Options (Internet Options).

The General tab allows you to set options, including size Temporary folders internet files. There is also a “Delete” button to clear it.

If several profiles have been created on your computer, then there will be several folders for temporary Internet files. This operation will have to be repeated for each user using the Internet.

Winsxs

There is a storage of old ones in the Windows folder system files, changed after installing the next OS update. This is Winsxs. Not only can it not be completely removed, but it is also strictly forbidden to clean it yourself. To clean, use the cleanmgr universal cleaner described above. In the list of garbage places, find the line “Windows Update Cleanup”, check the box next to it and start cleaning.

However, there may not be such a line. The fact is that cleaning the Winsxs folder was added only in 2013 with the KB2852386 update. If it is not there, check if you have Service Pack 1. You can make sure it is available by pressing Win+PauseBreak or right-clicking on the “Computer” line in Explorer and then selecting the “Properties” line.

If you don't have it, download and install Service Pack 1. Restart your computer. The next step is to install the update itself. It can be found. After this, a line to clear updates should appear.

System volume information

As mentioned above, when working with system folders Backup must be enabled. However, copies stored in System volume information also take up a lot of space. In addition, the folder was chosen by virus developers. If the problem is only the volume of the folder, limit the space available to it. To do this, go to the system properties - for example, by clicking Win+PauseBreak and on the “System Protection” tab, click “Configure”. In the "Usage" section disk space» select an acceptable folder size. Here you can delete all backups, including the last one (the “Delete” button).

An alternative option is cleanmgr, an all-in-one cleaner. It deletes all backups except the last one. Having launched it as described above, you need to go to the “Advanced” tab and select “System Restore and shadow copying" Next, click the “Clear” button and in response to the following questions, confirm your desire to delete files.

Removing System volume information itself is not fatal for Windows 7, but it is not recommended to check this fact. However, you can manually delete files from it, although the developers have done everything to make this difficult. If you have not done so before, enable the “Show hidden files and folders” property, as described at the beginning of the article. Find the folder in Explorer and right-click on its name. In the menu that appears, select the last line - “Properties”. On the Security tab, click Continue.

In the list of users who have rights to the folder, you will see a single user - the system. Click on the "Add" button. To avoid guessing what name you're logged in under, click the More button and then Search.

By double-clicking on the name in the list of found users, you will add yourself to those who have rights to the folder. But you will receive minimal permissions. To expand them, highlight yourself in the list and click on top line « Full access" In this case, check marks will appear in all lines of the permission list. Click OK or Apply.

After this, you will have rights to all actions in this folder. But proceed carefully so as not to deprive yourself of the opportunity to restore the system in case of problems. After completing the planned work, remove the rights granted to yourself so that viruses do not take advantage of them.

Appdata

Appdata folders are located in user profiles and are intended to store settings and other personalized data used by various applications. If you installed a program, used it for a while, and then deleted it, then no one needs it configuration files will remain in this folder, possibly taking up significant space. Typically Appdata contains three subfolders.

The main one is Local, it contains the most information. Here are the folders Temp and Temporary Internet Files that we discussed above. Let us remind you that they can be cleaned, but not removed. Not recommended to touch Microsoft folder. Removing or clearing the rest will deprive you of some of the usual settings in the corresponding applications, if you still use them.

The Roaming folder contains settings of the same kind that can be transferred to another device. If you installed the application on another computer, then simply copying the corresponding folder from Roaming will partially replace the choice of settings that are familiar to you. There may also be folders corresponding to applications you don’t use; you can safely delete them.

The LocalLow folder is small and is used by several programs to store buffer data. There is no particular point in cleaning it; it will soon return to approximately the same size anyway.

System32 (DriveStory)

This folder contains a lot of important information. Drivers for devices that are no longer in use may be redundant. They are located in the DriverStory folder. Do not delete this folder under any circumstances or try to manually empty it! For this there are special utilities- standard pnputil.exe or:

If you don't know what bit capacity your system has, press Win+PauseBreak again. In the system information group, its type is indicated - 32 or 64 bits.

Before cleaning a folder using the utility, create a backup copy as described above. Next, you need to set the devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices parameter, which is necessary to display unused devices. To do this, open the system information section again (for example, using the Win+PauseBreak buttons), select " Extra options system" and press the " Environment Variables" In the "Environment Variables for XXX" section (XXX is the user you are running as), click the "Create" button. Enter the parameter name devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and its value 1.

Then go to Device Manager and disable those that you no longer need. Unused devices are marked gray. Be careful not to disable anything you're not sure about.

After downloading from the site http://www.jaswindows.ru/ a utility that corresponds to the bit size of your system, unpack it into any folder. Go to this folder and run driver_cleanup.exe as administrator. After scanning DriverStory, the utility will indicate the volume that can be freed. On a Latin keyboard, press y to clear, or n if you don't want to clear.

Pagefile.sys file

Pagefile.sys is called the page file. Strictly speaking, this is not even a file, but disk space reserved for storing information that does not fit in random access memory(RAM). If fast memory not enough for all the programs and services running simultaneously on your computer, the processor transfers some of their information here and, if necessary, reads it from the disk as if it were in RAM. This reduces performance, but does not cause fatal crashes due to lack of fast memory.

If the Pagefile.sys file is used very intensively, in addition to decreased performance, disk load also increases. Particularly sensitive to frequent rewriting of information solid state drives(SSD). To prevent this from leading to premature hardware failure, consider increasing the amount of RAM. You can check the download by pressing the three “magic” buttons Ctrl+Alt+Delete and selecting “Launch task manager”.

Of course, you cannot clean Pagefile.sys, but you can reduce its size according to your capabilities and move it to a freer device. To do this, go to system properties and select “Advanced system settings”. Then go to the Advanced tab. In the "Performance" section there is one button "Options". By clicking on it, select the “Advanced” tab again and pay attention to the amount of allocated memory.

By clicking the "Edit" button, you will have the option to resize or transfer the file in whole or in part to another device.

Assembly

Some users feel the urge to clean Assembly folder on Windows. Indeed, its volume can be relatively large, but you should not interfere with it. It is created and supported by the Framework. Here is his service information. The exception is subfolders of temporary Temp files and Tmp, the contents of which can be manually cleared (without deleting the folders themselves!), but their size is usually small.

Installer

Installation files are stored in Windows\Installer installed programs. They may be required for reinstallation and uninstallation. However, to reinstall the program it is better to download new version, and you can also remove it using non-system means, for example, Total Uninstall.

Still, you shouldn’t completely delete the contents of this folder unless absolutely necessary. More reliable option- move it to a freer device. To do this, it’s not enough to just copy the folder; you need to make sure that the rights on the new device match the original ones and set a soft link to the new location (for example, d:\). This is done with the command mklink /j c:\windows\installer d:\installer, which should be typed in the command line launched, as described at the beginning of the article.

Downloads (DownLoad)

These folders, located in each user's profile, contain data you downloaded from the Internet. They are clearly visible in Explorer and you can always remove from them what you no longer need or transfer to another device necessary information. More radical solution- transfer these folders themselves to a freer device as described above for the Installer folder.

Deleting unnecessary information from the disk, remember that even with correct actions with system information Problems may arise due to random events such as power failure, virus intervention, etc. Therefore, be sure to make a backup copy before such actions. the main objective cleaning - eliminating interference with high-performance processor operation, so pay attention mainly to large amounts of data. Good luck with your work!

When you see the WinSxS directory, what kind of folder is it anyway, and why does it weigh so much? You cannot erase all content. By at least, in the usual way. If you delete important system files, problems will occur in the OS. But the directory size increases over time. And it will be useful to figure out how to clean it and whether it can be done at all.

WinSxS is located in the root directory of the OS (usually C:\Windows) in all modern Win, starting from version 7. The files and directories that are located there are necessary for the operation of the operating system. If they are removed, changed, moved or renamed, serious problems can arise. At best there will be errors. At worst, Windows will no longer start. And you will have to restore it. Therefore, before you clean out any system directory, make sure that it will not damage the OS or cause critical failures. And to understand whether it is possible to remove WinSxS, you need to understand why it is needed.

It stores files that are needed for Windows recovery. After each update it is created backup copy- a certain image of the system. With it, you can return Win to the state it was before the update. This is useful and required function- after all, new versions of programs and services do not always work stably.

If you installed the OS recently, then WinSxS will be “small” - only a few gigabytes. But over time, the directory grows or takes up more and more disk space. Its size sometimes reaches 10-30 GB. Moreover, some of the content may no longer be needed. Why would you go back to a security update you downloaded a year ago?

But you can't just clear the entire folder. Or delete some “old” files by looking at their creation date. If you act carelessly or thoughtlessly, the system will cease to function. You can reduce the size of this directory using some built-in OS tools. Or just reinstall Win.

The memory that is listed in the WinSxS properties is slightly different from the “real” weight of the folder. In fact, it is slightly smaller, since some of the content is hard links (symbolic). The conductor “does not notice” them.

If several days have passed after the update and the OS is working normally, then a backup copy is no longer needed. But it is recommended to erase only “old” files. After all, they definitely won’t be needed. Complete cleaning WinSxS folders Windows 7 is not possible. Only certain files can be deleted. To do this, SP1 must be installed.

The freed up space can be distributed more usefully: download applications, download videos, save personal data, and so on. Or leave some memory for system needs.

How do I know if SP1 is installed?

It was in Windows 7 SP1 that access to Win SxS appeared. IN previous versions Win cleaning this folder was impossible. To see if this package is in the OS:

Go to the “Control Panel” (for example, through the “Start” menu).
Open the System option under the System and Security category.
The “Edition” field should contain information: OS version, Microsoft copyright, year of creation. If there is a line “Service Pack 1”, then everything is in order and the directory can be edited.

Before cleaning

Before clearing WinSxS, you need to download one update (if it is not already installed).

Go to Start - Programs - Update Center.

Click on "Optional Updates". If such an item is not there, it means that all services are already loaded.
In the list, find the update with the number “KB2852386”.
Check the box and confirm installation.

Without this update, WinSxS cleaning will not be available. It can also be downloaded from the official Microsoft website.

Go to com.
In the search bar at the top right, enter “KB2852386.”
Select the update that is suitable for your system: 32-bit or 64-bit.
To do this, right-click on the “My Computer” icon, then on “Properties”. The “Type” line will indicate the Windows bit depth.

Cleaning

If you are wondering how to remove WinSxS, give up this idea. This folder cannot be completely erased. It is also not recommended to manually remove files from there. There will be unpleasant consequences. But clearing some of the contents and slightly reducing the size of the directory is a very real task.

Disk Cleanup Function

Right-click on the system disk. A context menu will open.
Select the "Properties" line.
General tab.
"Disk Cleanup".

Click on Disk Cleanup

Check the box " Windows Updates" If it is not there, click on the “System Files” button. Required line should appear.
Confirm the action by clicking on “OK” and then on “Delete”.
Wait for the process to complete. Next, you may need to restart your PC.
The service only gets rid of unnecessary updates. It is not possible to erase the entire folder.

Command line in Windows 10

WinSxS in Windows 10 can be cleared if you use the console.

Right-click on the Start menu. It looks like the Win logo.
Select "Command Prompt" and run it as an administrator.
Enter the command “Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore”.
The system will analyze and make recommendations.
If she suggests deleting unnecessary files, use the command “Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup”. The cleaning will begin.
If the directory weighs less than 5 GB, it is better not to touch it. Otherwise, the opposite effect will result - an increase in volume instead of optimization.

If the WinSxS folder takes up too much space, you can clean it up. This is done through special OS services or the command line. You should not change the contents of the directory directly. If you delete all files using the “Delete - Enter” method, serious problems will arise.

The winsxs folder often causes a lot of negative reactions from users. Not everyone needs its functionality, but at the same time it takes up a huge amount of space on your hard drive. And the older Windows is, the larger the directory size. Employees Microsoft warn that you should never delete the directory, as this can lead to a complete breakdown of the operating system. IN this manual the winsxs folder is considered and proper cleaning this directory in Windows 7.

What does it contain

The winsxs folder contains information about all versions of all updates that were installed on your Personal Computer. Accordingly, the longer Windows has been in service and the more often you install updates, the more data will be stored here.

This was done to restore the system in case of an unsuccessful or unwanted update. Let's assume that during the installation process, your power was turned off and your computer was shut down in an emergency. The wizard has already written some data to the registry, causing Windows to think that the update has been installed. But many files are missing, and attempts to access them lead to a system crash.

Or the update was installed successfully, but you are not happy with the changes it introduced. For example, it disrupted the operation of the activator, and your OS began to issue messages about the need to purchase licensed version. In these cases, you can simply remove the update and roll back the unsuccessful system change to an acceptable state.

Preparation

The first thing to note is that simply deleting the entire directory or some of its internal elements is strongly not recommended. This will certainly lead to instability Windows work. This applies to both standard method by moving to the cart or using third party applications, like CCleaner.

So how can you clean this directory? To do this, you will need to install the optional update KB2852386, released by Microsoft in 2013. It is suitable for both x64 and x86 bit systems. You can connect this update via standard interface Windows:

Cleaning Windows

Now you can use the functions that the OS changes brought:

Modern storage media have a significant volume (by the standards of system Windows files). Even on a very ancient and long-suffering OS with x64 architecture, the size of the described directory will not exceed 20 gigabytes. In other words, by today's standards, winsxs takes up very little space.