Windows 7 is growing. WinSxS - what is this folder? How to shrink WinSxS? Can I delete the WinSxS folder? Removing old updates through the Disk Cleanup utility

When you see the WinSxS directory - what is this folder in general, and why does it weigh so much? You cannot erase all content. At least in the usual way. If you delete important system files, the OS will malfunction. But the size of the directory grows over time. And it will be useful to figure out how to clean it and whether it is possible, in general, to do it.

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 there are needed for the operating system to work. If you remove, change, move, or rename them, serious problems can arise. At best, errors will appear. At worst, Windows will no longer start. And you have to restore it. Therefore, before you clear any system directory, make sure that it does not damage the OS and does not cause critical failures. And in order to understand whether WinSxS can be removed, you need to figure out what it is for.

It stores the files that are needed to restore Windows. After each update, a backup is created - a certain image of the system. With it, you will be able to return Win to the state it was before the update. This is a useful and necessary feature - 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 sizes sometimes reach 10-30 GB. Moreover, some of the content may no longer be needed. Why would you go back to the 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 stop functioning. It is possible to reduce the size of this directory using some built-in OS tools. Or just reinstall Win.

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

If several days have passed after the update and the OS is working normally, then the backup is no longer needed. However, it is recommended to erase only "old" files. After all, they definitely won't be needed. Full cleaning of the WinSxS folder in Windows 7 is not possible. Only some files are allowed to be deleted. This requires SP1 to be installed.

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

How do I know if SP1 is installed?

It was in Windows 7 SP1 that access to Win SxS appeared. In previous versions of Win, clearing this folder was not possible. To see if this package is on the OS:

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

Before cleaning

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

• Go to Start - Programs - Update Center.

• Click on "Optional Updates". If there is no such item there, then all services are already loaded.
• Find the update with the number "KB2852386" in the list.
• Check the box and confirm the installation.

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

1. Go to com.
2. In the search bar at the top right, enter "KB2852386".
3. Choose the update that suits your system: 32-bit or 64-bit.
4. To, right-click on the "My Computer" icon, then on the "Properties" item. The line "Type" will indicate the bitness of Windows.

Cleaning

If you are wondering how to remove WinSxS, give up this idea. You cannot completely erase this folder. It is also not recommended to manually remove files from there. There will be unpleasant consequences. But clearing some of the content and making the directory a little smaller is a very realistic task.

Disk cleanup function

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

Click on Disk Cleanup

• Check Windows Updates. If it is not there, click on the "System Files" button. The required line should appear.
• Confirm the action by clicking on "OK" and then on "Delete".
• Wait for the process to finish. Next, a PC restart may be required.
• The service only gets rid of unnecessary updates. You cannot erase the entire folder.

Command Prompt in Windows 10

WinSxS in Windows 10 can be cleared by using the console.

1. Right click on the Start Menu. It looks like the Win logo.
2. Select "Command Prompt" and run it as administrator.
3. Enter the command "Dism.exe / online / cleanup-image / AnalyzeComponentStore".
4. The system will analyze and issue recommendations.
5. If it prompts you to remove unnecessary files, use the command "Dism.exe / online / cleanup-image / StartComponentCleanup". Cleaning starts.
6. If the directory weighs less than 5 GB, it is better not to touch it. Otherwise, the opposite effect will turn out - 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. Do not modify 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. Its functionality is not needed by everyone, but at the same time, it takes up a huge amount of hard disk space. And the older Windows is, the larger the directory size. Microsoft employees warn that you should never delete the directory, as this can lead to a complete breakdown of the operating system. This guide covers the winsxs folder and how to properly clean 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 served and the more often you install updates, the more data will be stored here.

This is done in order to restore the system in case of a failed or unwanted update. Suppose that during the installation process, your power was turned off and the computer was shut down. The wizard has already written part of the data in the registry, as a result of which Windows thinks 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 satisfied with the changes it introduced. For example, it disrupted the activator's work, and your OS began to issue messages about the need to purchase a licensed version. In these cases, you can simply delete the update and roll back the unsuccessful system change to an acceptable state.

Training

The first thing to note is that it is strongly discouraged to simply delete the entire directory or any of its internal elements. This will certainly lead to unstable Windows. This applies both to the standard way by moving to the trash, and to the use of third-party applications like CCleaner.

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

Cleaning Windows

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

Modern storage media have a significant volume (by the standards of Windows system 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, winsxs takes up very little space by today's standards.

Therefore, it is recommended to resort to the manipulations described in this manual only in the most extreme situations, when the system disk is clogged to the dump, and there is absolutely nothing else to delete. In this case, the extra 10-20 gigabytes that you free up may be worth the opportunity to roll back Windows updates. And on young systems up to two years old, it is unlikely that even 1 GB of records will accumulate.

Often, when free space on the hard disk runs out, users start looking for unnecessary files and folders on the computer in order to delete them. Searches lead some people to the address C: \\ Windows \\ winsxs and the question arises how to clear the winsxs folder.

It is extremely important to know what is stored in this folder and what consequences may follow if you do not take its cleaning seriously.

Introduction

First you need to figure out what it is for. We will talk about solving the problem on Windows 7, since newer versions of Windows have a system cleanup function by default.

Winsxs is a system folder designed to store previously installed versions of programs and components. Thanks to it, you can roll back to an older version of the update. On the one hand, this is very useful, on the other hand, the longer you use your OS, the larger the size of this folder will be.

CLEANING WINSXS

So is it possible to delete the winsxs folder? It is worth starting with the fact that it is strongly not recommended to delete this folder. Otherwise, you are guaranteed unstable system operation, errors, the computer may not boot and you will not be able to update the OS.

First of all, you need to install Service Pack 1 and KB2852386. This update will add Disk Cleanup to Windows. It is not difficult to do this in several ways; The easiest way will be to go to the official site microsoft.com, enter "update KB2852386" in the site search bar.

1. In the "Downloads" section, select "Update for Windows 7 (KB2852386)" and click download. After downloading, install it and go to step # 2.

2. If you haven't updated your OS for a long time, you can use the "Windows7 Update". Going into it, search for updates, then click on the text showing how many updates were found, then click "Install updates".

• In the search bar on the start bar (or command line) enter cleanmgr and run the application;
• Select drive C, then in the window select "Clean up Windows updates" (it will be available only if there is something to delete).
• Click "OK", wait.
• Restart your computer.

Folder WinSxS (Windows Side By Side) is a component store and is found in Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 and can be up to 20 GB in size. It is located along the path C: \\ Windows \\ Winsxs and has a "system" level. This means that you do not have to delete anything manually, compress and move data in this folder to reduce it. Also, I do not recommend using third-party programs to clean this folder. In the WinSxS folder, many files use a technique called Hard Linking. This hard link feature allows multiple files to access the same location without creating a copy of that location or data. And this is the main reason why you should not delete anything if you do not want to disrupt the system and start programs.

The WinSxS folder contains multiple copies of "dll", "exe" and other files, which allows applications to run in Windows without compatibility issues. Windows update and installation files are also stored, including backup files, so that whenever the original files fail, you can easily restore your Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 system. For example, when Windows 10 is updated, a new version of the updated component is installed on the system, and the old one is saved in the WinSxS folder. This is necessary for application compatibility and rollback capability. Over time, the WinSxS folder is constantly growing and this leads to a lack of space on the system local drive.

How to properly empty WinSxS folder in Windows 10/7 / 8.1

1 way... This method is suitable for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1... Open a command prompt as administrator and enter the following command, which will analyze the WinSxS folder and give a recommendation for cleaning, in my case it says "Yes".

• Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / AnalyzeComponentStore

Enter the following command to start cleaning.

• Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / StartComponentCleanup

If it seems to you that the WinSxS folder still weighs a lot after cleaning, then enter another command. It will help you remove all superseded versions of each component in the component store.

• Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / StartComponentCleanup / ResetBase

We can now reduce the amount of space used by the service pack. To do this, enter the command below. I didn't have old updates, you may have the same.

• Dism.exe / online / Cleanup-Image / SPSuperseded

2 way... This method is suitable for Windows 7 and all other versions. The bottom line is standard disk cleanup, which will help you reduce the size of the WinSxS folder. Right click on the local drive C: \\ where Window 7 itself is installed and select " properties". Next click" Disk cleanup", select all the checkboxes and below click the button" Clean up system files". You will see a new window, where in fact you need to delete old Windows updates, but I recommend that you select all the checkboxes and click" OK "

Not so long ago, most home PCs were equipped with hard drives, the volumes of which were extremely far from epic. In particular, it was often possible to find a car with a 30 GB hard drive or even less.

Of course, at that time there was a struggle for almost every free megabyte on the hard drive. As the years passed, the size of storage media gradually grew. Today it is no longer uncommon for a home PC with one or two terabytes on board, and therefore the concern about the lack of free space of users practically does not visit.

WinSxS folder

However, this does not apply to all users. For example, some of them are haunted by cleaning WinSxS. What is this abbreviation? This is the name of the system folder, whose size is often the subject of discussion on computer forums.

Advanced users are haunted by the fact that this malicious directory has the unpleasant property of constantly growing. And it does it even if you don't install any programs on your computer!

It happens that the size of this "miracle folder" exceeds several tens of GB. In this case, inexperienced users begin to reinstall the system, sinning on proliferated viruses, and the minds of their more well-read colleagues again begins to be completely absorbed by the correct cleaning of WinSxS.

What is it for?

Here we should stop and explain the purpose of the directory, which is located at the following address: C: \\ Windows \\ winsxs. In this service folder, Windows operating systems store old versions of some of their files, which, if necessary, can be quickly restored from oblivion.

Why is it constantly increasing?

Many inexperienced users have a persistent misconception that begins to grab huge chunks of free disk space immediately after installing the system itself. This is far from the case.

To begin with, the size specified in the properties of the directory has little to do with the real state of affairs. Keep in mind that many of the files that are supposedly in this directory are actually located elsewhere. Their size is taken into account only because of the "hard" links in Explorer.

Let us immediately warn especially enterprising citizens: do not turn on the mode of displaying hidden files, and then manually delete all content from the folder. Yes, you will indeed win a fraction of the free space, but only your joy will be very short-lived. The system will quickly respond to such mockery, and therefore very soon all work on the computer will be overshadowed by constant crashes and crashes on the blue screen.

There are several safe ways in which a WinSxS cleanup can be done with no consequence. In this article, we will look at them.

Windows 7

Until recently, OS users could not even imagine that many important functions will finally be implemented directly into the system. Everything changed after the appearance of a set of "patches" SP1 for "seven".

More recently, on October 8, 2013, Microsoft pleased its users with the KB2852386 update, which added the ability to routinely clean this directory into the system. If you have enabled automatic download and installation of updates, then it probably is on your system.

We start the cleaning procedure

Even the most inexperienced user can handle this. First, open the "My Computer" window. Then you need to right-click on the system disk, select Properties from the context menu that appears, and then go to the General tab in the dialog box that appears.

Below is the "Disk Cleanup" button, which should be pressed. A utility window will start, which will spend some time analyzing the amount of disk space that can be freed after all operations. Another dialog box will open to acquaint you with the results of these analyzes.

You should be interested in the "Clean up system files" button, which is located just below the list of all system resources that can be cleaned up. Click on it, confirm your actions by clicking on "OK" in the UAC window that appears.

The analysis will start again, after which another window will appear again. In it you can finally poke on the "Ok" button, after which the WinSxS cleaning will be completed.

Another way

There is another method, in which you will need to use a command line emulator running as administrator. How to do it?

First, click on the "Start" button, look for the "Search" item in the menu that opens. In this field, type the word CMD, then find the file of the same name in the right part of the working window. Right-click on it, and then select "Run as administrator" in the context menu that appears.

What to do next?

A terminal window will open, launched with elevated privileges. Copy and paste the cleanmgr command there, press the Enter key. The program for cleaning the WinSxS folder will appear again, in the drop-down list of which you need to select the system disk, and then click on the "OK" button. Then carry out the same operation as described in the first cleaning method.

We recommend that you uncheck all boxes, except for the "Clean up Windows updates" item. Check everything again, and then click on the "OK" button. This will clean up the WinSxS folder. Cleaning Windows 7 assumes that after performing this step, you will definitely send the system to reboot.

After that, you can go back to "My Computer" and estimate how much space has been freed up. As we have already said, in especially advanced cases, this difference can be very, very significant.

Benefits of Windows 8 / 8.1, or Automated Cleaning

Despite all the criticism that fell upon the G8 immediately after its release, it had important advantages from the beginning. So, the ability to remove old updates has always been there, so users of new systems from Microsoft do not need to clear the WinSxS folder. Windows 8 is fully automated in this regard, so you don't even have to configure anything.

In "Seven" something similar to set up is also quite realistic. In order for you to have automatic cleaning of the WinSxS folder, Windows 7 must be started from under the administrator account. In addition, you will need to log into an elevated terminal emulator.

We have already described this technology in detail above. When you see a terminal window, copy the following line into it: schtasks / Create / TN CleanupWinSxS / RL Highest / SC monthly / TR "cleanmgr / sagerun: 88". Then you can press Enter.

From now on, in the first days of each month, the folder will be automatically cleaned of any debris. If you want to adjust the execution time, click on the "Start" button, find the "Run" field there, and then enter the taskschd.msc command there.

The Windows Task Scheduler will open, where you can adjust any necessary indicators for deleting old files from WinSxS. No need to clean Windows 8 / 8.1! Once again, we remind you that irrelevant updates are removed from there automatically.

So how justified is such a cleanup?

Again, it is generally accepted that any hard disk cleaning is an operation that is already useful by definition. This is far from the case. This is especially true for deleting files from the WinSxS folder. Cleaning Windows 7 for beginners often ends up with the fact that their system completely loses the last remnants of stability, after which it becomes absolutely impossible to do something at the computer.

We have already mentioned that this directory contains old versions of many files. What exactly? It's simple. The system "stores" there old updates and system files that were changed as a result of their installation.

It is not difficult to assume that in the event that a patch turns out to be problematic, you can easily roll back the system to a state where everything was still working fine. If the storage of these files turns out to be completely cleaned out, this will no longer work. Accordingly, you either have to wait for an official decision from Microsoft, or reinstall the system.

In both cases, you will be wasting your time and money. Considering that terabytes of information can be stored on modern hard drives, such a zealous struggle for crumbs of free space loses its meaning.

Before deleting files from WinSxS (cleaning Windows 2008 and other server systems is even more important) make sure twice and three times that all system components are working perfectly, there are no failures and crashes caused by "crooked" patches and updates.

In particular, relatively recently, users of even completely legal systems from Microsoft were faced with the fact that a new update caused the inability to launch almost all applications that were installed on your computer.

Even if you have finally decided on the need for cleaning, be sure to wait at least a couple of weeks after the last release of Microsoft patches. In this case, you will at least have confidence in the normal operation of the system.