What is the WINSXS directory in Windows 2008 and Windows Vista and why is it so large?
A commonly asked question among people looking at a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installation is “why is the WinSxS folder so big?!” To answer that question I need to first describe componentization, and how components are managed in Windows Vista.
One of the largest changes between previous versions of Windows and Windows Vista was a move from an INF described OS to componentization. A component in Windows is one or more binaries, a catalog file, and an XML file that describes everything about how the files should be installed. From associated registry keys and services to what kind security permissions the files should have. Components are grouped into logical units, and these units are used to build the different Windows editions.
All of the components in the operating system are found in the WinSxS folder – in fact we call this location the component store. Each component has a unique name that includes the version, language, and processor architecture that it was built for. The WinSxS folder is the only location that the component is found on the system, all other instances of the files that you see on the system are “projected” by hard linking from the component store. Let me repeat that last point – there is only one instance (or full data copy) of each version of each file in the OS, and that instance is located in the WinSxS folder. So looked at from that perspective, the WinSxS folder is really the entirety of the whole OS, referred to as a "flat" in down-level operating systems. This also accounts for why you will no longer be prompted for media when running operations such as System File Checker (SFC), or when installing additional features and roles.
That explains why the folder starts off big, but not why it gets larger over time – the answer to that question is servicing. In previous versions of Windows the atomic unit of servicing was the file, in Windows Vista it’s the component. When we update a particular binary we release a new version of the whole component, and that new version is stored alongside the original one in the component store. The higher version of the component is projected onto the system, but the older version in the store isn’t touched. The reason for that is the third part of why the component store gets so large.
Not every component in the component store is applicable, meaning that not every component should be projected onto the system. For example, on systems where IIS is available but has not been installed, the IIS components are present in the store, but not projected into any location on the system where they might be used. If you’re familiar with how multi-branch servicing works in previous versions of Windows then it’ll make sense to you that we have a different version of the component for each distribution branch and service pack level, and that all these different versions are also stored in the WinSxS folder, even if they’re not immediately applicable. So a single Post SP1 GDR package that contains an update to one component will end up installing four versions of that component in the WinSxS folder – double that on a 64 bit operating system for some components.
Now that you know why the store can grow to be so large, your next question is probably to ask why we don’t remove the older versions of the components. The short answer to that is reliability. The component store, along with other information on the system, allows us to determine at any given time what the best version of a component to project is. That means that if you uninstall a security update we can install the next highest version on the system – we no longer have an “out of order uninstall” problem. It also means that if you decide to install an optional feature, we don’t just choose the RTM version of the component, we’ll look to see what the highest available version on the system is. As each component on the system changes state that may in turn trigger changes in other components, and because the relationships between all the components are described on the system we can respond to those requirements in ways that we couldn’t in previous OS versions.
The only way to safely reduce the size of the WinSxS folder is to reduce the set of possible actions that the system can take – the easiest way to do that is to remove the packages that installed the components in the first place. This can be done by uninstalling superseded versions of packages that are on your system. Service Pack 1 contains a binary called VSP1CLN.EXE, a tool that will make the Service Pack package permanent (not removable) on your system, and remove the RTM versions of all superseded components. This can only be done because by making the Service Pack permanent we can guarantee that we won’t ever need the RTM versions.
So yes, the WinSXS folder is very large, and it will continue to grow as the OS ages. I hope that this clears up some of the questions about why that is, and what you can do about it. Note that the Windows servicing structure and the layout of the store is subject to change.
Joseph Conway
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
Comments
- Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I wanted to put some sort of content on here quickly, so here is a link to my teams blog which I wrote - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
PingBack from http://yeaa.info/?p=7318 - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
A commonly asked question among people looking at a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 installation - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Thanks for the additional inputs. I will definately update my http://www.winvistaclub.com/f16.html article and link back to this one :) - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I would also like to know similar info on why the DriverStore folder is so large. - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I have a W2008server with a 70GB OS disk. Installed hyper-v, SCVMM (beta). And know my disk is full, winsxs uses 57GB!!!!!!!! Not good. - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
There are times when the Windows shell gives you incorrect information - not because it likes lying, - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Dear Joseph, having understood now - thanks to you - how the new OS is organised, I would like to ask the following question which concerns the 64-bit version of Windows 7 SP1. My question originates from the fact that I could not install the new update for my ATI graphics card. The module concerned uses the library extension msvcrt.dll which works in conjunction with the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable" library.In the WinSxS folder are stored 5 different versions of the mscvrt.dll, 4 of them are lately updated (installed) at the same date and time. One of the 4 versions is projected to the System32 and the same is projected to SysWOW64 folder. According to the version number this is not the newest. Since the same version is also used in my 32bit OS I presume that the projected version relates to my specific system architecture and the version number does not relate to a higher update level.There is also a Backup folder in the WinSxS which holds the projected version for security reasons?Can you tell me if my assumptions are true? Further more: Is it possible that the projected version of the msvcrt.dll in the SysWOW64 is incompatible with the ATI module written in Visual C++ 2010 because it returns Exception Code: c0000005?Kind regardsLutz PansegrauCape Town - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
hello. every time I update windows 7 especially this kind Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems I have this error 800f0826 then I Am requested to restart My computer to configure windows update' during configuring windows update it says Failed configure windows update' after that when reach to Desktop also I have this error (this error only in Desktop) 0xc0000005. then I have to restore system. I hope you give me the right solution. I'm still now solving the problem and I Am insistent to solve this problem and I will be thankful if you give a solution'and I like to get experience from you . thank you - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I have found on net that windows 7 or later might not be having VSP1CLN.EXE file bundled in SPs.use DIMS to reduce Service Pack files from winsxs folder, that reduce the size of folder by 3-4-6 GB depending on how inflated it already is.DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /spsupersededyou can add /hidesp option to remove SP1 (KB976932) entry from the “Installed Updates” section of Programs and Features so that users do not try to uninstall the Service Pack.www.happysysadm.com/.../clean-up-winsxs-on-windows-2008-r2.htmlYou can also delete content of winsxs/ManifestCache to save additional 1/2 GB or more space.on elevated cmd, giveNet stop trustedinstallerTakeown /f %windir%winsxsManifestCacheIcacls %windir%winsxsManifestCache /GRANT administrators:FDel /q %windir%winsxsManifestCache*--answers.microsoft.com/.../3d83a43c-0af1-448f-8bda-8150ff201d2eThanks.--RawatINDIA - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Sorry everyone, I think we had comments turned off for a while on our blog. I have answered a lot of these questions on my blog but please feel free to post new comments here and I will attempt to get to them:VSP1CLN on 2008: blogs.technet.com/.../where-is-vsp1cln-on-windows-2008.aspxDisk provisioning: blogs.technet.com/.../general-guidance-on-disk-provisioning-for-winsxs-growth.aspxCheckSUR: blogs.technet.com/.../why-does-checksur-take-a-long-time-to-run.aspx - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
There's a way to move this folder or the only choice besides looking to prune the past versions is using a utility like Partition Magic or GPartED to resize the partition? - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I have read the explanation and can only say that this file and its companion System32 are the best advertisements I have ever seen for Linux and Mac OS. If MS had any common sense or consideration for users they would withdraw this turkey and refund evry cent in the hope of stemming the flood to other OS - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
I have a VM setup with Windows Server 2008 x64. Server 2008 RTMed with SP1 but didn't include VSP1CLN.EXE. Why? - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
@all; Sorry I dont tend to look over this post here because I regularly post on my own blog regarding servicing matters. It's located here: blogs.technet.com/.../joscon@Joss; If you're seeing that kind of space growth its most likely not coming from winsxs. If it is, I would be interested to know what directories are holding that space.@Brad; You dont need to provision 80GB drives in a virtual environment unless you plan on storing application/user data there. Otherwise, the recommendation is 40GB for environments:blogs.technet.com/.../general-guidance-on-disk-provisioning-for-winsxs-growth.aspx . You can save a little bit of space when it comes to these images by moving things like the page file and usng a dedicated dump file. Disabling hibernation can also help with overall space usage.@Rollin; No, you cannot remove the AMD files, it will cause servicing issues on installations, specifically during SP1 installations.@Mike; Is there something engineering specific that you have a complaint about or is it only size related? Generally the servicing changes in Windows are a lot better than they were in downlevel operating sytsems like Windows 2003Ping me via my blog with questions--Joseph - Anonymous
January 01, 2003
Here is the ultimate guide to recover your WinSXS space safely:dandar3.blogspot.pt/.../how-to-ntfs-compress-windows-winsxs.htmlI've seen results of space gains ranging from 6 GB to 11 GB! - Anonymous
September 17, 2010
So, tell me what I am supposed to do now? I have 80 GIG boot drive, and the WinSxS folder is consuming 30 gigs of this space. I have 3 gigs left.The full Win7 comes on a DVD so I don’t really believe it takes 30 GIG to store a backup of the OS, but even if it did, how can I relocate the Winsxs folder to an old useless drive? Besides, your backups are useless, when the machien crashes I restore fropm my drive backup which, thanks to this Winsxs, consumes 30gig*5 backups of data, not to mention the extra backup time.So what is the recommendation? Do you want me to take 2 days off of work to backup data, flatten the machine, build a new OS, when schedule to do this next quarter when you fill up my harddrive again?Seriously, what am I supposed to do? Write me at rwgreene999 at hotmail and tell me what you planned for full harddrives. - Anonymous
November 18, 2010
one day you will do something right... - Anonymous
November 23, 2010
Hi, at a Time where Windows Server should be installable on a 20 GB Harddisk, i s pretty worse that WINSXS-Folder could not easy be moved to another Partition. WIN7 is a mess, not everybody has more than 10 - 20 GB Harddisks!!!! Server 2008 exists on HP DL 360 with 20 GB Systempartition and 10 GB Programpartition! Some of the older ones only have 18,2 GB HD`s!!!!!!!Time to change OS: my new UBUNTU Server and Client are installable on my HDs without having Terabyte HDs!!!!!!!!!!! THey can be installed on a 8GB Systempartition and 10 GB Datapartition.Microsoft should learn to have new OSes with older HDs.With best RegardsMartinMCP NT4MCSA W2KMCSE 2K3MCITP 2008 - Anonymous
December 21, 2010
The question is... why is there no way to remove unnecessary pieces from this store?I have an Intel machine -why in this nstal would I ever (EVER!) need amd files? It's 32-bit W7 - can I delete any 64-bit files if they are in there. If I have 1 language (or 2, say, real English and English - American) why can't I delete Cantonese and Ukrainian and Tagalog and Hindu and... Does this mean that as we progress to IE9 and IE10 and IE-Google (the number, not the competent software company, that is...) we will be keeping every prior install for no particular reason and I asume odds ar we will not be able to regress to those versions ayway...Some items are simply not necessary; they should be deletable. I like the idea of using WUpdate for a retreival repository of last resort. If a new install NEEDS a missing file, then roll back the install and keep running as before. - Anonymous
January 04, 2011
@Linux Guy: That will never happen. Windows will always be bloated and need terabytes of HD space and RAM, while you can install - and run smoothly - linux on as little as 256kb of RAM. Linux has respect for the user in the sense that it doesn't use more space than nessesary, but still is faster than windows, and more reliable. Well, AND more secure, of course. - Anonymous
January 13, 2011
@Microsoft. Any update on this? it's a complete nightmare. Currently this makes windows server a terrible choice for vitualised servers. - Anonymous
January 27, 2011
@Martin If you don't have harddrives larger than 20 gb your server/laptops/desktops are probably outdated and can hardly handle the OS. I might be wrong but 20 gb is almost too small for even XP. - Anonymous
February 16, 2011
Seeing as how Vista claimed it needed around 30 gigs, I put it on a 50 gig partition thinking it would have plenty of space. I am now down to 1.5 gigs. My computer is not outdated, but I didn't expect Windows would grow and grow to almost double its original size. - Anonymous
February 26, 2011
"Your computer is probably outdated."Idiot. I use an SSD as my boot drive and spinning disk for my data. My fresh Win7 Pro install had me with 6GB free. A day later, I'm down to 500MB.The only reason I still have to boot into Window is DRM (Netflix and iTunes). It's just infuriating. - Anonymous
February 28, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 07, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 14, 2011
Ok Jeff, you wrote the article are you gonig to answer any of the questions or not? Can an intel user get rid of the amd files? Like others I have used a SSD drive for speed, but had to keep down to 60Gigs for price. I tried to do a reinstall from my downloaded win7. It said I needed to have 16,480 free so I did what I had to do to make that happen, but then the install placed 12 gigs of files on my drive and says I need to free up again. I can't find the files from box1 so I can delete tham and do it again. - Anonymous
March 15, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 25, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 25, 2011
Apparently I don't have to, the feature got integrated in Disk Cleanup... nice touch. - Anonymous
March 31, 2011
nice handwww.iddaamacsonuclar.com/winsxs-silmek-winsxs-temizlemek.html - Anonymous
April 03, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
April 14, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
May 31, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
June 11, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
July 15, 2011
Here is what you need to do to clean it(works in win 7 Ult, not tested in vista or other oses):open command prompt as admin, then type:dism /online /cleanup-image /spsupersededResource:www.iishacks.com/.../reduce-windows-7-winsxs-folder-size - Anonymous
July 23, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
August 18, 2011
It's just there to increase your windows half-life rate. It's planned obsolescence. The average user will not know they can clone to larger drive when this folder gets to big to use windows anymore and will have to reload, and probably will not have the key anymore... so they will buy the next version of windows. - Anonymous
September 14, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 26, 2011
This looks like a horrible way for an operating system to manage things. This is why i use Ubuntu Linux. This information was very useful for helping out my friends pc thanks! - Anonymous
September 30, 2011
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
October 28, 2011
This may be the best technical explanation of an OS feature change that I have ever seen. Well done. I wish that all changes were so well documented. - Anonymous
February 07, 2012
So if you alter one file in the WIndows directory, should you also alter the one in the winsxs to use the altered one. Say bootres.dll? John - Anonymous
February 20, 2012
Pathetic - Anonymous
March 09, 2012
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 13, 2012
I agree about it being a Corporation NIGHTMARE! Though storage is cheap, it is not a solution. Please, Microsoft, do something about this! PLEASE! - Anonymous
April 14, 2012
Why not to allow at least move it to another disk? It is plain ridiculous to keep it on the system drive. - Anonymous
April 21, 2012
go to sell vegetables, maybe you do your job better ! - Anonymous
April 24, 2012
thanks man!!! you saved my day. - Anonymous
April 26, 2012
at stupid MS engineers - Anonymous
May 03, 2012
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
May 06, 2012
Where, outside of Microsoft, did you think that every user has an unlimited a) C drive, b) that the C drive will not have to be replaced on continual basis with all the attendant software re-installation?That's poorest excuse of bloatware I've ever seen.Just buy hardware is not a realistic solution on a laptop as mentioned below.Whoever "designed" this functionality should be fired.As should whomever approved it. - Anonymous
May 31, 2012
I'm always surprised how little some software developers think. An installed OS does always grow a little bit, because not all installed files can be cleaned up later.BUT: An OS that grows in size by a factor of 2 in one year is simply ridiculous. Of course new HDDs are large, but I never give the OS a lot of space. Only as much as it needs. My data goes somewhere else.Now I have to reinstall Windows because it has filled up my boot partition and there is no way to reduce the size.This great new invention of the WinSXS folder that simply grows and grows is one of the dumbest things I ever heard of and I'm now suffering from that.I'm sorry, but there is no other way to describe a system that is made like that...Good that I have a Linux in parallel, so I'm not stuck with a crashed computer now.Cheers,Andreas - Anonymous
June 20, 2012
Is there any alternate way to reduce the size of this folder "WINSXS". Or we can't do anything in this regards. - Anonymous
July 08, 2012
Short answer: It's big because that's just the way it is, get over it. - Anonymous
July 13, 2012
In the age where we are virtualizing stuff, using around 6-7G space for a windows OS folder doesnt fare well!.....UNIX is so much beter! - Anonymous
September 14, 2012
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
October 31, 2012
Can I delete the contents? Yes/no. If no; can I delete some?Since I pay for extra storage and the disk got full directly costing extra every month. - Anonymous
November 12, 2012
Thanks for the explanation-- very informative article. - Anonymous
November 24, 2012
I use a reliable duplicate file checker and symbolic link utility which parses a selected point and downwards into the subdirectory and I found nothing but 4+GB of duplicate files and NO SYMBOLIC LINKS they way your article describes.I verified it by renaming either the source files in WinSXS and monitoring the duplicate file (verified by MD5) and the "projected" file name never changed. If modifying the "projected file", the supposed source inside WinSXS also didnt' change.If mounted offline in XP or Unbuntu, it was verfied these links you cliam to exist, arent for real.What was for real, was the 2GB I carved out in less than 1 hour by deleting just the files 1MB= and larger and Vista Business till boots, just fine and annyingly aas it did before. - Anonymous
January 10, 2013
I used remove-windowsfeature -remove and the binary files revomed from the windowswinsxs folder. How I could bring back the binary file to this WinSxs folder. - Anonymous
February 22, 2013
I would rally like to meet all the geniuses responsible for this concept and have a little chat with them using baseball bat.Stupid morons! - Anonymous
March 19, 2013
a fantastic light on a somewhat clouded folder , thanx - Anonymous
April 04, 2013
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
April 20, 2013
clean install os. install all updates and current version of programs. Imediately create backup from backup center. every month put that backup cd into tray. go to winsxs on your installed system, properties, previous versions and choose winsxs from first backup. - Anonymous
April 22, 2013
On a mission critial server, reinstalling the system or even taking it offline for an extended period of time is just not an option. Is there no tool available that can safely remove obsolete files from Winsxs? - Anonymous
April 23, 2013
In terms of Windows Administration, this is (hands down) the worst thing MS has done. A SysAdmin is now supposed to account for unknown growth rates that depend on how many patches/fixes have to be deployed. And there is no easy way to reduce the size. From a Server Management standpoint, it's the biggest mistake I've ever seen out of MS b/c there is no way to work around it. You're at the complete mercy of whoever you replaced with few choices for correction. It's horrible. This is a horrible engineering plan that should never have seen the light of day. If you just asked some System Admins or IT Managers "Hey, we're going to make Windows more stable by telling Windows to show tons of your disk as being full. It will continue to grow and grow and grow every time that Microsoft releases a patch. Does that sound good? But wait - we're also going to make it so that you can do almost nothing to reduce or control your size. You'll just have to rebuild your server if we give you a lot of Windows patches." Ask some actual IT people this question instead of deciding it on the golf course with a bunch of VP's and MS could have avoided this. - Anonymous
April 25, 2013
That teaches us to disable automatic update and just run sp lol - Anonymous
July 15, 2013
Really helpful Thanks. - Anonymous
August 12, 2013
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
August 15, 2013
It's pretty silly that this folder can grow to 50gb or larger. You would have thought Microsoft would have explicitly told us about this upon the release of server 2008 so that we could quadruple the size of the partition we used for the OS on 2003. - Anonymous
August 28, 2013
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 15, 2013
Wow a lot of words to say you are stuffed and have a nice day - "Senior Support Escalation Engineer" give me a break!! your information is more useless than a wet newspaper. If you haven't noticed, people arrive here for ANSWERS not some poor excuses for issues that users have to face due to pathetic, short sighted OS development. /sigh!!! - Anonymous
October 09, 2013
This is another boneheaded move by Microsoft. I am so tired of going back to eat the same vomit over and over again. Time to Bail out. - Anonymous
October 12, 2013
blogs.technet.com/.../breaking-news-reduce-the-size-of-the-winsxs-directory-and-free-up-disk-space-with-a-new-update-for-windows-7-sp1-clients.aspxcontains a link to a Microsoft windows update, and all of a sudden it is officialy possible to clean more .... - Anonymous
October 20, 2013
C:Windowssystem32>VSP1CLN.exe /?'VSP1CLN.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file.snarfboondoggle -at- ya-HOO [dot com]C:Windowssystem32>dir vsp*Directory of C:Windowssystem3210/20/2013 07:23 AM 0 VSP1CLN.exe 1 File(s) 0 bytes 0 Dir(s) 23,567,167,488 bytes freeC:Windowssystem32>[submit to technet]*Error occurred while saving your data.NOW WHAT ??????????????? - Anonymous
November 30, 2013
This explains why Norton has been scanning in my friend's winxsx directory for over an hour. Ridiculous! This slowness is one of the many reasons I run Linux on my own PC. - Anonymous
December 12, 2013
Uninstall software to reduce space??? What? How is THAT an option??!!? I would never suggest to someone to remove the service packs and critical security updates in order to free up space. There has to be a DISM commandline that can "slip-stream" the updates so that all of the intermediate updates are removed. Why it's so difficult to find it puzzling. - Anonymous
January 16, 2014
NSA Root Kit grows larger. - Anonymous
January 16, 2014
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I DELETE THESE FILES? - Anonymous
January 21, 2014
So what happens with an upgrade from 8 to 8.1? - Anonymous
January 25, 2014
This SXS! Time to switch operating systems. - Anonymous
February 17, 2014
I’m not sure if you are being obtuse or what. I haven't read through all your responses, but the original article is still not updated, so here goes. People want to reclaim their disk space on their Windows 2008 installations. Disk space is expensive on server systems using SANs, expensive SCSI, and RAID systems. I have more than 50 virtual servers; each with several gigabytes tied up in the same windows updates being stored under the WINSXS directory. I think everyone is probably asking the same thing. Can you give use or point us to a way of cleaning this mess up? You tell us that the people keep asking “A question that comes up a lot about this particular blog is where the VSP1CLN utility is located on Windows 2008 installations” then you turn right around and say use COMPCLN under SP2. Great!, would you think that if people are asking about where/how to use the VSP1CLN utility that they might also ask where/how to use the COMPCLN utility? Are you serious? Nevermind…just go to sleep again…sorry to wake you. - Anonymous
February 22, 2014
Many thanks a great deal for very good post, I am thrilled find out far more within you.
http://www.the9gag.com/">Fashion - Anonymous
March 07, 2014
Thanks, great explanation, well you clear the doubts - Anonymous
March 27, 2014
Thank U for this article! It is very helpfull! - Anonymous
April 12, 2014
MS continues to push for the move to other OSs. - Anonymous
July 12, 2014
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
July 30, 2014
Great post on the subject. Well explained.
Thanks for sharing.
www.itsolicitors.com - Anonymous
August 08, 2014
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
September 18, 2014
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
October 14, 2014
This should be server side, like Canonical's LaunchPad. - Anonymous
October 21, 2014
Just wanted to update this thread since I've been here before and didn't find any solution. The following link has information about updating the Disk Cleanup Wizard to allow for the removal of update files that are no longer needed. I had a 25gb partition that ONLY had the OS on it and had run out of space yesterday. This allowed me to free up almost 4.5gb. If you want to go straight to the update, the link is at the bottom. I would recommend reading all the way through the blog because my Disk Cleanup Wizard was not available by default. It had to be installed first.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2014/05/13/how-to-clean-up-the-winsxs-directory-and-free-up-disk-space-on-windows-server-2008-r2-with-new-update.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2852386 - Anonymous
April 01, 2015
My question is: Are people still using Windows Vista? If so, WHY? XP would be preferable to that! - Anonymous
April 01, 2015
My winsxs folder is about 4 Gig in a computer with Windows 7 Pro, 15 months after installation. I believe the reason this folder is relatively small is because I turned off windows updates before I got onto the internet. I have done this for 15 years with various versions of Windows and avoided a lot of problems. - Anonymous
April 15, 2015
This is just a really stupid architecture. Stupid. Microsoft must be hiring congress members to be engineers now. - Anonymous
June 15, 2015
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
July 22, 2015
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
August 15, 2015
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
October 06, 2015
The design of WinSXS in insane! I have a 2008 R2 server that ran up to 30GB of usage after updates and Service Packs. Seriously? This is aweful and a huge waste of engineering time dealing with this. - Anonymous
November 10, 2015
The comment has been removed